“I think your schedule should be clear enough to work on making magical items,” Elias said after the sabertooth that served as the “queen” on their chessboard chased off Thomas’ king. “I know you told me to wait until you brought it up again, but I’m pretty sure you forgot I ever offered in the first place.”
“When did I say that?” Thomas asked. He didn’t remember saying any of that, but then again, he could get pretty distracted when he was having fun.
“When you were rebuilding your Dungeon for dragon defense, you bit my head off when I tried to interrupt. And when I tried again later, you told me to shut up and not bring it up again until you told me to,” Elias shrugged from midair, having already flown off his “pillow” as a precaution.
He knew Thomas well enough by now that getting tossed through the room by whatever creature he was sitting on at the moment was nigh guaranteed when he played stupid games.
“So let me get this straight: you interrupted me when I was busy, and decided that just because I got a little stroppy, you’d hold it over my head to the detriment of the Dungeon? Do you have any idea I could have done with magical gear?” Thomas asked.
“Nothing, because your creatures can’t use the kinds of items you can make. So I decided I’d do what you said,” Elias shrugged, slowly edging away from where he could see the skunk Thomas had spawned in.
“And why, pray tell, is that so?” Thomas sighed. Was it possible he’d snapped at the fairy for being interrupted when he was concentrating? Yes. But this was just petty bullshit.
“Because your monsters don’t have any energies that can power them. They only have power for their specific powers.”
Now that was something he could work with.
“What kinds of energies are there, and which ones can work with magical items?” Thomas asked.
“Dungeon items usually work with everything, but you can exclude specific energies. Normal enchantments usually work with the energy they were enchanted with,” Elias explained. “But if you try to power something with an incompatible energy, things get … fun.”
“And the energies?” Thomas asked again when Elias paused, but the fairy waved him off.
“Hold on, let me think, make sure I’ve got them all … yep.
“You’ve got mana, which is basically universal. The mages use it, versatile Systems too. It’s generally stable and doesn’t do anything on its own, you need to put it into a structure before you can use it, but half-formed structures that fail tend to go boom. The Inspector and her posse use it.
“Then there’s qi, which cultivators use. You can build it up in your body to grow, but it’s insanely destructive if you make any kind of mistake with it.
“Most System powers run on a reservoir of some vague, undefined energy, but people call it ‘mental energy’ when they have to put a label on it. The stronger a power is, the less you can use it before you start drawing on your stamina. Simple. And you can have it even if you also have mana, but it can’t fuel magical items.
“The last two are pretty similar. Reiki and Chakra are both used by Systems that focus inwards, Reiki’s better at healing and Chakra is better and energy projection, they’re both hard to use but no matter how badly you screw up with those, you’ll be fine.”
That … that had been a lot of information, but there was one thing that Thomas zeroed in on.
“Cultivators only use Qi, right?” Thomas asked.
“Uh-hu?” Elias sounded unsure, obviously curious as to where Thomas was going with this.
“So if I make an item that can’t process qi, cultivators can’t use them?” Thomas asked.
“I mean, they can use them,” Elias said conspiratorially. “For about a thousandth of a second. Then …”
The fairy trailed off.
“… Boom,” Thomas finished for him. “Perfect. And now, you’re telling me how to make magical objects.”
Also, he was curious as to how the actual fuck he’d missed the fact that he could make magical items.
“You take an item and merge a power with it.”
… The synchronized facepalm of every creature in the Dungeon physically capable of making the motion was so loud that it was audible even down in the core room, startling Elias into fluttering higher. All it had taken was him using the D-Ranked pattern-merging ability to fuse powers to items instead of creature patterns.
“Anything else I should know?” Thomas asked.
“The item’s grade depends on the base material, some base materials don’t work with some powers, some powers need materials of a certain grade to work but not all of them do … just experiment somewhere the explosion can’t hurt us, and it’ll be fine.”
