Chapter 10

I spent the next two weeks practicing Alchemy. I had finished reading the book on the first day and then was surprised to find out that Demira’s late husband was also an Alchemist. After some mild coercion, I was able to convince Demira to open the room that her husband practiced his craft in and let me use it. She likely would have offered on her own at some point I imagine but given how she still felt his loss so closely still meant it probably wouldn’t be for a little while. Perhaps I was being an inconsiderate ass in convincing her to let me use it.

It was a very strange experience for me. I had been a sage level Alchemist previously but now i had to relearn the entire skill from the beginning. Even though I knew what the equipment that I was using was called and I knew how to use it, something prevented me from using it properly. What was even more odd was that I knew what herbs or ingredients were needed for the most part, though my knowledge was far from where it was previously. When I went to use some of those ingredients, I would suddenly draw a blank. If I tried to write notes to myself, the thought that was in my head only the second before would get jumbled and I would find that I had written down gibberish. I tried once to just spontaneously spew out some alchemy info to Danica in the hope that she could write it. As I said it, all that came out were strange sounds that Danica said could best be described as birds chirping. Eventually I gave up and just knew that I would not be able to overcome The System Fukkery by any means.

Even though I had to start from the very beginning, it wasn’t all bad as my skill advancement was uncanny. Previously I had improved my skill a little faster than most other people but even then, just getting to intermediate rank had taken me months of practice and that was with having a teacher. Now, my improvement was on a completely different level. I had advanced to intermediate within just 2 days. I knew this was likely due to a blueprint of the skill and knowledge left behind from before mixed in with my high Intelligence.

Congratulations, your skill, Alchemy has advanced to Intermediate!

Choose one of the options below for your skill:

Potion Creation – You gain the knowledge to brew Common Potions.

Poison Creation – You gain the knowledge to concoct Common Poisons.

Elixir Creation – You gain the knowledge to create Common Elixirs

I did not take long to think this one through and quickly picked the Poison creation option and Jimmy for a change was in complete agreement. I figured it would be nice to get the ability to make potions and elixirs but at this point, I needed to focus more on being able to take down my enemies. I was going to be given options in the future as I advanced this skill and for now, I could just buy any health potions I needed. Elixirs cured diseases and poisons. At this time, I wasn’t at much of a threat of getting diseases or being poisoned but certainly that could change in the future. I was aware I would have a lot better options when I progressed my skill to an advanced level. After selecting the option, I didn’t waste much time and dove back into work.

While going from Novice to Intermediate was relatively easy, going beyond that was proving a little more difficult. Mostly that was because I was limited in my supplies and the equipment that I had to practice with. I had not created anything useful up until this time and I knew that in order to advance from intermediate to novice, I would have to create a poison, even if it was of inferior quality.

Jimmy in the meantime had been more and more quiet in my brain for the last few days. Jimmy tried to explain that it was always an effort for him to come to the forefront and be able to actively have a discussion. If he wasn’t making such an effort, he would be pulled towards The System. It was almost as if he was living two different lives; one in which he was more connected to the system and in the other he was more connected to me. In both, however, he existed as if in a ghostly presence where he could not interact with the world.

He couldn’t in great deal explain what this ‘pull’ towards The System was except to say that he had a better understanding of what happens behind the scenes. The only bad part was that when he came forth, he wouldn’t remember much of what had happened behind the scenes that he had learned.

“More system fukkery,” I said out loud to no one.

When I was not practicing my Alchemy, I was working on trying to advance my Meditation skill. This was one of the skills that was a common skill but also very helpful overall. It was also a skill one could practice without needing much beyond a place to sit down and focus. Precisely, what I had in abundance.

Once again, I plopped down on the ground with my legs crossed and hand on my knees in my favorite yoga pose called lotus squat or something similar but this time I was interrupted shortly by a voice in my head. Is this what schizophrenia feels like?

“hey broski, you doing some of that Kamasutra shit again huh!” asked Jimmy.

Jimmy had known about my meditation techniques and had asked me about the name before calling it something equally absurd. And I had corrected him many times but Jimmy would regularly call it something else just so he can see if the mediation was really working or if he was still highly proficient at getting on my last nerve. It turned out that though the Meditation did work, Jimmy was still able to get on my last, middle and first nerve.

“So, does kamasugra make you heal faster? Does it have any other sweet benefits?” Jimmy doubled down on his efforts.”

“IT is NOT called Kamasugra!!” I replied in soft but an obvious annoyed tone.

I could feel Jimmy laughing virtually in my head but before I could say anything, there was a chime with a new notification.

Congratulations, your skill, Meditation has advanced to Intermediate!

Choose one of the options below for your skill:

Spirit focus: Replete your stamina 100% faster than your baseline.

Mind focus: Replete your Mana points 100% faster than your baseline.

