Chapter 44: Saving the World With Mediocrity
“I’ve you’ve been working for Erin Nisei, she’s probably been paying you pretty handsomely,” Encio said, “Throw away any mistaken notions of savings: You should be prepared to spend it all.”
“We’ve made a decent amount of money,” Eufemia said, “I don’t like that woman but she’s a paying client. We can’t possibly spend all that.”
Encio’s smile was pitying.
“For John, there’s a deal on two Awakening Stones of the Shield that’s too good to pass up. Someone is looking to make some quick money before the Celestial Book trials open when the market will be flooded with stones again,” Encio said, flipping through pages on the magic tablet. Evidently, he was an experienced shopper. He sort of looked like a wealthy househusband flipping through a furniture catalogue to change the interior furniture for no reason than he could, except he was shopping for magic powers and not a designer coffee table.
“That’s a good idea,” said Sen. “Shield offers essential protective abilities suitable for a healer. How does that sound mister Aurelius.”
“I really have absolutely no clue, mate. Take the lead. And just call me John. We’re all helping each other out here, don’t be too polite.”
Sen nodded.
They were in a rush. Usually Encio wouldn’t condone such flippant selection, but the Awakening Stone of the Shield was classic and reliable for healers. It was a deal too good to pass up for a fresh iron rank healer.
“For Eufemia, a common stone of the magus, then a stone of the adept, then a stone of the swift. It should establish a good baseline for your powerset. Take a look.”
Eufemia looked at the price then winced, “I almost wish I hadn’t.”
“We don’t need to buy too many stones for now,” Encio said, “After the Celestial Book trials, other essence users will be looking to sell off their excess stones after taking their pick of the ones they’ve earned. We just need the two of you to have enough abilities, so you won’t die out there.”
“What? We’re participating? We haven’t even started to train yet?”
“Why else do you think you need to pass the Adventure Society examination in two and a half months?”
“Look at it this way,” explained Aliyah, “have you any idea how much money you’re saving by participating?”
“...How much?”
“I’ve heard people have earned up to seven awakening stones, among other prizes. Some of extremely high rarity.”
“Oh, plus this guy is going to participate even though he doesn’t need any,” Nara said, gesturing to Encio, “he’d said he’d give his share to you guys.”
“Really?” Eufemia said doubtfully.
“I’m thorough, not unkind,” he said, “I have awakened all of my abilities already. The awakening stones are useless to me.”
“Now, next question,” said Aliyah. “Do you know ritual magic?”
Due to his outworlder abilities, John could also use skill books. Eufemia had learnt ritual magic through a slapdash, some-of-this-some-of-that method, and she already awakened a familiar already, one of her two abilities in her Mirror Essence.
After looking over the options at the auction, John decided on an Awakening Stone of the Bear. John already had a weapon, a soul bound growth weapon provided to him through his case system. They’d have to rank up his weapon to iron, but it was a worthy expense.
Usually weapons served one of two general purposes—covering a weakness or enhancing a strength. Healer equipment often boosted healing, but John’s weapon was a shotgun that unleashed terrifying damage at decent range. It had kept John relatively safe as a powerless normal ranker; a weapon that at normal rank was unmatched in a world without guns.
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Item: [Solar Judgement] (normal rank [growth], legendary)
Classification: Weapon, gun, fire, holy
Description: A magic weapon modeled after a Winchester Model 12 pump action shotgun. The sun bestows both life and fire.
Effect: Generates 7-rounds of sunfire flak every 5 minutes for a moderate mana cost. Otherwise, can shoot normal flak dealing physical damage for a low mana consumption per shot.
Effect: Sunfire flak deals massive disruptive-force and fire damage in a wide-range conical area. Damage is considered holy damage.
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John’s Essence Cases had taken longer than normal outworlders took to obtain all their essences, form what little a sample size outworlders were. It had more than compensated for it with a powerful weapon for John, and unique skill books for John and Eufemia both, although Eufemia could not use hers; a fact she was extremely bitter about.
Nara’s weapon filled out a minor weakness—her range, but mainly worked with her strengths. It didn’t provide as much immediate impact as John’s Solar Judgement, and it was more of an old reliable that she used all the time.
The final two awakening stone selections were an Awakening Stone of Armor for John, and an Awakening Stone of the Blade for Eufemia, who didn’t have a weapon. Eufemia also liked the idea of a conjured weapon, rather than needing to buy and maintain her own. She didn’t want to develop an obsession like Alea, rubbing her knives day in and day out like they’d shit gold spirit coins if she gave them a handy.
