“Excuse me, sir?”

The blacksmith looked up at me and gave a curt nod of recognition, but said nothing. He was working the bellows, shirtless and sweating in the cool mountain air, exerting himself with focused steadiness.

“I was hoping you could tell me where I might find someone with a use for this scrap of metal,” I said, holding up one of the scraps we’d found.

He grunted and nodded. “Any smith in this town has a use for it,” he said. “It’s an ancient alloy of derunium—heavy and brittle on its own, but we can process it into something better. You could also bring it to Everard—his house is up on the hill there. He studies the damned thing.”

Quest Completed — The Great Machine

Reward: Sturdy Mountaineering Boots

I looked up from this message to see the dwarf eying me and looking somewhat bemused. “Got it?”

“Uh. Yeah,” I said, realizing that he might have helped quite a few players turn this quest in already.

“Enjoy your new boots,” he said, turning back to the bellows.

“Thanks.”

I equipped the boots:

Uncommon Equipment — Sturdy Mountaineering Boots

These fur-lined boots are built to retain their grip on steep slopes and in icy weather. Increased traction makes it harder to slip on steep slopes and ice.

+ 15 Frost Resistance

Then I went straight back to the observatory, and Anoth found me when I went inside.

“You’re back,” he said. “Know what you’re after?”

“Actually, I need a few moments,” I said. “Mind if I sit down somewhere and get back to you?”

“Not at all,” he said, gesturing to some seats by a window that faced a beautiful mountain view.

I sat, then bought the skill:

Scribe Training

Type: Profession, Magic, Scribe

Cost: 6

Learning this skill allows you to write common scrolls, spell cards, and some common spell books. You learn two such recipes upon buying this skill, and can learn other recipes by encountering recipe books or recipe cards out in the world.

And was prompted with a quest right away:

Quest - A Scribe is Born

Objective: Craft a spell card or spell book.

Reward: 2x Common Item – Card Stock, 2x Common Item – Paints

I accepted, then looked at the prompt to select recipes. It didn’t differentiate between the aforementioned scrolls, cards, and books, and so I assumed I’d get all three for any spell that I chose.

The list had 7 entries, but Magic Arrow was grayed out because I had it already, which left 6:

Recipe Selection — Common Scribe Training

Choose two spells. You will gain the recipe for their spell cards.

Spell – Condemn

Requires Divine Affinity

Cost: 2 Mana / 3 Seconds

Cast Time: Channeled

Range: 20 Meters

Effect: 17 Damage, Special (see below)

This spell deals continuous damage to your target. The first second that you cast this spell, it deals no damage. The second second that you cast this spell, it deals half damage. From then on, the spell deals its full damage to your target.

Spell – Hex of Chains

Cost: 5 Mana

Cast Time: 2.4 Seconds

The author's content has been appropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Range: 20 Meters

Effect: Hex of Chains

You conjure a set of magical chains and fling them through the air toward your target. If struck, the target is immobilized for a short period of time which is reduced by their resistances. Creatures gain a resistance bonus against this spell for each time it has been cast on them in a day.

Spell – Force Armor

Cost: 4 Mana

Cast Time: Instantaneous

Range: 0 Meters; Self

Effect: 5 Defense Rating

You wreathe yourself in a suit of semi-real conjured armor that deflects blows, gaining a bonus to your Defense Rating for as long as this spell is active. Unlike most armor spells, Force Armor can be dispelled.

Spell – Charm of Gliding

Cost: 4 Mana + 12 Mana / Minute

Cast Time: 0.2 Seconds

Range: 0 Meters; Self

Effect: Gliding

This spell allows you to glide, slowing the rate at which you fall through air and allowing some amount of control over which direction you travel. You are considered to be casting a spell for as long as this spell is active.

Spell – Mindlash

Cost: 2 Mana

Cast Time: 2.4 Seconds

Effect: 44 Damage

This spell deals damage to your target. If that target dies within 10 seconds of being damaged by this spell, you have a chance to obtain any desired piece of information from their mind, which reaches you as a set of vague impressions or experiences.

