*** Post Arrival, PA Day 85 4:21 am, Estimated Time until transfer 22.16:39:00; estimated rank 3,723,821
Gin didn’t even cringe when the Cowbell started clanging. He now had the Chandler and Saponification skills and eighty-one completed tutorials. He even had twenty-two days left before transfer. That was plenty of time to get three measly levels. Plus, it was time for rewards!
Nevem just smiled as he swung the massive Cowbell making more noise than he ever had before.
“HUZZAH, my young friend. You have completed 81 tutorials and earned an extra 3 tier zero skill slots as a reward. You now have 9 tier zero slots which is the max allowed by the masters at this tier. You will need to reach tier 3 before unlocking anymore.” Nevem even bowed to Gin as they both enjoyed the moment.
“Thank the Nocturnals. We finally did it. We did finally, do it? Right, Nevem?”
“Yes, my friend, this was the target that I was pushing you towards. You do not have to do any more tutorials if you don’t want to. Not that there are many left worth learning.”
“There’s Death, not that I want to learn how to raise zombies. The stench when I go by that section of the tutorial hall is enough to make me barf. But don’t think I didn’t notice that you avoided that when recommending what I try next.” Gin raised an eyebrow in question. Nevem liked to do that to mock him, and Gin had been practicing the look in the mirror.
“With good reason. Death (a) attunement will only corrupt you. In my opinion, it is the path for the weak of heart. Those who take that path are destined to fail. Now forget about that and let me finally give you ‘ALL’ of your rewards.” It took Gin a minute to recognize the change in phrasing.
“ALL? Have you been holding out on me?” Gin asked mockingly. He wasn’t mad, just curious.
“Yes, my friend. I regretfully have.” Nevem paused for a second as he handed Gin a backpack. “Do you trust me?”
Gin nodded.
“I have taken some small liberties, but inside the pack you will find your remaining rewards. For every three tutorials completed, you earned 3 tier 0 skill tokens for a total of 81 tokens. These may be used to load a skill or attunement from your library into an appropriate empty slot. They may also be used to bind an ability such as the Harvest or Butcher abilities that you unlocked. Abilities are not counted towards your total skill or attunement limits. Since there are no Tier zero abilities, I have taken the liberty of converting 75 of your tokens to Tier 1. This leaves you the 6 tokens needed to fill the slots according to my plan.”
A distant rumble shook the cave. Gin started to ask, but Nevem held up a hand asking him to wait.
“Next, you have earned a Tier 0 upgrade token for every 9 tutorials completed. These may be used to enhance your starting equipment. You have also received 3 Tier 1 upgrade tokens for completing the 27th, 54th, and 81st tutorials, which will convert Tier 0 equipment to Tier 1 equipment. I took the liberty of applying these to your equipment ahead of time.”
The rumble returned causing small flakes of rock and dust to fall from the ceiling, Gin was briefly miffed that he hadn’t been consulted but Nevem’s calming recitation seemed to wash his concerns away.
“Your bag was upgraded to the max capacity allowed for Tier 0 which expanded its capacity from a half meter cubed to a meter cubed while also reducing the weight reduction from none to full. The conversion to Tier 1 added the straps and expanded the opening in addition to expanding the capacity to two meters cubed. As long as the item will fit through the opening it may be stored in the pack.”
Gin’s concerns were fading away as the upgrades were explained. Having the bag converted to a pack sounded awesome. The next upgrades weren’t as awesome sounding but still pretty useful.
“As for your weapon and shield. I was only able to upgrade them by reinforcing their durability and upgrading their Tier. They will now block or deal full damage to anything of the same tier and will do extra damage for no durability loss to anything of a lesser tier.”
Nevem handed Gin a very serviceable war hammer and shield. Then showed him how to attach them to the pack. The hammer had a hard wooden handle polished to a dark reddish-brown sheen and sported a rune-covered bronze head with a wicked 6-inch spike on the backside. The hammer would fit in the pack if needed, but Nevem recommended attaching it to his belt or just holding it instead. The shield was a bronze concave oval with no decorations. It was nearly a meter wide and would not fit through the opening of the pack but would strap to the back if needed.