Body focus: Replete your Health points 100% faster than your baseline.

This was a tough choice. I would have loved to have all three of these options, but I was only allowed to pick one of the three. At novice level, I was already able to replete all three including mana, health, and stamina faster than at baseline but only 25% faster. This would increase by ONE HUNDRED percent. That was a huge benefit and from a common skill that was not difficult to learn or improve on. I wanted to increase my Stamina so I could continue to fight or do things longer without feeling exhausted. But given my level, I was doing pretty good in that, and my health points were better than most warriors at my level. All this was, naturally because of the Titles I had received, and I was grateful for those. Mana points would be nice, but my spells didn’t require much mana or at least right now they don’t require much mana. I realized that I really needed to focus on getting more spells.

In the end I decided to increase the health repletion. I figured if I couldn’t bring my health up quick in certain situations then having extra mana may not make much of a difference as I would be dead. Jimmy argued against it saying that having stamina replete faster would be better because…well the explanation was ridiculous and talked about porn stars and their abilities to perform multiple times. Well, ok maybe it was not that ridiculous. I however, had no interest in any bow chikky bow bow flick. Not that there was such a thing here in this world…I think.

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A knock at the door revealed Danica on the other side. She told me that her Mother was hoping to talk to me if I was available. I had not seen Demira in a couple of days and wanted to ask her a few things anyways, so I was glad to meet up with her.

As Danica walked with me to the study where her mother was, she asked, “So when are you going to start teaching me magic like you promised?”

I was a little surprised by her bluntness but understood her motivation, “As soon as I can find a suitable beginner level spell, we will get started” I said back with a smile.

Danica kept quiet for a few moments and then spoke up again, “So you still want to teach me, and you haven’t changed your mind?”

“I made you a promise I would. In the meantime, you should continue to try and read whatever arcane books you can get your hands on. It will only help you become better and make the learning easier.”

“I can’t count the time I have read that one arcane book” Danica said frustratingly.

I had considered teaching her meditation but felt like she probably at this point didn’t have all the attribute requirements that were needed. Alchemy can be considered as well in the future, but she needed to be a little older and show a little more maturity for that. I was still in the beginning stages of these skills myself and I had a while to go before I was at the level of being able to teach her.

“I will double my efforts towards looking for a spell for you,” I said and took off my ring. I held it out to her, “In the meantime, I want you to have this. This will not only be my gift to you but also a promise that I will teach you in the near future.”

This was one of the rings I had found after fighting the rats. There were not any discernable features on it except a small jewel in the middle.

Demira was sitting in the study with a small fire going in the fireplace. As I entered, she looked up at me and smiled. I sat next to her as Danica left the room.

“Thank you for coming to meet with me at such a short notice.”

“Always have time for friends. I had been meaning to come talk to you soon anyway,” I replied.

Demira lit up some tobacco, “I had looked forward to a discussion with you too. I am leaving for a day or perhaps two in the morning.”

I urged her to go on.

“You had asked of maps and dungeons. I have not been fortunate with finding those, but I do know a dwarf that was in employment with a map maker. The dwarf himself was an adventurer and would often travel all over and create maps. He would then sell them to the map maker who had stepped away from traveling himself for years due to the dangers accompanying it.”

She further told me that the dwarf owned a tavern. Surprisingly it was the same gentleman dwarf I had met not too long back that let me have a couple of those ales for free. Even though they tasted the worst, can’t argue with free. Could those ales be considered a poison or maybe used as an ingredient for a poison, I wondered. I was glad to hear about the dwarf, as I had been wanting to go back there for some time now.

Not too many dwarfs were known for owning taverns. They were fantastic at drinking and could drink most people under the table, but they did not do well owning bars or taverns as they more often than not ended up drinking away all the profits and their own stock.

“I was wondering if you could look into something for me?” I asked.

“Most certainly.”

I showed her the ring and the sword. The other ring that I had found, I had given to Danica. The chain was magical, so I kept that.

“I found these two items at the Town hall after I beat the infestation. They seem to have some special engravings. I can’t understand them but If you are able to find the families that these belonged to, perhaps they would be grateful to get them back. I expect the owners likely died in the Town hall.”

Demira looked first at the sword but could not tell if it belonged to anyone. She then looked at the ring carefully and took a slight gasp.

I don’t know much of the sword, but this ring may belong to the Elequose family. She wiggled the top a bit and then was able to move the top in a circular fashion where the jewel outside moved to the inside of the circle. Suddenly a ghostly apparition came to life.

It seemed the ring did have a very small enchantment on it to display the faces of an older couple.

“These are the ancestors of the Elequose family. Their image serves as a memory to all their children. They were proud people who helped build this city and then met their premature ends by unknown means,” Demira explained as she held the ring.

“Does that happen often in this city?”

“Pardon?”