Spell – Spell Strike

Cost: 2 Mana

Cast Time: 1.6 Seconds

Strike Cooldown: 6 Seconds

Range: Special: your weapon’s range

Effect: 15 Damage

You strike your target with your magically-empowered weapon, dealing basic attack damage and additional spell damage. This additional damage is typed as if you had 0 Physical Affinity.

I pondered over these for a while. Truth was, I only had a few spells I could afford to replace, and I liked all of them. Some of these seemed good—Hex of Chains sounded quite powerful to me. But Charm of Gliding also felt like it might come in handy later on, so I took both.

I took the recipes for each. I opened the card for Hex of Chains:

Common Recipe – Spell Card – Hex of Chains:

Cost: 5 Mana

Cast Time: 2.4 Seconds

Range: 20 Meters

Effect: Hex of Chains

You conjure a set of magical chains and fling them through the air toward your target. If struck, the target is immobilized for the duration of this spell, which is reduced by their resistances. Creatures gain a resistance bonus against this spell for each time it has been cast on them in a day.

Ingredients:

Requires Scribe’s Paintbrushes

1x Common Card Stock

1x Common Paints

1x Iron Chain — a higher quality of metal may be used

I read the last requirement and sighed. Anoth had the card stock, paints, and paintbrushes, which I bought for a total of 28 gold, but I had to go back down the stairs into town to buy an iron chain from the blacksmith I’d spoken to earlier, which was another two gold.

I could make the card anywhere, but I didn’t know where Cuby was to find her, so I just picked a bench near the town chapel and did it there because the view was nice and the noise was low. It was a more interesting experience than the grapple gun had been, probably because I was hand-painting something like a tarot card: a stylized image of chains set onto a background. I’d never been artistically talented in my life, and the feeling of knowing how to paint so well without ever having learned it was fascinating.

Occasionally, I’d stop and try to get a handle on how strange this all was—but I couldn’t. Even the death of the player-killers was something that I found myself growing increasingly numb to. It was as if my brain had activated some deep-buried defense mechanism for world-altering levels of weirdness.

Trapped in a human fantasy themed video game that’s so sophisticated you can’t tell it apart from reality along with who knows how many tens of thousands of aliens who worship your species for the worst possible reasons? Whatever man, just play. Make sure you don’t stand in any fire.

I finished the card.

Quest Completed – A Scribe is Born

Reward: 2x common card stock, 2x common paints

Congratulations, you’ve leveled up!

You are now a level 6 Mage.

You have a new Spell waiting to be chosen.

Human Adaptability increases each of your Strength, Agility, Focus, and Spirit by 1. You have 1 stat point to distribute.

I opened my ability selection pane—Haste or Slow, two names that gave high expectations. But after glancing at them, I didn’t read them. I wouldn’t be keeping them long.

Instead I went back to the lift. “Excuse me,” I said to one of the dwarves on guard. When I had her attention, I said: “May I trouble you for directions?”

“You’re more polite than most who do,” she said. Then, when I didn’t respond, she added: “That’s a yes.”

“Thank you,” I said, smiling at her. “Listen, I have a lot of commitments in town, but I need to gain a level before I return to one of them. What’s the shortest distance I can travel to find some monsters worth experience—is it just the rock worms in the caves?”

“Mm,” she said. “It’s the worms all right, unless you want to trek to another slope. You want to take the stairs about halfway down—there’s a large grouping of spawns in a cave system that doesn’t easily access the outside of the mountain. Normally our fighters harvest them in shifts, but today all our fighters have been recalled.”

That made sense. “Halfway down, then,” I said.

“Five flights of stairs,” she said. “You won’t miss the entrance.”

I followed her directions, and she was right: the glowstone-flanked ten foot carved stone gate was hard to miss. Beyond was a set of rough caves with planking laid down for easier passage over the uneven ground, but before I carried on I dipped into a side passage and took a few deep breaths, hoping that all my calculations up to this point were correct, and would protect me.

It was time to gain the power of these so-called chosen.

It was time to use the card.