I, Haru, the Old Soul, the [God-Slayer], the [Truesilver Hero], the [Master of Magic], the [Unicorn Queen], the [Soul Shepherd] known around the world for monikers like “Death Princess”, “Siren”, “Anomaly”, and many others, had a problem.
I was being scolded.
Early morning. The shop was crowded and a line of Adventurers formed outside.
“Haru. Can you explain why these people think my wares are enchanted?” Helger asked with barely contained rage and a bit of curiosity.
The adventurers inside the shop were very curious about it too.
“Because they are?” I tilted my head, playing innocent. Some Adventurers nodded.
“Of course they are,” he grumbled, then shouted. “That makes no sense! Who enchanted them?”
I poked at my collarbones.
“Since when do you know how to enchant things, Haru?”
“A very long time, Master Helger. But it is just a good luck charm I made. Most effects are random. It takes almost no effort from me.”
He took a dagger from his belt. “Show me.”
I took the dagger and closed my eyes. Then I focused on it, and in a single swoop, dispelled a handful of scrying spells around me and placed a +2 Dexterity enchantment on the dagger.
“Here you go,” I turned the hilt around and handed him the weapon
“No chant, no reagent. I couldn’t see how because my spell broke,” someone in the crowd whispered.
Helger appraised the dagger. “Dexterity, plus two. Gremlins bite me. Almost no resonance either.”
A lycan [Swordsmen] put his sword on the counter. “Hey, lady, give me your best good luck charm, will you?”
I rested my hand on the sword, “Yes, sir! For one gold, I’ll put the best luck charm I can.”
“One gold?” He gasped.
“It could be more, it could be less,” I winked at him. “It all depends on who you think will grant you the good luck.”
“You, of course!” He was unsure and the Adventurers laughed at him.
“Wrong! Will it be Galbarar? Queltphion? King Locksley? Yznera? Wyxnos? Leviathan? Kraken? The bitch-mother of dragons? The First Hero? Who? I want you to dedicate this to someone. If I like this personage, I might even do it for only ten silver or charge you ten gold!”
“I know your game! You’re going to fleece me by lying to me!”
“You’re no fun, sir,” I teased him. “Of course I won’t lie. May Galbarar smite me dead if I do. Oh, now you know one of my preferences. Galbarar is out of the list, but do pray to him, okay?” I winked then shouted, angry. “You there, in the back picking pockets! You pray double hard, did you listen!”
Someone got cuffed, whimpered, and scampered out of the shop.
“Okay, okay!” The wolf-headed Adventurer, the owner of the sword underneath my hand, agreed by putting a gold coin down. “I’ll play your game, miss. Do it for the [Matriarch].”
My ears twitched. The guy showed a ton of teeth in a smile those less familiar with the Lycans and werewolves would believe a snarl.
I put a finger on the gold coin. “Damn you, Lycans, and your loyalty!” With that said, I pushed the coin toward him.
We both laughed. With everyone distracted, I broke another couple of scrying spells and placed a Luck bonus on the sword. My choice of combining {Anthem} and [Sorcery] was paying off in spades.
Helger took the sword from underneath my hand. “Plus four Luck!”
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I snatched the sword from the perplexed dwarf and offered it back to the lycan. “It seems the [Matriarch] has smiled upon you, sir. That’d be ten silver. Keep believing. She might be closer than you think.”
I lied when I said “might”.
The lycan handed me the gold coin back saying “it’s a tip” but chaos followed Helger’s statement. Everyone wanted me to enchant their things. I wobbled and drained the color from my face by using {Titan Skin}’s chameleon powers. I also used a bit of ice magic to cool down my body.
“That took too much out of me, people,” I whimpered. “Master Helger, can you excuse me? I need to go to my bed.”
He examined me. “Aye, you are cold. This must’ve taken a lot from you. I can handle this raucous bunch.”
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I had to feign weakness at the shop because it was getting dangerous. I acted before thinking and now it came back to bite me on the butt. Damn it. It was time to spend some proficiencies. Maybe it was already very dangerous because someone might want to kidnap me to get free enchants.