The Awakening Stone of the Blade was more general than Nara’s Awakening Stone of the Sword and could awaken abilities related to a large variety of bladed weapons, or even abilities that launched sharp blades or other blade adjacent effects. Despite this, it was more unpopular than specific weapon awakening stones because it was unpredictable. Eufemia didn’t have a weapon she needed to learn to use, like Nara, nor any inclination for a specific weapon, so whatever she awakened would be her weapon of choice.
While it was an auction, many sellers would immediately sell their awakening stones if someone offered their asking price. The auction price could go above that set price, but it could also fall below it if the stone was unpopular, or in the case of their current situation, others were waiting to see what they could earn from the Celestial Book trial and wanted to offload their lesser rarity stones before they further plummeted in price. Animal awakening stones were usually unpopular, as most wanted no more than one or two total. Nara herself would probably only use the single wolf stone.
Encio left to purchase the stones at the auction.
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-Party member [Eufemia Teresina] has used [Awakening Stone of the Magus].
-[Eufemia Teresina] has awakened Adept Essence Ability [Prodigious Sorcerer]. [Eufemia Teresina] has awakened 2 of 5 Adept Essence Abilities.
Ability: [Prodigious Sorcerer]
Special Ability / Spell
Cost: Moderate mana
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Gain the ability to use a known spell of a target. This may make your version of the spell higher or lower rank than the original, including losing or gaining additional effects from higher ranks. This ability has the same cost and cooldown as the original spell. Ability chosen cannot be changed until the ability is off cooldown. Chosen ability is available until changed.
-Party member [Eufemia Teresina] has used [Awakening Stone of the Adept].
-[Eufemia Teresina] has awakened Adept Essence Ability [Dexterous Talent]. [Eufemia Teresina] has awakened 3 of 5 Adept Essence Abilities.
Ability: [Dexterous Talent]
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Special Ability
Cost: Moderate mana
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Gain the ability to use a known active special ability of a target. This ability must have a cooldown. This may make your version of the ability higher or lower rank than the original, including losing or gaining additional effects from higher ranks. This ability has the same cost and cooldown as the original ability. Ability chosen cannot be changed until the ability is off cooldown. Chosen ability is available until changed.
-Party member [Eufemia Teresina] has used [Awakening Stone of the Swift].
-[Eufemia Teresina] has awakened Adept Essence Ability [Blessing of Readiness]. [Eufemia Teresina] has awakened 4 of 5 Adept Essence Abilities.
Ability: [Blessing of Readiness]
Spell (recovery)
Incantation: “Recover time.”
Cost: Moderate mana
Cooldown: Varies
Effect (Iron): This spell can only affect an ally and not yourself. The cooldown of the next ability used by the target is reduced by up to one minute. The cooldown of this ability is equal to the time taken from the cooldown of the target ability.
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Eufemia frowned, “Why are three of these abilities almost the exact same? Isn’t there too much overlap?”
“No,” Encio said, “Those are excellent abilities. The versatility may be lost on you, for now, but when you rank up, I’m sure you’ll change your mind.”
“But am I sacrificing convenience now for less power later?”
“You may be a generalist and lack focus for now, but adept abilities are known for their incredible versatility, especially in later ranks. You’ll change your opinion.” He grinned. “Want to bet?”
Eufemia looked unconvinced, but nobody could unawaken abilities. She was as stuck with them as the rest of them were for the rest of their existence.
She looked pensive as she conjured the dagger she had awoken from the Awakening Stone of the Blade. It was a simple silver dagger with a perfect mirror polish, unblemished even as she touched it with her fingers, leaving no oily prints behind.
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-Party member [Eufemia Teresina] has used [Awakening Stone of the Blade].
-[Eufemia Teresina] has awakened Mirror Essence Ability [Shard of Mirrors]. [Eufemia Teresina] has awakened 3 of 5 Mirror Essence Abilities.
Ability: [Shard of Mirrors]
Conjuration (weapon)
Cost: Moderate mana, variable mana
Cooldown: None
Effect (Iron): Conjure [Silver Gleam, the [Shard of Mirrors]]. [Silver Gleam] can take the form and abilities of any known conjured weapon ability. Duplicating a conjuration incurs the mana cost of the original conjuration. Without a conjured form, [Silver Gleam] functions as a dagger. Attacks made in the base form inflict [Mirror Distortion].
