Chapter 14
Jay woke up early. He'd risen at an early hour for years now, being forced to wake on time for his work shifts with the cable company. He got up and checked through his packet for a map, which showed a bath house on The Guild grounds. Jay stopped off there for a much needed bath and paid a few copper to have his clothes magically cleaned. He showed up for breakfast clean and holding his Mighty Book and Toy Box.
Breakfast was a meal of bread, cheese, and some fruit. Not a lot of food but Jay could grab a bag of fried chicken later from the stall Aiden had shown him if he got hungry early. Jay was still eating when Aiden showed up, heading over to sit with him after getting a plate of food. “Morning! Ready for another day of walking through the city!” he asked cheerfully.
“Sure.” Jay said. “This is way more fun than my last job.”
“What was your last job?” Aiden asked.
“I went to people's homes and they complained to me a lot. I also did some technical stuff involving devices you guys don't have here. Then I would have to climb on to their roofs or up ladders or crawl around basements too sometimes.” Jay said between popping grapes in to his mouth.
“You're right. This sounds much better.” Aiden said before he went quiet and focused on eating his meal.
They almost were finished eating when M'redith finally showed up and placed a flat cardboard box on the table. “Here,” she said as she pushed the box across the table towards Jay, “I picked you up something this morning. Open it!”
She was wearing nicer clothing than yesterday, what appeared to be a pair of jeans without pockets, a rose colored button up top with the top two buttons open, and her short hair pulled back in to a pony tail, which her hair was barely long enough to handle. She looked on at Jay nervously.
Jay couldn't think of a reason for her to buy him anything and he looked at Aiden questioningly who merely shrugged. Jay opened the box and snatched his hands back as the box began to disappear a little at a time in to motes of light.
Aiden and M'redith both laughed when he pulled his hands back. “Its just gift packaging, it won't hurt you!” M'redith said, trying not to laugh again at him. “It cuts down on waste. Its just magic formed packaging. It isn't really made of anything so once its usefulness is done it turns back in to magic. See? Simple.”
Jay looked a little embarrassed, “Sorry, not used to magical gift boxes that disintegrate after use,” but grinned as he said it while lifting the item the box had contained. He thought it was a strap of some kind but what for? He couldn't figure out what to do with it and gave a puzzled smile, “Thank you. I don't know why you got me a gift, or what exactly this is but I appreciate the thought.” Jay finally said.
M'redith grinned a silly grin before she caught herself and ended up looking a little embarrassed herself.
“Oh, sorry. You have never seen one I'm guessing? Some priests use them, the ones that fight anyway. They're used to hang their holy books off of their belts, but they're magic – the books shrink and stay stuck to your belt when you aren't using them. That way the book isn't flapping all over the place when you run or fight. I got it off a priest that owed me a favor but I'm sure it would work for an Adventurer using a Mighty Book just as well.” M'redith finished after getting all her words out in a rush. She had explained everything. Except for why she was getting Jay presents at all.
Jay paused and thought back to his Figurine which had a simple leather strap with a book hanging from it. This would be along the same idea but much more helpful. He could wear the Book all the time if he wanted to.
“Thanks M!” he said happily. M'redith smiled at Jay's use of a nickname and walked around the table to show him how it fastened on to his Book and then helped him attach it to his belt. Now when he held the book open in his hands it was full size but when he let the book drop to his side on the strap it noiselessly shrunk to the size of a paperback book and didn't restrict him at all when he moved.
“It works great! How can I make this up to you?” Jay asked grinning. He loved loot and items with weird magical effects. “Oh I know! Here!” he said as he handed her the Toy Box. “I waited for you, I thought you might want to take out the first toy? I don't know what it is yet.”
For a moment M'redith appeared touched by Jay's thoughtfulness but she hid it so quickly that Jay couldn't be sure he saw what he thought he did.
M'redith grinned and opened the lid, taking out a small black egg. Placing it on the table she tapped it and it hatched, the egg turning in to motes of light just like the cardboard box had earlier. What remained on the table was a small two inch tall animated parrot. Jay tried to Identify it.