“They died from unknown causes. Also, like your husband,” I asked without thinking then seeing the sadness appear on Demira’s face and quickly added, “I apologize, I didn’t mean to bring up sad memories for you.”

“No. Its fine. I have accepted the passing of my husband and now what lingers is the feeling of not having his assailants brought to justice.”

I did not want to pry further. I knew that the sadness at the loss was real no matter what she said. I tried to change the subject, “The image of the man looks familiar.”

“Yes, I suppose the gentleman does look quite a bit like Rogger.”

“Rogger? Is Rogger related to the Elequose family?” I asked.

“Indeed. That was his grandfather. But clearly, this ring does not belong to Rogger. Rogger would not wear something such as this.”

“Another family member of Rogger?”

“Yes. Likely it is the property of one of his cousins. Odd though, that Rogger never mentioned anything in regard to it.”

I thought it was very odd too that Rogger never mentioned that his cousin may have died in there. Or that he was even in there in the first place. I did remember the body I had obtained this ring from, and it was the one getting eaten by the rat, close to where I entered. Was he trying to get out?

“What would you like to do with this ring?” Demira asked.

“I suppose find out who it belonged to specifically and return it to their family.”

“I can certainly take care of such a task for you. Thank you for wanting to return it. Most would have chosen to sell it for the little profit it would have fetched.”

I just nodded in agreement. I probably would have sold it too but knowing that this ring was something special to someone and the image it contained, made me want to just return it to the owner or their family. I wished I had something like this for my daughter. I had taken thousands and thousands of pictures on my phone of her, of us together and they were all gone when I came into this world.

“Danica has asked me to teach her magic. I told her I would but now that I think about it, I probably should have asked you first.”

Demira smiled, “That child has been an absolute nag at me with that. I’m glad you have agreed. I would have formalized her education sooner in the arcane, but I lack the aptitude and I know of no other with such skills that I could readily employ.”

“I’m glad to be able to teach her. Is there not a Mage tower here? I figured they might offer some type of schooling or apprenticeship.”

I knew that was not the case for most guilds unless you joined their ranks.

Demira sighed, “The order of Tarlus! No, I could not send my daughter there. They are a cult and ask for far too much.”

“Too much money?”

“No, they ask for life. To join the order, one must pledge themselves to the order for a minimum of TEN years. Even with a pledge of TEN, they will not teach you to fulfillment and stifle your growth for another one they hold closer in their favor. They require also that each Acolyte of their order leave their family and reside in the tower. They must make the Lord of the tower their master.”

To be a mage in this world was not easy as most of the knowledge was heavily guarded. Mages tended to be weak in their early levels. If they did not belong to a rich family which could provide them guards, or a Guild or order of some sort that could offer protection in numbers, they would either not be able to get many levels and stagnate or get killed easily. There were many people that sought out weak mages early in their class to kill them and steal their possessions, especially magic books. Even if the books did not contain any spells, the highly crafted bindings and the specialized paper used to write spells would bring decent coin. Also, it was easy to gather a group and overwhelm the mage with little effort when they were so weak.

“Yea that doesn’t sound like a good group to belong to. Are there no other solitary mages outside of that group that could help?” I asked but I suspected there weren’t.

“Unfortunately, not! The order themselves have been known to seek out solitary mages and kill them,” Demira said.

I nodded understanding the situation which was not exclusive to this region. I had seen similar things in various parts of the world. The powerful entities and organizations either tried to control mages or kill them before they became too powerful. Mage’s guilds and orders were initially formed to protect their members from everyone else. In the end they became just as bad, if not worse. The guilds themselves were a very lucrative business as they could train the mages, offer their services to the rich and powerful. And their services were highly sought after and very valuable.

“I was told that only the tower can sell magic spells. Is that also true?”

“Those damnable cultists do indeed control all the sales and purchases of magic spells. Furthermore, the City Governor allows this monopoly as they afford him special privileges and bribes, I imagine.”

“This city seems to have a lot of corruption at its core.”

“Yes, and I have pledged to clean out the filth that ails it or die trying. I refuse to stand by and watch the vermin fester in a place that strong men built. I refuse to let them bring it to a collapse.”

Watching her speak so passionately, I had a new admiration for her now. She was truly strong, noble woman. She had belonged to a class of Paladins from the crest she sometimes wore but I couldn’t tell which order she belonged to. Paladins were an advanced class of knights. They were often revered warriors in combat that fought without fear and always for the greater good. Some Paladins fought for their lords or kings if they deemed them worthy but most remained warriors that fought for the everyday man.

We talked for a while longer. Demira told me that I likely would not be able to find anyone that could sell me any spells. No one wanted to take on the Mage’s Order and make them an enemy. She offered to have someone lead me to the tavern where the dwarf was, but I insisted that I would be fine on my own.