Connected to Adventuring Academy Database. Personal database updated.

Guild Hacker? Achievement Unlocked! You have gotten access, through word, deed, or misdeed, to the database of a guild. This is great for me! Reward? Is my undying gratitude not reward enough for you? Well, then, how’s 500 gold pieces? Huh? That good enough for you? Just kidding, Nate, I love you. 500 gp and one coupon for an Apprentice or lower ranked spellbook! Nice!

Your access to the cataloged list of magic items, which would likely take you a whole fricking year to read through, has advanced my, and therefore your, inherent understanding of enchanting!

Enchantment has increased from Novice 8 to Novice 25. Total Magic has increased by 17. Progression to Level 27 at 100%. You’ve reached Level 27! Progression to Level 28 at 52%.

Nate put his level up increase into Magic, which now sat at 358 points.

Your Enchantment skill has reached Novice 25. You have unlocked Node and Link Sense.

Node and Link Sense. Passive ability. Cooldown: None. Your Astral Sense can now identify the nodes and links used in magic items of your rank or lower.

Nate, linking his interface with Krypdyr and Desdon, went to work cataloging all of the Novice ranked magic items that had not yet been added. Even working together with Quilly able to update as quickly as the information was gathered, they weren’t even close to finishing after several hours had passed.

During the sometimes tedious process of cataloging, Nate had Quilly read him the information available about Enchantment.

Enchanting an object requires the implementation of two things: Nodes and Links. These are drawn and connected using a variety of implements, but most commonly the Tek-Pen, which itself can come in various forms.

Nodes are the runes used in the enchantment process. There are fifteen different runes, each coinciding with a deity of the realm. These are Battle, Chaos, Crafting, Death, Hunting, Knowledge, Life, Nature, Sea, Shadow, Stone, Sun, Time, Undeath, and Wisdom. Some runes are used much more frequently than others, and the Chaos and Undeath runes are largely banned as their effects are unpredictable or, frankly, evil.

Links are the threads that connect the runes. A maximum of two links can be made between nodes, as adding any additional links would weaken the effects. Each link coincides with a school of magic: Alteration, Conjuration, Divination, Enchantment, Evocation, Illusion, or Restoration. For example, if wanting to enchant a spoon to be self-heating and self-stirring, you would use the Sun rune for the heat and the Sea rune for the movement and connect them with the Conjuration and Enchantment links.

Nate: Enchantment for the movement I get, but Conjuration for the heat? Shouldn’t it be Evocation?

Quilly: It depends. If you’re wanting it to cook the liquid you are stirring, then sure. But for just warming a cup of tea Evocation may be a bit strong. Unless you like your tea very hot, of course.

Nate: Can you use the same rune twice?

Quilly: No. That would be like plugging an extension cord into itself.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Nate: That’s… surprisingly straightforward. Any limit on total number of runes you can use?

Quilly: Three is the maximum to create a self contained system. You can add additional runes, but then you have to supply an external magic source to power it, such as siphon plates.

Nate: Harry Potter said it best. I love magic!

Quilly: Me too!

“Desdon?”

He looked up from his furious scribbling, “Huh?”

“Where can I get a Tek-Pen?”

“Oh, uh,” he shuffled some papers around his now cluttered desk, finding an old beaten up object. “I recently got a new one, so you can have my old one if you’d like.” He tossed it to Nate, who almost dropped it.

“Thanks!”

Nate set his Interface Podium on a table facing away from Desdon and activated his Astral Senses. A triangle drifted up from the device as he held his new Tek-Pen. The Crafting, Knowledge, and Stone Runes were connected in a triangular lattice. Strands of Alteration blue and Conjuration orange connected the Crafting and Stone runes, Divination green and Enchantment purple connected the Crafting and Knowledge runes, and Evocation red and Illusion white connected the Knowledge and Stone runes.

Nate: Fascinating! Let me make sure I’m understanding this. The Alteration and Conjuration links between Crafting and Stone are what allows the podium to change shape and create or conjure up whatever may be needed for the table in question. The Divination and Enchantment links between Crafting and Knowledge are how it understands what I want it to do and how to manifest it. And the Evocation and Illusion links between Knowledge and Stone are how some of the more interactive parts of the Podium work, like how I was able to see and interact with the illusory contents of Skelwulf’s mark.

Quilly: Yes. You got it! The Podium is a unique item, however, in that some of it’s forms have a fourth rune that gets tied in, usually in your case the Sun rune for the heating of various foods.

Nate: Which is why I have to funnel my personal stores of magic into it to fuel the fire. That’s… so freaking cool! Why didn’t we dig into this Enchantment stuff before?

Quilly: Haven’t really had the time.

Nate: That’s fair. I can’t wait to do this with my other magic items!

Desdon had been surprised when Nate let out Terry for a bit, but was more interested in looking Terry over than afraid of the 7 foot tall beastie.

“Terry is getting hungry. Do we have anything for lunch around here? What about that cafe place?”

“Myths and Mochas? It’s not bad, actually. Run by a nice orcish lady who used to be an adventurer. Someone burned it down a while ago, but they built it back better than before. They have a ratkin baker who makes phenomenal cinnamon rolls!”

“Yes! There! Let’s do that!”

“What’s a cinnamon roll?” Krypdyr asked.

Nate shuddered with anticipation, “My friend, prepare for your life to be forever changed. Come on Terry, back in. We can’t have you scaring all the nice people at the cafe.”

The sun was warm on the outside seating as they all sat around a basket stacked high with gooey bright green cinnamon rolls.

“I’m glad they have cinnamon rolls here,” Nate said as he breathed in the fresh baked scents, “but I didn’t expect the cinnamon to be this shade of green. Looks like they have pistachios in them.”

“Pistachios?” Krypdyr asked.

“Yeah, it’s a kind of nut that is occasionally used in baked goods on earth, the pudding is about this color.” He plucked one and bit into it, his eyes closing involuntarily. “Holy shit. I need this recipe.”

The rolls were nearly finished when Nate received several notifications.

Ellisandra Woodwalker has entered your chat range.

Zeffrey von Zeppelberg has entered your chat range.

Captain Spring Jack has entered your chat range.

Fuzbalingralod Growdenander has entered your chat range.

Raglan Adoni has entered your chat range.

The last entry gave him pause.

Skelwulf Swordarm has entered your chat range.