It took me a lot of undignifed scrambling and several shocks with my staff, but Sugar Plum was eventually brought to it's knees. I had to summon two eldritch servants to hold her down after the fact, but it stand towering over the faerie and give it a pitiying smile. "Honored Faerie I apologize for what has befallen you, it was not my intention for you to run into my associates. And I would have named you something far more fitting than Sugar Plum, but this is immaterial now. What matters is that while destiny has granted you an unworthy name, these things can be outweighed by titles and epitets more worthy of your dark splendor."

The squirming faerie lays before me on the ground and I pointedly ignore the sweet plum smell that fills the air, and the thin layer of sugar that falls of Sugar Plum with each movement it makes. "As far as I am concerned this does not change our contract, do what I want and I will try to repay you for your efforts. If you don't then I will simply undo the magic keeping you here and you will return to the lands of the Fae forever marred by the name Sugar Plum."

I spread my arms out broadly with that final proclemation as I wait for the Faerie to answer. It whimpers for a few seconds before it deigns to speak to me. "There will be vengeance for this, the Night Court will brin-" The Fae is silenced when I jab it with my staff and send another wave of electricity through it. "Spare me, you might be named now but don't actually expect me to believe that the wrath of the Night Court would be aroused by...Sugar Plum?" A haughty chuckle escapes me and I move my staff away from the trembling Faerie.

The alien wrath of Sugar Plum makes the grass itself vibrate and the shadows quiver as the ancient anger of the Fae is concentrated in the little fae. "I will destroy the one who named me, I will drink it's blood and crush it's bones and rip it all to shreds. I swear it, I swear it-" Once again I interrupt the faerie by lifting my staff threateningly. "Don't swear binding oaths that you cannot keep little one, you are only alive because I have sympathy for your plight and you can still be useful for me. Do not make me regret my leniency."

I gesture with my staff and the two flickering shades of numbers and light let's go of the little Faerie. "If you prove yourself useful I might even give you more than a title and an epitet. Now go Sugar Plum, find the deep magic that I seek and do not return to me before you have done so." I dismiss the cat with a flick of my wrist and it skulks away from me and into the night. With the Faerie dismissed I can now focus on my abundant amount of APs that are mine to spend as I see fit.

First I spend three points on the level 1 spells and rituals I find most prudent to invest in. Eye for Reagents, Suspend Lesser Spell, and Simple Mana Shield. These will serve me well in preparing my work for Vles and for my future survival in combat against sapients here. Eye for Reagents will let me find subsitutes that I can use in my work with Alchemy and Enchantments, the suspend lesser spell and simple mana shield additions will let me prepare for and protect myself better in combat. With these options I order my NVR to display the options I have available to me at Standing Level 2.

AP Spell Market(Level 2+)

Banish Deception: Destroys moderate and lesser illusions as well as mundane falseholds. Curse of Stupidity: Reduce the intelligence of the target by 3 or 1...whichever is highest. Eldritch Javelin: Conjures a mystical javelin of the energy befitting your Patron, let's you use this as a ranged attack. Sucking Sinkhole: Makes the earth under a specific target try to suck them down into the ground. Eldritch Swarm: Summons an eldritch swarm of entities that attacks a chosen target. Transform Lesser Vehicle: Let's you alter a vehicle the size of a personal car or smaller. Sublimate Ground: Sublimates a chunk of the ground/floor. Merge Machines: Merge two handheld machines into one device that combines traits from both. Eldritch Steed: Summons an eldritch creature to serve as a war steed Sonic Scream: Amplifies your voice to a damaging scream.

I flick through the spell list and while some of the spells have merit and are worth future inspection, I decide that I will only go for one of them. As much as it pains me the logical path forward is to finally remove my lack of combat ability. It goes against all my sensibilities as a Warlock, but at the end I decide to acquire the Eldritch Javelin spell. A direct attack which I can use at a distance, will go a long way in ensuring that I will have an arsenal for any conceivable combat situation. After that has been done and I note that I have spent 5 out of my 13 APs, I decide that I need to shore up my weaknesses. Which are my lack of blueprints and recipies to draw from, as they will be very helpful not only for personal use but also in equipping the Goblins and my crew.

