Chapter 52
Modify
Brewer’s Reputation: 645.
Dream Cutter Stone Shard Quest: 13,300/15,000 shards.
On Beyond the Cabin, autumn leaves rained. A wild assortment of impossible colors, from all my master beers, escaped my log house by beams through the windows. I cloned gallons of each Ethereal Landmark Ale and spilled them into the space of the plane until every landmark was almost doubled: moss covered oak, fourrure blanc and soil, black cohosh, sand and sumac leaves, those raining autumn leaves, chestnut trees, and nasturtiums whose roots hung like long, wet, white hair.
I floated through the atmosphere like I was a flying monkey. I swung from hanging moss like they were vines. I practiced balance on the meandering branches of the ever growing oaks. I dove to the chestnut tree forest, and then swam back to my log house. I soared through the soft fourrure blancs and white, duster-tips of the black cohosh flowers. All the while, a lazy storm of autumn leaves crinkled through the atmosphere.
After a break from brewing, my mana replenished quickly and I kicked off from the sand. I soared high into the plane until I reached the upper branches of the ball of oak. I sat on a nest of moss and gazed down at the world that I’d built. I considered the opalescent colors of the plane and activated my new skills one by one.
[Modify Ethereal Plane Color.]
[Shiny.]
[Opalescent.]
[Prismatic.]
[Pavonine.]
[Sheen.]
[Pearl.]
[Shimmer.]
[Ghost.]
[Unearthly.]
[Holy.]
[Mystic.]
It wasn’t fair to call those options ‘colors’. The sheens could perhaps be the closest to having colors. When I selected [Sheen] I was presented with a spectrum that went from something akin to a moonless night with flecks of mica, to something like sun through an icicle with speckles of frozen, crushed pearl. Changing the color of the plane so completely, so suddenly, threw my stomach for a loop. It was almost like replacing the sun in the sky. Everything was affected. Some of the color options were brighter than others. With the use of my Modify Ethereal Plane Light, I was able to dim the brighter ones and brighten the dimmer ones. I went with a Sheen for my final selection. The color was akin to autumn sunlight through gold birch leaves. I adjusted the light until it was soft, like late daylight through a weathered window.
[Modify Ethereal Plane Atmosphere.]
[Cloud.]
[Dew Point.]
[Haze.]
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[Fog.]
[Storm.]
[Gravity.]
Changing gravity kicked my ass. The wind was knocked out of my lungs when I was suddenly pressed into the branch of the oak. My head hit the bark. My chest felt tight, I couldn’t breathe, and I quickly returned gravity to around where it had been. When the pressure let up, I coughed blood and cursed for a few minutes at my folly. That folly could have been my death.
The mistake was sobering and I cautiously returned to changing the atmosphere after my hands stopped shaking, and I stopped hacking. I didn’t mess with too much else. I modified the atmosphere so that low thin clouds wandered just overhead. Then I used Modify Ethereal Plane Texture to make the clouds tangible, and the air as dense as the air at the foot of a mountain. When I touched the clouds, it was like running my fingers through silken, sun-dried hair. And from those clouds, autumn leaves speared through.
Dellia Lucerne dropped through. She was an outline of the cosmos. I could see a star filled night in the outline of her big hair, and all through the rest of her.
“How is the hermit?” said Dellia
“Dellia!”
We floated down to the log house, talking as we descended.
“How are things with my Loved Ones Mausoleum plane?”
“I’ve been thinking a lot about it.” I said.
“I want you to turn thought into action.”
“My problem is people management. I’ll need to figure out how to manage visitors.”
“You will. There will be more than you think. I want a steady supply of those beers. I want them delivered to my temple in Sweet Gale.”
“How will I get my beer there?”
We alighted on the roof of the loghouse. She sat on the edge so that her feet dangled above the mad beam of colors that escaped a window.
“You have orcs, goblins, humans, and little besties selling your beer all over the world,” she said. “You can figure it out. My name must be on every label.”
“I make sure of that.”
“Good.”
“Since I have you—I can’t brew my fourth dungeon core into an ethereal dungeon yet.”
“Accessible when your Ethereal Dungeon Beer skill breaks into silver. Are you still turning down quests?”
“The few that I’ve been receiving have all involved traveling.”
Dellia stopped swinging her legs. She sighed. “You can use Brewer’s Portals now…”
“I’m sticking to these woods.”
“I was hoping you’d change your mind, you odd man.”
“…But it looks like the world is coming to me. High ranking adventurers, beer collectors, alchemists, grievers, and a necromancer.”
“And dream cutters. I sent them.”
I couldn’t make out her features, any expression. All I had was her tone.
“Why?” I said.
“You’ll need them for several reasons.”
“Will this end? I want to be left alone.”
“Says the man who has recently nabbed the title holder of Champion Oude Brewer.”
“That was not supposed to happen. Did you do that?”
Dellia laughed. She tossed her head and her big hair flipped back. As it cascaded over her shoulders, the air wrinkled in her outline. Stars twinkled within her form. “Potere’s follower did that work for me! I’m flattered that you think my influence is larger than it is. It continues to grow, thank you. I have amassed more than ten thousand followers already. Almost half of that are young Brewers in bronze rank. They’ll be brewing ethereal beers soon too.”
“Will this end? Will I be left in peace?”
“That depends on several things.”
I lay back with my hands behind my head. I watched the mesmeric new colors, textures, and atmosphere of the plane. If other Brewers would soon be creating ethereal planes, perhaps they could surpass me and I could be left alone. I turned to Dellia, but she had vanished.
How am I going to manage all these grievers on the Loved Ones Mausoleum plane?
I sipped that beer, blinked, and found myself on the plane with a path of pebbles between butter-colored honeysuckle and gnarled oaks that looked like cooled magma. Empty forged label barrels hovered in the shimmering atmosphere overhead. I cloned each landmark ale and refilled the barrels so they could continue dripping.
I ran a hand through my hair and shook my head. I needed to brew libation beers with the remains of people and animals. They would all need privacy to reconnect one last time with their loved ones. I could make winding paths with dens of honeysuckle and oak that offered that privacy. And I needed to change the color of the atmosphere so that the ghostly colored people and animals could be more easily discerned.
I got to work.