As though Thomas had been planning to do something that stupid, as though he’d have ever played with a power he did not understand in the slightest right next to the only part of his “body” that he could not fix in a matter of minutes. Well, hours, maybe, but that kind of damage could only be caused by a concerted bombardment on the part of the RAF. Or maybe an entire battalion of heavy artillery, that might have the range to hit him.
Thomas wasn’t quite certain what the range of modern artillery was, but from his visit to the Belfast, he remembered that her main guns could bombard everything within 14 miles of her. And if an eighty or ninety-year-old cruiser had that kind of range, what could modern weaponry achieve?
… Honestly, with how quickly Thomas had just been distracted, he was starting to see why Elias had decided to screw with him over something that wouldn’t cause any harm. But that didn’t mean that the fairy was forgiven, or that the incident had been forgotten. Sleep with one eye opened, you winged little …
He cut off that train of thought. There was a shiny new toy to play with, and he’d be damned if he let his bad mood ruin it for him.
So, what magical items would Thomas want to get if he were still human? What powers would he want?
Teleportation, flight, super-strength, in that order. And he had a vague memory of some Ancient Greek philosopher, he thought it was Plato but wasn’t sure he’d put his money where his mouth was on that, claiming that invisibility was the ultimate superpower.
So that might be cool too, but could he add a clause like “this item will instantly fail if its user stares at the naked body of someone who is not aware of their presence”?
And should he? Well, yes, that wasn’t in question, but what he should be asking is if he should add a “don’t be a creep” warning? Or should he add a few seconds of delay to the deactivation, so that in the event of misuse, the bearer would have enough time to get themselves into a truly compromising situation?
But before he could do any of that, he needed to find an invisibility power first … which he didn’t have. All he had was “camouflage” from a preserved cuttlefish.
So Thomas shrugged and went ahead creating an invisibility cloak that was really more like one of those stealth armor coatings from several different sci-fi properties.
Unranked cuttlefish skin merged with void wolf leather for durability, and to raise the rank from unranked to F-Rank served as the base material. Slapping together non-living patterns was easy enough, though playing around with organic materials did require slightly more attention than doing the same with rocks or gemstones.
Cuttlevoid Leather (F-Rank, rare)
A synthetic material forged by a Dungeon, combining the adaptive nature of cuttlefish skin with the durability and ability to suck in light of void wolf weather.
Oh, that name! Thomas started sniggering. And the fact that it was classified as “rare” was telling. Normally, that rating required an object to either be extremely magical, or be a properly crafted and enchanted item, without even a hint of mass-productions.
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.
And now, for the second step. Creating and merging the power.
Lesser Voidstalker Wrappings (F-Rank, epic)
A cloak forged by a Dungeon’s will, it shall blend in with any background it lies before, hiding its wearer as long as no part of their body is exposed.
The darker the surroundings, the stronger its ability is, however, it may fail in direct sunlight or equivalent artificial illumination.
Energy draw: infinitesimal, constant when in use
“Hey, Elias, how does the mana draw thing work?”
“It describes how it takes its energy. You can charge some before you use them, then you’ve got the annoying ones that you can’t do that with, and so on. Try to play with it for a little, if you want. I don’t know how much you’ll be able to do at D-Rank, though.”
“Uh-huh,” Thomas nodded and returned his attention to his item as he continued shaping it.
First, he began to form it into an actual cloak, instead of a loose bale of cloth you’d have to drape over yourself, with small holes cut out for the eyes, and an opening to breathe through that wouldn’t expose the wearer’s nose and mouth to hostile sight.
Second, he added the “no Qi” restriction.
And finally, he added the “will royally fuck over creeps” clause which he even managed to make secret.
But he wasn’t able to fuck with the energy draw at all.
Lesser Voidstalker Cloak (F-Rank, epic)
A cloak forged by a Dungeon’s will, it shall blend in with any background it lies before, hiding its wearer as long as no part of their body is exposed.
The darker the surroundings, the stronger its ability is, however, it may fail in direct sunlight or equivalent artificial illumination.