Sunny (Toy) – Lucky Mascot [Legendary]
Apparently the toys were Legendary just like the Toy Box that spawned it. Hatched it? Jay wasn't sure which.
“He's so cute!” M'redith cooed, offering the tiny parrot a hand. Sunny flew to her hand and landed briefly before returning to the table, leaving a tiny white chest on her palm. When she poked the chest it went up in green motes of light. Sunny screeched, “UPGRADE!” which caused a bit of a commotion in the immediate area.
A few other people came over and Jay happily let them play with the toy which everyone seemed to think was a fun if not useless item. Still, everyone that came over wanted to get a treasure chest on their hand to send up in motes of light. Sometimes just being fun is enough, Jay thought.
After M'redith finished eating Jay stopped off at his room to get his walking stick. He'd tried to Identify it the other day while walking to K'tharkle but had gotten Staff
“I need to get this identified and I'd like to get a writing kit. A decent one.” Jay said as they walked along the main road The Guild's main entrance resided on. “And some clothes with pockets. I can't live like this,” Jay finished while miming trying to put his hands in to his non-existent pants pockets.
Aiden had been strangely quiet since breakfast but chimed right in, “You still need to tell us about Jay's book too. Its great that he can carry it but what does he do with it?”
M'redith nodded. “Simplest explanation is that a Mighty Book works like a focus for some of his Adventurer abilities, sort of the way a Priest uses a holy book for a focus. A Mighty Book might have a few abilities of its own but those would need to be discovered by you. A Mighty Book can do a lot or a little, it all depends on how much work you put in to developing your Book. You get them as a common item and then unlock abilities by feeding upgrade stones in to the book. Each rarity upgrade allows you to unlock new abilities, which costs more upgrade stones. They can be as powerful as you can afford to make them.”
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“The best part for you right now though is notes. You can take class notes right in your Book and it'll keep them organized for you. You can take any notes and it will organize them for you. Its like having a magic filing system on your hip. Most people with the Adventurer Class end up with a Book and unlock the language translation ability, the mapping ability if they can afford it, and then at least one sense ability. Like hidden door, hidden passage, hidden treasure, that sort of thing. Mighty Books are handy.” she finished.
Jay focused on his book to Identify it.
Guide for the Intrepid Traveler (Mighty Book) [Rare] – bound to Jay
Jay said hesitantly, “This one is Rare. Is that ok if it doesn't start out as common?”
Aiden focused on the Book, “He's right. Its Rare. Gods you're one lucky Adventurer aren't you? Its like it just rains loot for you.”
Jay laughed, “Hardly. I have a book, a magical book leash, a backpack, and a staff. And a map I made, but other than that its not like I'm rich.”
Aiden stopped in the road, “Seriously? Do you have any idea how much money you made yesterday? That was a small fortune. In one day. You're doing pretty well for a level 1 anything.”
M'redith had been listening in as well as they stopped off at a stall she wanted to check out selling brightly decorated silk scarves. She bought a white one with decorative roses on it and neatly stowed it in her satchel. “You don't know how item rarities work I'm guessing either, right?” she asked Jay as they walked away from the scarf vendor.
“Sure I do, it goes common/mundane, uncommon, rare, and.. legendary?” Jay answered, becoming less and less sure of himself as he spoke.
M'redith huffed but her facial expression seemed pleased that she had an opportunity to explain something to Jay. “It goes white - common mundane, green - uncommon magic, blue - rare, purple – very rare, yellow - legendary, red – artifact,” she began.
“Now imagine each one was a number starting with one. You'd have 1-common, 2-uncommon, 3-rare, 4-very rare, 5-legendary, 6-artifact.” she continued.
Jay nodded his head. “I'm with you so far.”
They all stopped on the side of the road to let some horses and carts go by before M'redith continued. “Now if you want to upgrade an item you look at its rarity. Lets say its common. To upgrade it to rare you'd have to pay its next level times 10 in upgrade stones. So a common item would cost 20 upgrade stones to reach uncommon, then an additional 30 stones to reach rare, and so on.”