“Don’t you look dashing? Now let’s do something about filling that pack. For each tutorial completed you earned a Tier 0 Soul Pearl. As you learned during the enchanting tutorial these may be used in lieu of mana to activate or empower enchantments for a period of time or they may be used to activate an alchemical process. Crafters or shops purchase these regularly, but their most important use is for leveling. Any pearl from a source that you personally had a hand in defeating is soul bound to you and may be used to advance your own level, skills, attunements, or abilities.”
“And I have 81 of them. How far will that get me?” Gin’s eyes were shining with greed.
“Unfortunately, not very far. A Tier Zero pearl is worth basically 1 point and can’t be used to gain levels.” Nevem waited until Gin’s joy was completely crushed. “But they may be advanced to Tier 1 by compressing or fusing them together. Much like I did with your skill tokens.”
The cave shook violently again and Nevem looked slightly concerned but handed Gin 3 of the smallest pearls he had ever seen.
“To compress them requires an act of will and strength. Pinch them as hard as you can between your fingers like so and will them together just like you were casting a spell.”
Gin’s first couple of tries ended with a pearl squirting out like a tiny missile. Each time, Nevem would help him find the escapee and reset before chastising him. “Harder!”
It took ten tries and over 20 minutes before Gin was able to compress the first Pearl. His efforts were rewarded with a soft chime and a game-like notification box that faded as he read the message.
You have compressed 3 Tier 0 Soul Pearls and created a Tier 1 Soul Pearl.
Your efforts have unlocked the ability Compression. You may now search for more knowledge on Compression in your research library.
Gin had learned how to access the library functions during the tutorial and quickly looked up Compression.
Compression is the ability to fuse tiered objects to a higher tier through the use of Physical force and Willpower. The Compression ability allows for the inclusion of additional factors based on tier. For example, the Tier 1 Ability allows for the Dreamer’s Aura to contribute to the success of the compression effort. The difficulty of the task is based on the object and tier and is typically triple that of the previous tier.
Gin also decided to ask the library to tell him about soul pearls and their tiers as well.
Soul pearls are compressed dream essence earned through defeating opponents or challenges. Three pearls may be compressed into a single pearl of the next higher tier. See Compression.
Tier
Essence
0
1
1
3
2
9
This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.
“Good. My thanks for your Trust. That will be all for tonight. Return to this cave tomorrow and we will continue to compress the remaining pearls. Unfortunately, you have overstayed the eight hours allotted for training and it is unsafe to continue tonight.”
***
It took a day and a half for Gin to convert the pearls. Nevem had explained that it was best to do it now as the difficulty of accomplishing the task was reduced while in the tutorial cave. They had also held back 9 of the Tier 1 Soul pearls after Nevem explained they would be needed to Tier up his Tier 0 skills after he had gained a sufficient understanding of them. That left Gin with 2 Tier 3 Soul Pearls worth 27 essence each. It also unbound them from his soul and made them worthless for leveling. A single increase in tier did not unbind a pearl but the stress of tiering them up a second time had made them worthless for leveling.
“Then why did we tier them up? If we had left them at Tier 1, I could have it least gained my first level?”
“We did this so that you could spend them in the shop. Those 2 Tier 3 pearls may be worth 27 essence each when enchanting, but they are worth 81 coins each in the shop.”
“What shop?” Gin watched as Nevem walked over to the side of the room and pulled back a curtain revealing a short countertop and a stool. Moving behind the counter he took a seat and flipped the sign to open with a smirk.
“Gin couldn’t help but smile and wonder why he hadn’t noticed the curtain before. Shrugging at the absurdity, he took a step forward and asked Nevem what he had for sale.
Nevem’s Nexus of Needed Nik-Naks.