Energy draw: tiny, constant when in use
Restriction: This item does not accept Qi as an energy source
Restriction (hidden to standard Inspect): this item will fail after five seconds if its user stares at the naked body of someone who is not aware of their presence. This restriction only applies to the bodies of sapient creatures.
So, the mana cost had grown from “infinitesimal” to “tiny”, but otherwise things were the same.
“Elias, how badly of a sting in a tail can I add to an item?” he asked. “Especially hidden ones?
“Uh, thematic stuff works better. Show me what you’re working with?”
Thomas shared the screen.
“Yeah, basically, you added a thematic penalty clause that punishes misuse. That’s easy. You can also add clauses like ‘will fail if the wearer or party member demonstrates a desire to destroy the creator’s dungeon through word or deed’,” Elias suggested, sounding incredibly formal before continuing in his regular tone.
“But something like ‘anyone who uses this item drops dead’ won’t fly. Even if you wrap it up in a clause like ‘if the user attacks the Dungeon’. And clauses increase the mana cost. You can tack on as much as you want, but I can’t guarantee that people are going to use it if it’s too expensive. And someone like that orc is going to realize there are restrictions if the usage cost is more expensive than it should be.”
Thomas added the clause to protect him and noticed the draw jump from “tiny” to “low”.
“How expensive is ‘low’?” he asked.
“I mean, it’s not much, but it’s not nothing either. Bit high for a stealth cloak, but not insane. Should be fine,” the fairy informed him.
So Thomas decided to keep the item like that, and continue on to the next magical item. The one that granted flight … sort of. He didn’t have any proper flight powers, but he had something almost as awesome. The “gravity is wherever my feet point” power of a certain jungle cat that had invaded his Dungeon a while ago.
And he had the perfect material to make boots with that power from, the hide of the cat itself.
Boots of Redirected Gravity (F-Rank, epic)
A pair of boots forged by a Dungeon to grant their wearer the ability to walk on walls and ceilings. Upon activation, gravity will pull the wearer in whatever direction the sole of the activated boot is pointing, allowing the wearer to pull off incredible acts of acrobatics, normally beyond even the strongest F-Ranked individuals, and trivially escape ground-bound foes.
Energy draw: high, constant when in use
Restriction: This item does not accept Qi as an energy source
Restriction (hidden to standard Inspect): this item will fail if the wearer or party member demonstrates a desire to destroy the creator’s dungeon through word or deed
Perfect, though its use sounded slightly expensive. And then, Thomas created an E-Rank version for people at that rank to use, only to be surprised by how it turned out.
Boots of Redirected Gravity (E-Rank, rare)
A pair of boots forged by a Dungeon to grant their wearer the ability to walk on walls and ceilings. Upon activation, gravity will pull the wearer in whatever direction the sole of the activated boot is pointing.
Energy draw: middling, constant when in use
Restriction: This item does not accept Qi as an energy source
Restriction (hidden to standard Inspect): this item will fail if the wearer or party member demonstrates a desire to destroy the creator’s dungeon through word or deed
Apparently, what was considered epic at F-Rank was only rare at E-Rank, and the energy cost, which was the exact same in terms of the amount used, was considered only “middling”, instead of “high”.
Also, Thomas would have to drop tokens of these instead of the boots, which the delvers would have to turn in so he’d have time to make ones in the right size.
Then, there were the teleportation boots. Once again, not an ability he had access to. But he did have the void wolf “alpha’s” void step power.
But if he made them at D-Rank, no one would be able to use them for a while. So, make the boots from E-Rank leather so that the end result would be E-Rank too, and … Elias flew into the air with a startled shout as a distant explosion rang out from the experimentation chamber Thomas had drilled into the bedrock on the opposite side of the Dungeon.
Yeah, some powers did refuse to play nice with the wrong materials. Thomas sighed. But he knew how to fix it.