M'redith paused to see if Jay would catch on to her main point. When he didn't after a short time she said it out loud for him. “Your Book is rare but should have started out as common. Which means you saved 50 upgrade stones that you won't have to save up to get the Book to rare. That is a small fortune right there. Even if the Book doesn't have almost anything else unlocked it represents a ton of upgrade stones.”
Jay didn't respond for two or three city blocks as they moved through the city. Aiden and M'redith chatted while Jay tried to figure out what his items were actually worth. If what his friends had said was true he was well off both with money and items. Maybe the AI had set him up with a few boons after all.
Jay hadn't been chased by enemies or forced forward along some path of prophecy. Since he arrived he'd been simply careening from one place and person to another until he had arrived at The Guild. It'd only been a few days but it was already starting to feel like home. Or, at least, a home.
“Ok,” Jay finally said, “I think I get it now. I'm not rich but I'm close so long as I'm careful with what I have.”
Aiden laughed, “That is actually a really good way to describe your situation. Just keep your head down and you should be fine.”
M'redith smiled at Jay when she caught him looking at her but didn't say anything. They arrived at a corner lot and the shop took up the entire first floor all of which were fabrics of various types. “This is Sweet Vinnie's place. There was apparently an incident with some kids and some candy that ruined a few bolts of fabric, it was a big thing. Now everyone calls him Sweet Vinnie. Not his fault.”
An older man waved at them from behind a counter, “What do you want?” He wore a burgundy vest with three buttons and a white dress shirt and black pants with shiny dress shoes. His white hair topped a head that was mostly hidden behind the giant pair of glasses he wore.
“Pockets.” Jay stated bluntly. “I want a few pairs of pants with pockets and a vest with pockets along with a few changes of shirts. Some matching boots and gloves like the ones I'm wearing as well although those don't need pockets. The outfit should look like it all goes together but of high enough quality to survive a dungeon run.”
Vinnie stared at Jay without blinking while he spoke. “That,” he said with a pause, “would be an interesting project.” Setting down the clothing he had been handling he brought Jay back to a fitting room. Aiden stayed out in the front room and moved about looking at the various fabrics making it quite clear that he had no idea what he was doing. M'redith followed Jay in to the fitting room taking a seat along the wall.
Vinnie took some measurements using a length of cord without markings. Jay opened his mouth to ask a question but Vinnie beat him to it. “Its magic.” Jay closed his mouth and nodded. Of course it was magic. Magical tailor measuring tape. Jay was loving Eden.
Vinnie brought out a few fabric samples which M'redith helped Jay pick from. After an hour or so of measurements, fabric shopping, color swatch picking, and Jay showing Vinnie what cargo pants are, what a load bearing vest is as well as the various pouches that would attach to it they were finally done. Vinnie now had a number of drawings Jay sketched for him to work from. Jay signed a bank draft (magic!) for 18 silver and shook the man's hand. The first outfit would be ready by tomorrow and would be delivered to his room at The Guild. The rest would be delivered a few days later.
“I can't wait to see how they come out.” Jay said happily as they left the shop, already picturing himself wearing it.
“Me too.” said M'redith quietly.
“What was that?” Aiden asked while looking over at her.
“Nothing.” M'redith said much louder. “Where to next?”
Jay saw something up ahead and threaded his way through the crowd to a vendor with a table of what looked like small waxed cardboard boxes. It was the smell that pulled in Jay however, “Are those nuts?” he asked.
Handing over three boxes for a few copper each Jay passed one out to each of his friends then opened his box to find a small amount of freshly roasted cashew nuts, lightly salted. The three munched on their snack as they walked along the streets block by block. When they were finished their cardboard boxes floated off in to motes of light. They paused for a moment when they realized they were lost.
Aiden went over to talk with a city guard before returning with a grin. “There's a flea market nearby we should go to. I bet you could find a nice writing kit there for cheap money.”
Jay nodded, “As long as the quality is good I don't mind spending less.”
M'redith grinned at Jay's joke and the group set off in the opposite direction they had been walking.