Item
Item Tier
Cost, in item tier coins
Skill Shard
Variable
9
Core Stabilizer
Variable
27
Analyze (ab)
1
9
Butcher (ab)
1
9
Harvest (ab)
1
9
Ability Shard
Variable
27
Storage ring 1.1
2
31
Shop Scroll
2
27
Storage ring 3.1
3
331
Portable Shop (Random Merchant)
3
101
Portable Shop Tier up
3
202
Loot, Random Animal Upgrade
3
9
Storage ring 9.3
4
991
Soul Space
4
3331
“I will convert those 2 Pearls into 162 Tier 3 shop coins. Shop coins cannot be tiered up like pearls, but they can be converted to a lower denomination. Some shops may take a surcharge for doing this, but I will not. There will also be Dreamer Emporiums in most communities. These are like the system shops that you have in your literature though limited in scope. Dreamers are encouraged to set up their own system of commerce, but the Triumvirate uses the Emporiums to enforce the standardization of some prices. Communities and merchants are free to charge fees or taxes as they please, but blocking access to the Emporium is frowned upon.”
Disappointingly, Gin asked, “Is this all you have?”
“No, but these are the items that I would like for you to focus on at this time.” Several bottles fell off the shelves smashing on the ground and Nevem looked a little green as the cave shook violently. Gin had always thought the expression odd, but Nevem had actually turned green, and his ears stretched upwards and back into small points. Gin tensed and felt his face flush in anger at Nevem.
Thankfully the shaking ceased before he could lose control. Nevem looked less ill even though his knuckles were white and his brow was coated in a nervous sweat as he braced himself against the counter.
It was several deep breaths before he was able to flash Gin, a winning smile. “Fret not young friend, I will gladly check my stocks if there is something else that you would like to see.”
Gin’s return smile was slightly conflicted as he perused the provided list.
Nevem’s logic was sound and reasonable as each item was explained. There were a couple of items on the list that were obviously out of his price range, but they were provided as examples of things he should work towards. The Soul Space was a way to store Soul Pearls. Its major benefit was that it would automatically compress pearls up to the 4th tier without his interaction.
The rings were another incentive example. Rings could only store a limited number of items but unlike the pack or bag, the stored items could be instantly summoned to hand. The cheapest ring would store 1 item no larger than a meter long or wide and was meant for a weapon or shield. The second level ring had the same size restrictions but would store 3 items which explained the strange 1.1 and 3.1 designation in the item descriptions. It also meant that the largest offered would hold 9 items no larger than 3 meters. There were other capacity options, but Nevem explained that these were the most common configurations.
Skill shards could be used to advance your skills if you didn’t have a bound Soul Pearl. They were a more expensive option and were primarily used by crafters who had more coins and better uses for pearls. Ability shards served the same purpose except for abilities.
Analyze, Butcher, and Harvest were abilities that could be purchased and then bound to the individual. Analyze was a traditional ability for displaying information about an item in a game-like interface. It functioned based on the dreamer’s perception, and a lot of mathematics that Nevem insisted they could ignore.
Butcher was like an auto assist in claiming resources from slain animals or monsters, and Harvest did the same for plants.
The Core stabilizer would assist the dreamer in stabilizing a portion of their core. That portion would regenerate faster and wouldn’t fade away if the dreamer stopped concentrating. A new tier of Core was needed for each level, and it would take some time for the soul to recover after introducing the core. How long was dependent on the Soul’s strength.
In Gin’s opinion, the best find was the Portable shop. Emporium access was typically limited to communities with greater than 100 colonists. They were stationary places to interact with the Dreamers' shop. The Portable shop summoned a random merchant to your location immediately. The catch being the tier and use limits. The scroll had a limit of one use and only provided items up to tier 2. The shop had 27 uses and limited items up to tier 3. You could tier up an existing shop for 202 Tier 3 coins or purchase a Tier 4 shop for 101 Tier 4 coins. Nevem also warned Gin to keep a good relationship with the merchants. If he found one, he liked it was possible to summon them specifically. If he angered one, it was possible that all future merchants would add a ‘PITR’, Pain in the rear, surcharge for doing business. And since Merchants talked to each other, it wasn’t unheard of for it to become too expensive to do business with any merchant.