* [Mirror Distortion] (affliction, magic, stacking): Mana costs are increased. Suffer increased damage from modified abilities and abilities effected by boons. Additional instances have a cumulative effect.
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“A shapeshifting weapon, that’s interesting,” said Aliyah as she inspected the details of Eufemia’s ability, “I suppose it’s expected given the abilities you’ve awakened. You’ll want to use a weapon best suited for the abilities you duplicate.”
“It’s pretty expensive to use, mana wise,” Sen remarked. “Mana to conjure the dagger, then mana to transform it.”
“It’ll more than make up for it in versatility, I promise,” Nara said. “Shapeshifting weapons are awesome.”
Then she realized her shapeshifting weapon didn’t cost mana, and felt a little guilty for her premature assertion.
“As your abilities reward greater knowledge, I’m a little envious,” Aliyah said. “As you grow and learn, you can copy more spells, more special attacks, more special abilities, and more weapons.”
“Four abilities can be enough to completely reverse a disadvantageous situation,” Sen agreed. “Once you have the skills to back it up, you’ll be incredibly difficult to fight.”
“Okay, all of you, I get it,” Eufemia said, “You’re all praising my abilities so much I’m starting to feel embarrassed. And I have a high tolerance for praise. There isn’t anything more I can do about it anyhow.”
Nara looked over to Sen to see that he was hiding his own excitement behind his well-controlled expression. He liked Eufemia’s abilities, a lot. Vallis had said Sen was a master strategist, and Eufemia’s abilities left a lot of room for strategy, if she could master their high skill requirements. She could become the mimic of another teammate, copying key abilities in a fight where more of the same was needed and surprise the enemy when a big ability that should have been one time use goes off again from a completely different source.
Nara remembered Encio’s two most deadly special attacks, Vorpal Slash and God-Sundering Slash, and felt herself shudder.
“Eufemia...” Nara said slowly, “Have you seen Encio’s abilities yet?”
“I haven’t, why?”
“You can copy them. They’re ridiculous.”
“I’m…seeing what you’re getting at,” Eufemia admitted, “But even I know when this is a lot to learn in two weeks. It would help if—” she glanced enviously at John and Nara—“If I had an ability to use skill books.”
“That can be arranged,” Encio said, “but the most likely stones are rather expensive.”
“Which ones?”
“Your best chance is with the Awakening Stone of Knowledge, a 2 star stone, but rather popular especially with researcher types,” Encio said, pulling up the price for her on his auction list.
“Wow. Are you serious? That’s the price for a single stone?”
“As for cheaper stones, another Awakening Stone of the Adept—who knows how that one would turn out—an Awakening Stone of Mediocrity—”
“Mediocrity?”
“The best way to make a mediocre fighter into a competent one is to have them use a skill book.”
“The stone of shortcuts,” Nara said. “Figures, for giving something outworlders get for free.”
“But, also known for less desirable abilities. Not bad by any means—no abilities are bad—but the sort that neither specialize nor excel. Other than that, the Awakening Stone of the Moment. That stone is even more expensive, valued for awakening time manipulation abilities, well-timed trump cards…or learning skills and information instantaneously.”
“You’ve used one of those, haven’t you?”
“Oh, I have,” Encio confirmed, “And time manipulation ability it gave.”
“Cut to the chase. The first one is the best then, even if it’s pricy?”
“Top chance, top price.”
“Get it. I want to be able to use skill books. What’s money for if not to spend?” She said, but her eyes were bloodshot. She was biting her lip, not in an effort to seduce anyone external, but to convince herself it was worth the price; She had something she wanted to use.
John’s familiar ritual was the last order of business for the day. Encio made a final trip to the Adventure Society trade hall. Thankfully, iron rank familiar ritual materials were easy to acquire; no auction was needed.
John was on his hands and knees, struggling with his ritual circle.
“How’s it going?” Nara said, crouching to be on his eye level.
“It’s like chalking up the road. I’m sort of enjoying it.” He took another look at his ritual, “Even if it looks like an unsupervised toddler scribbled over the sidewalk.”
“You seem to be handling this whole magic thing pretty well.”
“I’ve been here for around a year now. I live in a place that’s pretty magical. I got used to it in ways, but this essence stuff is new to me. Normal folk aren’t involved in this part of magic, not really.”