AP Blueprints Market

Warding Circle Against Signals(1): Ward that lets you put up a permanent circle to jam technological signals Boots of Speed(1): Boots that doubles the running speed of the wearer Mystical Security Camera(1): Enchanted security camera that can record mystical information. Ring of the False Face(1): Ring that transplants a face and let's the owner of the ring wear that face. Summoning Anchor(2): An anchor that let's you anchor beings summoned by spells to matieral reality for several days. Cape of Invisibility(2): Enchants a cape or other fabric to bend light away from the wearer. Warding Circle Against Entry(2): Puts up a ward that restricts entry for beings attempting to enter that area. Rod of Midas(2): This rod let's the wielder channel mana through it and into material objects to turn them into pure gold. Ghost-Dragons Scales(2): Makes an item capable of letting the wearer phase through objects. Adaptive Firewall(2): Makes a mystical computer program to make ones systems protected against all mundane hackers and viruses.

Some of the presented blueprints are quite frankly ridiculous for a being with my sensibilities. Why would I both with the Rod of "Midas" for example, I am no greedy sorcerer squabbling for riches. Had it let me transmute flesh into gold then maybe it would be of interest to me, but since it doesn't I can comfortably dismiss it for now. Some of the more technological options could be interesting, but I am an utter neophyte at such things. So my ability to create the items would be severely limited.

The Warding-Circles have definitive merit, but as it stands I don't know how much of my life will be spent on the move. Putting down wards and traps before hiding in a tower, has served me in the past. However, only idiotic beings clamour to return to the old days, when said days are no longer relevant. In a world of countless exploreable planets it would be foolish to limit myself in such a fashion. 

A summoning anchor would be very interesting for me to have, when I am capable of using simple spells to conjure Eldritch horrors having something to anchor them with would be useful. My Eldritch servants could be sent out to do more complex work for example, or I could put down an Eldritch Knight to guard something for me. It could definitely help with my current plans to aid the Goblin insurgency.

In the end I decide to choose the Summoning Anchor and the Cape of Invisbility, as the former would be useful to me on a short and long term. While the latter would aid me on a more personal basis, as I don't exactly intend to mass produce such capes. That leaves me with 4 APs after having bought both blueprints. With these tools at my disposal I turn to the next list that I have not explored yet.

AP Recipes Market:

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Potion of Clear Sight(1): Potion which improves eyesight, even cures temporary blindness and other irritants to the eyes. Salve of Endurance(1): A salve which when applied to someone increases their stamina by +2 Gasseous Phial of Laughter(1): The liquid will turn into gas when in contact with air, those who inhale it will start to laugh uncontroleably Lesser Antidote(1): Antidote against most forms of mundane toxins, venoms, drugs and other substances that impair your body. Living Anti-Circuitry Acid(1): A semi alive acid that when poured on a machine will deliberately flow into the circuits and damage them only. Potion of Fire Resistance(2): A potion which makes the imbiber greatly resistant to fire. Elixir of Night Extension(2): This elixir makes the drinker able to sustain themselves for days without sleep. Salve of Bestial Musk(2): This salve when applied will make most non-magical beasts react to the wearer as a packleader of their species, even when such a species have no social hierarchy. Drought of the Dragon(2): Substance which makes you gain draconic traits for 2 hours. Living Poison(2): This poison is identical to another poison or drug that the Alchemist brews, but with the added factor that it is alive and sapient. As such it can make decisions as to when it should begin to affect the victim.

Alchemy has always been the art of magic which I have focused on the least. It has always been the domain of proper Alchemists and Witches, rather than Warlocks like myself. Therefore, with my weakened attributes and relatively middling skill level, I quickly decide to only go for the neophyte recipes for now. After a few moments of consideration I decide to spend my points on only three of them. Who knows if I would have to buy something in a time of need, and as such I should save a point. I buy Lesser Antidote, The Laughing Gas, and the Living Acid. Morgera and Tlokbur had explained circuitry to me.  Subtle sabotage would be very easy with such an acid at our disposal.

With all of my purchases done it is time to get to the real work. As I have to finally inject magic into the pitiful state of my equipment. I therefore, promptly undress and stand in the nude over my robes, cape, staff, booths, and gloves. First, I pick up my gloves and a sharp rock from the ground. I carefully start inscribing Runes of Empowerment into the leather like material of the gloves, hopefully, the runes will make the pulling mechanism of the gloves stronger. With each carefully carved rune I focus a careful trickle of mana into them.

It takes me an hour of painstaking work to get the runes right, with such a crude carving device while also having to carefully control the mana flow. When the enchantment reaches it final stage I carefully stretch my mind into the mana enhanced runes, and I tie a tread of mana between each of them. Which when I am done let's the energy elegantly flow through all of them.

I put on the glove and test them by trying to draw the staff back to my hands, and it flies into my hands with a loud whomp. My hands shake from the impact as the staff flew with much more speed into my grip, this will take some getting used to. But it will definitely make the whole process more efficient and make it harder for any combatants to intercept the staff.