Gin was puzzled about the last item until Nevem placed 3 small statues on the counter. “These are Loot Animals. They are an upgrade to your Loot ability and will also utilize any relevant skills or abilities of the Dreamer like the Butcher and Harvest abilities. The animal will activate if fed a little energy and will gather your loot from the surrounding area. They take a small portion of what is collected when you make a withdrawal. While not unique there are a limited number of animals, and each comes with their own abilities. For example, the goat is an upgrade with a voracious appetite but likes to chew things. It will loot faster and if it consumes something poisonous it may drop a bezoar which can be used in alchemy for a number of potent cures.”
Nevem’s finger moved to the next figure in line. “The snake is slower at consuming its loot but has a huge capacity. It will slowly compress items in its storage and may provide higher-tier materials if they are left inside for a time. “
“And lastly the Pig, please never use the H-word when referring to this dainty creature.” Nevem’s eyes were deadly serious as he tried to warn Gin. “The pig. like the snake. will consume everything in one piece, which provides better skin and hides. Unlike the snake, the pig wastes nothing and they will be fully processed and will not need to be tanned. Its special ability is to consume a portion of the meat and convert it into BACON or Sausage if the Dreamer provides the appropriate spices. The conversion is 3 to 1 so 3 kg of meat consumed produces 1 kg of Bacon.”
“You can stop trying to sell me on the idea. You had me at Bacon. I will purchase that one.”
“Wise choice. Her name is, Pretty Princess.”
In total Gin purchased the following:
* 2 Storage Rings 1.1 for 62 Tier 2 coins
* Analyze, Butcher, and Harvest for 27 Tier 1 coins.
* 1 Tier 1 Core Stabilizer for 27 Tier 1 coins
* 1 Tier 1 Ability Shard for 27 Tier 1 coins.
* 1 Pretty Princess for 27 tier 3 coins.
In total, he had spent 158 of the Tier 3 coins and had only 4 coins left. Nevem even helped pack his things away while explaining how to use the Ability shard to Tier up his compression ability so that he could more easily fuse Soul Pearls in the future. Nevem had used the time to remind Gin that it would be harder to compress them once he left the cave.
“Now that all of that is out of the way, I have saved the best for last. Your last Tiered reward is the reason why I pushed you to complete so many tutorials.” Nevem looked rather smug as he presented Gin with a blood-red coin about the size of a half dollar.
“What is it?”
“It is a bloodline token and will allow you to bind a bloodline to your own. Should you be able to obtain a freely given sample.”
There was a thrum in the air and Gin was a bit puzzled as to why Nevem was so excited about the coin. “Where do I get one of those?”
“It’s funny you should ask that.” An orange flash of metal cut across Nevem’s palm, soaking the coin in blood, before striking Gin’s exposed chest. Gin could hear a frantic rhythmic pounding against the ceiling of the cave. Everything shook like it was about to collapse as a large chunk of the ceiling did just that.
Two large taloned fingers slipped through and began trying to widen the opening. Gin looked in terror and anger as Nevem’s visage changed. His once affable and friendly features were now sharp and feral. The ears had once again grown longer with three distinct points sweeping back. His skin had taken on a greenish-blue tinge and his teeth were now sharp points more suitable for tearing flesh.
Nevem’s grip was like steel as he spun Gin towards the Tutorial exit and with a devilish smile slammed the bloody coin into his wounded chest so hard that Gin flew out of the Cave. “Enjoy the Bell, my friend. Become strong and rich enough to walk your own path and protect the things you love. I’m sorry that I have betrayed your trust in me, and I hope that one day you will understand why it had to be this way.”
Gin’s last sight of Nevem was of him being snatched by a gigantic three-fingered claw.