(Day 105) Februarius 11th, 12th year of the Dragon, Age of Enlightenment
Through the months of Ianuarius and Februarius Adam continued to study the tomes he could and tried to start reviewing the spell books Eric showed him. There was a common entry on each page that he could make out but then the rest of the text was gibberish to him. Or a more important way to say it. He knew he could imprint the contents of the books into his spell slots because the option came up, but he wouldn’t know exactly what he was learning permanently. Something like what a dumbass politician once said back on Earth when the people were asking to see what was in a bill before it was signed, "We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it." The people hired her dumb ass, they asked to see what she was working on, and she said something that was stupidly arrogant. One of the most absolutely idiotic statements ever uttered. There was no way Adam was going to give up permanent spell slots until he knew exactly what he was going to get. Some entries looked like the names of spells from the RPGs he’d read before, but he was wary to assume they’d do exactly what he thought they’d do from a game. He did not have the knowledge to make informed decisions about what he should do so he held off on learning spells.
The other thing he’d done was try to utilize his Identify skill on the items he’d recovered from the Ranger Assassin. He found 3 Platinum 12 Gold, 15 Silver, and 8 copper. The items had been interesting but ultimately a letdown. Though his Identify skill did notice the telltale magic incorporated in every coin he’d picked from Alberon’s coin pouch. After which he’d checked the coins in his treasury and noticed the same. It looked like Abi had been correct as neither opal had a magical fingerprint. The opal he created looked like the one he’d copied. He moved all coins and gems to his treasury and then used Identify on the rest of the gear. The bow was a Composite Longbow of Striking. It offered a +1 to attack and damage. He also found two more level 50 fireball arrows which once identified confirmed what Abi had surmised. On impact, they would do 10d10 x 50 points of damage to everything within a 20-foot radius. While the attack probably wouldn’t have hurt him too badly, those arrows could be quite dangerous. He moved the bow and arrows down to the armory and left them there.
The last item he found that was magical was a Belt of Holding that wasn’t soulbound to anyone, well it was now. He’d put it on and had been able to activate and use it. Inside the belt, he’d found the common supplies a Ranger might need to survive a trek through the wilderness. It looked like the belt had a 30 x 20 grid structure and reduced all carried weight by 90%. There were 3 waterskins, 7 days of food rations, a bedroll, and a tent as well as other items the ranger might have needed to climb a rock face or tree. The belt was a truly wonderful find.
Adam also had a set of Black Leather Armor and a Black Cloak and black clothes; Shirt, pants, and socks, to wear under the armor. Nothing special, but he moved the brown cloak he was wearing to the belt and put on the black cloak. He stored the leather armor and clothes in the armory.
Today wasn’t about thinking about what he’d done or thinking about what he’d studied or reminiscing over the items he’d found. Today, he was considering heading to the city to further his training. He’d learned just about everything he could here. As the months had gone by Adaline had come by around dinner and they had gotten to know each other. She was eating breakfast with him this morning when he started talking.
“Well, that’s it for now. Looks like I should be heading south tomorrow. If I’m remembering the maps correctly there is a large city just about 500 miles south and east of here along an inlet that leads out to the ocean. With that new ability to teleport, getting back here won’t be too much of a problem. I’d ask if you wanted to come along but I think for this first foray I’m going to need to go out on my own so I can judge the lay of the land.
“Probably for the best as some creatures will be able to discern my nature and alignment with a glance,” Adaline said.
Activating his interface, he set Adaline’s access to indefinite. When she received the notification, she looked at him questioningly. “Friends help friends. Just so you know, while there is an even slimmer chance that I can die in this Universe now, should it happen I am soul-bound to return to my Universe. Which means I’ll be back. Giving you permanent access just seems like the proper thing for a friend to do for another friend. Free baths, a bed, and all that. Food-wise, I don’t know how long what’s here will last as I haven’t made any effort to restock the treasury. Though if you come across…. hold on for a sec, Eric, please come here.”
Eric walked into the dining room “Yes master.”
“If I were to give you a command to take any money or treasure that Adaline drops off in the foyer, could you place it in the Treasury to be used to refill the Larder?”
Eric thought about it for a moment then responded. “Yes, though she will not be able to enter the library, treasury, armory, or second library without specific authorization from you.”
Stolen story; please report.
“Understood,” Adam responded. “Second question, can you keep a running total of all donations that she drops off so that when I return, I know how much I owe her?
“Easily” Erik responded.
“Good then from this point on, if Adaline calls for you to make a deposit to the treasury please respond and do so while keeping an accurate list of all donations.”
“It will be done master” Eric responded.