“Yeah, Sanshi is pretty magical.”
“Not Sanshi, Shanyin. The city beneath the city.” He tapped the floor and gestured downward, “There’s an astral space at this location, and there’s this whole city built there. One with teleporting paths of shadow, like some sort of localized wormhole. It’s nothing like I’ve ever seen.”
Nara hadn’t detected the astral space, but she also had not tried to. She closed her eyes, and focused her awakened sense of dimensions.
It was a strange sensation, like physical reality was doubled up, but separated. If physical reality was a wonton in a soup, and the astral was the soup, then the astral space was an air bubble hanging onto the dumpling. A pimple on the face of reality.
“Yeah…I can feel it there. It’s massive.”
“You can feel it? How do you do that?”
“Magic powers, you know? I can sense dimensions.”
“I was already amazed with my first ability. Simple little thing, from my Life Essence. Life Bolt. It just heals a bit.” He pinched his fingers to demonstrate its paltry power, “But, scrapes and bruises, and eventually broken bones if I used it enough, all healed away in minutes and hours rather than days and months. It’s incredible. Healers get cleansing abilities…right?”
“Yeah, that’s right.” Nara said, “Others can too, but one with a combination like you is expected to get some.”
“Do you know what they can…cleanse?”
“If you’re thinking cancer, yes, they can cleanse cancer. It’s not really a thing in this world. Even the poor gets free cleansing every so often from healer priests. You haven’t run into it on your travels?”
“I have,” John admitted. “I still can’t quite believe me eyes, even now. To think I’m going to be like them. It doesn’t feel quite real.”
Nara pointed at her eyes, “I was nearsighted too. Outworlding remade my eyes so it took care of that, but essences or cleansing would take care of that for anyone else.”
“Magic is incredible. Why doesn’t our world have it?”
“The dimensional boundary is fragile, apparently. It can let too much magic in, or it’ll break.”
“What happens if it breaks?”
“Boom, end of the world. The world gets sucked into the astral, where all matter is annihilated. Or the world gets flooded with too much magic that it can’t handle. If the universe is lucky, the membrane repairs itself before the rest of it is sucked in.”
John paused, “Mate, you aren’t pulling my leg?”
“Yeah, but breaking a dimensional barrier isn’t easy, even a weak one like ours. You or me flinging around a bit of magic is like throwing cotton balls at glass. You won’t have to worry about that.”
“You’ve studied a lot of magic.”
“Someone has to,” Nara said. “How else are we going to get back?”
“Thanks for doing that for the two of us.”
“We’re all just doing our best. I have some good teachers anyway.”
“Speaking of, that friend of yours is a terrifying young man,” John said, indicating with his eyes to other room, “Had me and Eufemia death grip, and I’m decades older than him.”
“His sister and his friend died while adventuring, so he’s sensitive about this stuff.”
“Is it really that dangerous?”
“For ordinary adventurers, not really. The problem is if you want to be extraordinary. If you are extraordinary. And he is extraordinary. I don’t mind it, but I know part of the reason he joined up with me is because I’m an outworlder. He wants the adventure part of adventuring. You and me John, we have that in spades.”
“I’m just a married man, father of two—nothing special except for my cheerful personality! About the only special about me was that I am an investigator now and an intelligence officer previously.”
“I’m not extraordinary either. Just another worker in the tech field, on their 8 to 5 until the day they retire. I suppose if someone extraordinary became an outworlder, the universe may collapse in on itself from the concentrated extra-ness.”
“Well we certainly want to avoid that, don’t we,” chuckled John, “Good thing it was us two then, and not some Nobel Laureate. We’ve gone and saved the world once already with our banal mediocrity. We’re owed a prize.”
“Imagine that! A Nobel physicist in a world of magic. That would be something else.”
“It’d make quite the movie,” John agreed.
“Nah,” Nara laughed, “You know, that’s probably been done before. Completely unoriginal. The viewers would complain the main character was such a stereotype.”
John staggered up from his kneeling position, gently stepping out of the ritual circle which softly glowed to indicate its completion.
“This may be the closest thing to art I’ve ever made,” John said in satisfaction with his hands on his hips.
“Best get used to it,” Nara said, “In this world, we’re all artists.”
“Art of chalk wielding sidewalk toddlers,” John corrected, “but art is in the eye of the beholder.”