With that done I focus my attention back on the staff itself. I could just try and carve or paint Runes of Empowerment into it, to make the electrical attack and it's blunt damage more devestating. However, this seems to be a too simple of an enchantment for what is to be my primary weapon. Something more experimental seems significantly more appropriate for the task at hand.

I start polishing a piece of quartz I had found while preparing the clearing. Or it might be some other kind of crystal, but it seems pretty similar to quartz. To make a mana amplifier one usually only needs a gem, it is common to attach the stone to a pole or other device to elevate it. In effort to make it able to draw in mana from both the ground and the air. However, what if I attach the mana amplifier gem to my staff in stead, while also inscribing runes of empowerment into the staff.

The rock is polished over and over and over again, while I also focus mana into it. As the hours pass I also chip the stone to properly form it into a more round like shape. Affixing it to my staff was actually more difficult, but with enough vines I manage to bind the stone to the top of the staff. I will get Tlokbur or someone else to work out a more permanent solution, but this should be sufficient for now.

I spend half a day after having slept in my clearing on the final step of the experiment. With the stone affixed I needed to carve in runes of empowerment into the staff, the binding vines, and the mana amplification gem. The gem has started to glow purple with the pulsating eldritch power contained within, but once I have carved in the runes. I then have to spend the rest of the day carefully attempting to bind the mana thread between runes in the stone, vines, and the staff itself. Connecting the magic flowing through all three to make it into one truly connected and empowered object.

CONGRATULATIONS! You have just learned a new Blueprint: Electrical Eldritch Staff(2). This staff let's you channel mana from yourself or it to attack others at a distance as well as in close combat. Firing eldritch bolts from the mana amplification gem on top, or unleashing empowered electrical jolts in close combat.

This is the first time I have actually attempted to design my own Warlock staff, rather than just leaving it to an enchanter or claiming it from a vanquished enemy.  With a truly magical weapon in my possession now, I can almost call my current situation tolerable. Next I practice with the staff, shooting out bolts of mana from it on nearby rocks and trees. The purple blasts of energy are powerful enough that I consider it to have been a worthwhile if extremely strenuous time and effort investment.

Before, I seek out sleep's sweet release I turn to my robes next. I do a simple improvised ritual channeling the principle of hardening into the armored cloth to ensure that the robes become far better at protecting my physical frame. I do so by mystically destroying several rocks in the clearing and then channeling their hardness into the robes, I tie the magic in place by painting a rune on each part of the set with my own blood. This is different from a true blueprint as rather than making the robes themselves magical, I have just used magic to harden them. The clothes still don't contain a spec of mana outside of the spell itself.

To my satisfaction my control and insight attribute both increase to 3, after the very difficult process of enchanting all of these items, in conjunction with the nightly practice in my VR-Dreamscape.  Maybe it will not take me too long to reclaim my glorious status as a proper Warlock, if things continue to progress at it's current pace. Yet I think that such expectations are more naive than not, as it is my high skill level that forces my pitiful attributes to progress rather than anything else.

The final stage is the cape and the boots, I only harden the boots and put Runes of Empowerment on them. Making an invisibility cape is what turns out to be the far more difficult task, consulting my knowledge of the blueprint makes it clear that it requires far more ingredients. Either I would have to make the cape myself and carefully let mana flow into each thread of the cape, this would take a long time and require a lot of skills I myself am not proficient at. To turn my existing cape into a cape of invisbility, I need to coat and merge it with several mana imbued specs of crystal.

To my surprise it is Morgera who comes to my aid, as I remember one of his comments about turning sand into glass. The craft of glass blowers had never interested me in my past life, so I had not known about this little nugget of information. Melting nearby sand would let me transform it into glass which I could then break into a myriad of tiny little pieces.

After spending days in the clearing by myself, I seek out the Goblins in the camp and ask for their aid in procuring me glass mass rather than actual glass objects. Vles vouching for me is probably the only reasons the Goblins were properly cordial when listening to my request. I have to wait for a day, but one of the agents returns with a barrel full of chunks of glass. This extremely heavily barrel is then transported to my secretive area of the camp. With the barrel there I then have to let mana flow into the glass while I meditate for over a day, to properly imbue all the chunks.

Rather than making a mana amplification gem like I had done with the quartz, I then the next day blast the pieces of glass apart with my staff. Making thousands of mana imbued shards of glass in the barrel, with the shards ready it then is up to me to painstakingly push the pieces of glass into my cape. The mana causes the shards to melt and blend in with the black fabric of the cape. After several hours of painstaking work, I have managed to let hundreds of the glass shards merge with my cape. I feel with my Insight that the cape has been fully transformed by now. With that my arsenal has been completed.