Looking at him quizzically, Adaline asked, “I would donate treasure to your treasury why?”
Oh, didn’t I tell you? Gemology is one of the few skills I absolutely mastered back where I’m from and before I ever arrived here. I can do things like this.” Holding out his hand he ordered his nanites to create a fist-sized, flawlessly cut, diamond. Once the diamond was shaped and formed he withdrew the nanites from it and handed the diamond to Adaline. “For you”
Eyes sparkling, Adaline looked at Adam and said, “You know, you should have started with that trick back when we first met.” She looked at the diamond for a full minute before continuing. “So, I would surmise that you can create pretty much any gem rock or metal?”
“Not exactly” Adam answered “For example, I’m absolutely sure that I cannot create Adamantite or any other metal that has magic tied into it in some way. But Gold, Silver, Rubies, Diamonds, Emeralds, and any other normal common metals or gems. Sure. At will and unlimited.”
“Seriously, you should have started with that. Remember self-interest. Dragon. Dragon Hoard, you are getting what I’m selling here right Adam?” she asked.
“I see your point,” he said smiling. “When I return if there’s something you would like please let me know. If you donate to the treasury, I will give you a return on your donation plus at least 10%. Not going to set a specific bonus because it costs me nothing to make the gems or precious metals. Also, I will probably spoil you more often than not” he said with a smile. “Maybe someday, you’ll even invite me to come see this Dragon Hoard you just hinted at?”
Adaline’s eyes grew wary then she smiled slyly. “You’d try to make it bigger and drive this old girl crazy as she tried to figure out what you added to it?”
“Guilty as charged,” Adam said laughing.
“Someday I may show my hoard to you. But I would have a vow from you that the only way you’d add something to my hoard is by showing it to me first. You have absolutely no idea how particular a girl can be about her treasures, especially girl dragons.” Lifting the first-sized diamond, she looked questionably at Adam “Mine, really?”
“Yes, yours, really. Thank you for spending time with me these last few months. I thoroughly enjoyed our conversations. Now scoot, I can see the gleam in your eye and know that you have a specific spot where you want to put that diamond. I’ll be leaving in the morning. If you stop by later, I’ll conjure up my music box and we can dance for a bit. I might even put on the AC/DC you seemed to like so much the last time we listened to my decadent music.
Adaline leaned over, pecked him on the cheek, and ran out the door calling over her shoulder, “I will be back later” as she turned into her black dragon form and flew off.
She might be an Ancient Black Dragon but sometimes, she reminded him of some of the excited teenage girls he’d grown up with. Priceless.
Adaline returned just after dark. They ate, danced, and listened to his ‘decadent’ music well into the night. Then they each went off to their own beds. In the morning Adam awoke to find Adaline already gone. He went down to the armory and equipped himself to look somewhat normal and placed most of the gear in the Belt of Holding. He went to the treasury and picked up a copper so that he was once again carrying 10 copper, 10 silver, 2 gold, a platinum, and both opals. He then moved the money pouch to the Belt of Holding. If he needed more wealth, he’d either create it or he was sure, run across something that would be salvageable. He made sure that the doors to the secret Library, Treasury, and Armory were closed, then headed upstairs and ordered the stairway in the library to close. He noticed Eric sitting at a desk nearby and he called out.
“Eric, I’m about to leave for a while, please take care of our home?”
“Yes, Master. If I might ask, will you be gone long?”
“Honestly, no idea.”
With that, Adam walked out of the upstairs Library and headed out of his Abode. As he stepped outside into the early morning, He made his way to the trail the assassin had used to reach his abode and started making his way down the mountain. The trail wasn’t treacherous for someone on foot. As he made his way to the edge of the cliff he paused to take in the view. Forests off to the south. A mostly sheer cliff that went off to the east and the west and mountains to the North. He could just see the haze of what he expected to be the Ocean, barely visible along the eastern horizon.
The path led down the mountain in a switch-back pattern. He realized that his Abode sat at least a half, no, closer to a mile above the forest that spread out from the base of the cliff. Also, there were some hills right at the base of the cliff. Excited to finally be doing something he started down the trail. He realized that at a normal pace, without jumping or flying it would probably take him the whole day to get down. He wasn’t in any kind of hurry and truthfully, he was going to have to practice blending in. So, he started down the trail. Slow and steady. Just your normal mortal man climbing down a mountain. Nothing to see here, really.
From her vantage high above Adam, Adaline watched him begin his trek down the mountain. She admitted to herself that she had become fond of this human and that things were more interesting with him. Winging over and turning to the North she began flying for the frozen waste. She had old friends to go see and perhaps a little fun to be had.