Boots of the Voidwalker (D-Rank, legendary)
Boots that allow the bearer to instantaneously walk through space, drawing upon the power of the Void Wolf, a creature that becomes ever more dangerous with each new Rank it achieves, growing from a scavenger able to devour the entirety of whatever it finds without issue to an untouchable apex predator capable of devouring mountains.
Upon filling these boots with energy, the user’s next three steps will carry them up to ten times as far as they normally would
Energy draw: immense, instant upon use
Restriction: This item does not accept Qi as an energy source
Restriction (hidden to standard Inspect): this item will fail if the wearer or party member demonstrates a desire to destroy the creator’s dungeon through word or deed
Ok, first of all, Void Wolves were actually terrifying. Also, those boots were badass, if a little costly to use.
But even a single activation could be game-changing. An average adult’s step was, what, a meter or so, up to one and a half to almost two meters depending on how close to a split one could manage, multiply that by ten, applied to three steps … thirty to sixty meters was a not-inconsiderable distance.
Also, how expensive would it be to make those only useable by the person they were awarded? As it turned out, that didn’t increase the already considerable cost at all.
So Thomas created a version like that with the plan to drop them to low-ranked people as “inspiration”.
After all, who wouldn’t want to grow if there was a guaranteed really cool item one would be able to use if one leveled just a little bit more, and if that item couldn’t be sold, that temptation-slash-inspiration would always be there. A little evil, admittedly, but also fun.
Thomas mentally grinned and kept going, forging his next set of gear, the stuff he’d instantly give Granger the next time he saw the man in exchange for the hat he’d brought Jan.
Crypt Guardian’s Bracers (F-Rank, epic)
Draconic dinosaur leather bracers wrapped in the bindings of a Crypt Guardian.
Once again, the base material was very easy to make, and Thomas had managed to drag it down to F-Rank in terms of classification, though it was still quite valuable, clearly. And now, for the enchantment. Which power he added was obvious.
Crypt Guardian’s Bindings (F-Rank, legendary)
Forged from the bodies of a draconically-empowered dinosaur and a D-Ranked undead powerhouse, this item represents the gratitude of its creator-Dungeon, and a hint at what further trades may garner (though the cost for equivalent gear will be higher than a single hat).
The wrappings surrounding the leather may be unfurled and telekinetically controlled by the user, with any and all damage sustained by the bindings able to be repaired by a simple addition of mana. Even a charging draconic tyrant king (the creature that unwillingly donated its hide to form this item) can be stopped in its tracks if properly bound.
Energy draw: middling, constant when in use, titanic to regenerate linens
Restriction: Only Wyatt Granger (the Wyatt Granger awarded these items, to be exact) can wear and wield this item
Restriction (hidden to standard Inspect): this item will fail if the wearer or party member demonstrates a desire to destroy the creator’s dungeon through word or deed
Thomas had even managed to adjust the automatically generated flavor text to set a standard for future trades, and slightly adjust the power of the Crypt Guardian to control its bandages. Where the original could slightly increase the length of the bandages, the one embedded in the bracer could generate more cloth when a truly ridiculous amount of mana was poured into it.
And since it was bound, or rather, would be bound, to a person who wasn’t a cultivator, Thomas hadn’t added the “no cultivators” restriction. Actually, he had added and immediately removed it just to see how much of an impact it would have upon usage costs, as it turned out, not much. When digging into the nitty-gritty of the pattern, he could tell there was a difference in energy draw, but it wasn’t enough to affect the description.
Oh, this was a beautiful item, and if Granger was half the nerd Thomas suspected him to be, he’d start attaching the wrappings to high-up things and use them to swing around the city. He should probably invest in a good parachute before he tried that, though.
Once that was done, Thomas also tried to create items with “no Qi” and “no Mana” restrictions hidden so that he could drop them for hostile invaders who’d subsequently blow themselves up, but apparently, that wouldn’t fly. Too close to the “kills user” restriction he couldn’t add, he supposed.
But either way, this was awesome!
And sooner or later, he’d come up with a way to get Elias back for not telling him about it earlier …