> You have:
>
> 4 Free Proficiencies
>
> 1 Weapon proficiency
>
> 1 Physical Proficiency
>
> 4 Technical Proficiencies
>
> 2 Mystical Proficiency
I picked [Enchanter] and [Diplomat]. I knew I needed the former now that I was exposed. The latter was my highest technical proficiency. It was profitable to increase it before picking new technical proficiencies to maximize the bonus from {Cross-Proficiency Sinergy}. They had new abilities, either unlocked by other requirements or just created by the System.
> Enchanter [ 375 / 411 ]. Select three Abilities
>
> * Hidden Methods: Increase difficulty by (Proficiency/5) to learn anything useful by observing you work.
> * Unique signature: Increase difficulty by (Proficiency/5) to tamper with your enchantments or create forgeries.
> * Attribute Bonus Compression: Attribute bonuses are (Proficiency/150) points cheaper to enchant (minimum 1)
>
>
>
> Diplomat [ 383 / 419 ]. Select two Abilities.
>
> * Trade Negotiations: When negotiating an exchange of goods, shift the final price (Proficiency/20)% in your favor.
> * Tactful Tactics: If your negotiation does not involve a threat of violence, treat (but don’t change) the final reaction (Proficiency/10) steps to see if the other party was offended by your offers.
{Cross-Proficiency Sinergy} now gave 39 bonus fast-growth points. If I could raise my [Diplomat] to 400, I would gain one more.
I decided to save my free Proficiencies and the other two Technical slots. I could pick 1 weapon, 1 physical, and 2 mystical without hurting my life goals. Physical was the easiest category to choose from. Furtivity.
> Furtivity [ 538 / 574 ]: Select two Abilities.
>
> * Dexterous: Gain (Proficiency/50) Dexterity.
> * Lucky Rogue: Gain (Proficiency/50) Luck.
I think nobody was supposed to reach 500 on several proficiencies.
Choosing one Weapon proficiency was hard. I decided to keep training [Spear] because I had a freaking artifact weapon. One very recognizable, yes, but I promised to make me an enchanted spear to work as a backup.
> Spear [ 216 / 252 ]: Select two Abilities.
>
> * Heave II: Thrust your spear at an enemy in front of you, dealing (0.75*Proficiency)% extra damage. You cannot attack for 1.5 seconds afterward.
> * Heave III: Thrust your spear at an enemy in front of you, dealing (Proficiency)% extra damage. You cannot attack for 1 second afterward.
Mystical, I had three. [Spellcaster], [Assassination], and [Mental Mastery]. [Spellcaster] would rise for free so I wouldn’t waste a pick on it. I could get the other two but I saved them. I would attend the academy, and something good might become available. But [Mental Mastery] was sitting at 475. It was so close to the golden 500 that I picked it. Unfortunately, only one of the Abilities was above 500.
> Mental Mastery [ 511 / 547 ]: Select three Abilities.
>
> * Prescience V: Predict attacks (Proficiency/550) seconds before they happen.
> * Sharpened Memory: You recall (Proficiency/10)% more details from your memories.
> * Magnetic Personality: Gain (Proficiency/50) Charisma.
There was no Ego boost available. Maybe at higher levels.
I stretched my arms up and squealed. Getting new Perks and abilities always put a spring in my step, as the saying goes. I had a lot of money from yesterday and I should go out and shop. The only problem was that I would have to go through the shop to leave the house. Or… Maybe I should just slip out through the window.
Right. Pause button. If nobody guessed by now, my kitsune side was on overdrive today. I almost fooled myself.
Why slip through the window when I could move invisible, intangible, or even through a parallel dimension? It was like I wanted to be caught or have some interesting rooftop encounter. I slipped into the Ethereal and checked around the house for problems before going to a back alley a few houses away and returning to the material world. I should update my map of Windemere.
On second thought… [Cartographer] could use some love, it’s been quite some time since I last advanced it. I decided to spend one pick on it.
> Cartographer [ 207 / 243 ]: Select two Abilities.
>
> * Self-Charted: If you personally chart a map, it contains (Proficiency/5)% more details.
> * Precision Trace: You can draw or copy maps (Proficiency/4)% faster and (Proficiency/5)% more accurate.
I shapeshifted into a hawk and flew all over the city, invisible. I had room for 3 more maps in my memory and used one of these to map the city with as much detail as I could. After I finished it a couple of hours later, I went shopping.