Gin still had a bunch of time left when he got back to the treehouse, so he set about organizing and sorting the mess. He really only had five maybe seven days tops to do anything, so he needed to prioritize things.
There were a lot of hides and no way he would get through them all, so he set aside the 10 best for leveling his new skill and decided to sell the rest. The herbs and alchemy ingredients, he would try to keep, but set aside a few he thought the merchant might buy. With all the herbs, hides, various low-grade weapons, and bric-a-brac sorted he thought he might as well check with the merchant to see what he could get.
“The cold wind bites and summer fades. As Autumn leaves adorn Autumn trees. To shine again in Autumn’s glow.”
Gin hated that part. She insisted he call her poetically even if it was badly done.
“Not the worst that you have done, but I hold out hope that you will surprise me one day.” Soft fingertips caressed his cheek as she strolled into the room, having materialized out of his shadow. Gin had thought himself done with the Fae when Nevem had chunked him headfirst out of the cave, but Autumn had appeared when he first used the portable shop and the Gaes prevented him from objecting too much.
This was the third time he had called for her and the first time while not under the influence. Autumn had pouted when she realized he was under compulsion but hadn’t taken too much of an advantage over his lack of free will. She even offered him the option of using another merchant. The debate hadn’t really taken that long, and he figured better the Devil you knew and all that.
“Hello, Autumn.”
She paused long enough to study his eyes before smiling. “Excellent, it is so very nice to finally meet you. I had worried that you would remain lost until after transition, but it looks like you have regained some control. I worry about what that means for poor Nevem, but time will tell and all that.”
Autumn’s musical voice sent a tingle down his spine as he tried ignoring her influence. It had been this way the previous two visits as well. She was as vibrant as her autumn-colored hair and twice as shameless. Even under the Gaes, Gin could still remember the scandalous clothing she wore, but if her current attire got any shorter or tighter then he would see a lot more this visit.
“Please Autumn, I love your . . . ahem, assets, but I was hoping we could do business without distractions seeing as how I am more aware this time.”
Autumn pouted but acquiesced. “So, young Dreamer. What did you need from me?” Her hand trailed the edge of her top until he found himself focused on the top button of her dress. She had agreed, but that didn’t stop her from trying.
Gin forced his eyes closed and tried to focus. “I have all this stuff and I don’t have enough room to take it with me, so I was hoping you would take some of it off my hands before transition.”
“Poot. You’re still no fun even without that Gaes keeping you in check, but at least I can see you’re interested.”
Gin could guess how she had determined that by the direction of her gaze. “I will give you 2 Tier 1 coins for the hides, and another 20 Tier 2 for the herbs. As for the bric-a-brac, I suggest you melt it down or use it for kindling. The iron is cheap, and I loathe dealing with it. That means I owe you 20.2 coins and that will bring your total coin to 54.20.2 (54 T3, 20 T2, 2 T1 coins). Now can I interest you in my wares?”
“Still no haggle room, huh.”
“I might be persuaded to haggle a little.” She winked.
“Fine, 20.2 it is.” Autumn’s pout told Gin how she felt about his lack of haggling.
“Autumn, please. I’m not interested right now. Maybe we can haggle next time. I’m worried about the time crunch and need to stay focused and everything about you makes it hard to do that.”
[OH SHIT, OH SHIT, OH SHIT! I hate when the Gaes forces me to speak the truth. It’s like overshare on steroids.]
Autumn’s smile could have powered the sun. “Fine, I will hold you to that. In the meanwhile, what can my distracting self, do for you today?”
Gin struggled to breathe, “I learned three new skills today. Leatherworking, Alchemy, and Smithing. I was hoping you had books or tools, preferably bronze, that would help me advance them. And maybe something practical or more advanced than the Rune book that you sold me last time.”
“Yes, very understandable, and practical. While I don’t currently have any tools that will help, I do have several books that you might find interesting.”
Build your Smithy, A Practical Guide to forging your own tools.
This is a practical guide for the beginning smith and covers the acquisition and or construction of a personal forge. It is perfect for a smith just beginning their journey. 2 out of 5 stars. Cost 2.0
Don’t Poison Your Customers. An Alchemist guide on what sells best.
The worst mistake you can make is to poison your customer unless you are trying to upsell a cure. The second worst mistake is not buying this book. The third mistake would be to leave a bad review. I will find you! 5.9 out 5 stars Cost 30.0
I like Leather Too. How to make things that don’t Chafe.
The title was just so the book would get noticed. It’s not as kinky as you think, or maybe it is. Chafing really hurts so read that section carefully. Pictures included! 4.9 out of 5 stars Cost 6.96
Runes for the modern crafter.
Want to stand out? Want to have customers begging to buy your work? This tome is the essential guide to making your ordinary stuff shine. Literally, the light rune will shine! 4.1 out of 5 stars Cost 5.2
“O . . . K! I have just a couple of questions. Why does the smithing book only have 2 stars?”
“It was written by a Summer Fae and doesn’t cover anything to do with Iron in any way. It’s actually a really great book that is being driven out of print by Fae-hating trolls. Actual Trolls in some cases. Even though Trolls are flammable, and you would never find one anywhere near a forge.”
“Great! Not the Trolls part, but the part about the guy knowing what he is talking about. What about the odd pricing?”
“Some authors do that to attract customers. A kind of made-you-look marketing scheme. And I can assure you the book on leather crafting is worth the read. I very much enjoyed it myself and would be happy to discuss or help quality test anything from pages 30 through 103.”
Gin was pretty sure you could fry an egg on his face. Still, he bought all four books.
“That leaves you with 34.5.0 left in your shop balance. You have also used 3 of your 27 visits. Is there anything else we should discuss today?”
Autumn was suddenly very cagey and didn’t seem to want to leave. She was also staring at his ears with worry.
“Wha . . . What are you?”
“I’m a human.”
“No, you’re not! Humans don’t have these.” Autumn’s hand softly caressed the two points of his ears. The feeling of ecstasy nearly drove Gin to his knees.
“Oh, Frack please stop. I can’t take that.”
Autumn did what he asked but looked both afraid and intrigued.
“It’s something Nevem did. I’m not sure he was supposed to, because it looked like he got in trouble for it.”
Autumn paled and began casting. A dark bubble appeared around them, and everything outside the bubble seemed to be clearer and sharper. It was like looking through those fancy sunglasses people bought for driving at night.
Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings.
“Quick tell me what happened, we only have 30 seconds before a monitor is required to check.” Autumn was snapping her fingers trying to get Gin to focus.
“I earned a bloodline in the tutorial, Nevem used his blood and shoved it into my chest.” Gin tried to rub the phantom pain away.
“Then a giant claw broke into the cave and snatched him away, but not before he threw me out of the cave. “
“He placed some kind of Gaes on me and . . .”
Gin almost pushed Autumn away when she forcefully kissed him, but one hand had a death grip on the back of his neck and her other hand was on his ass firmly holding them together. It was the most passionless kiss he had ever experienced, and he could almost feel her lips move as she counted Mississippi’s. At 11, she released him.
“That bought us at least 2 minutes. Explain faster.”
Gin’s mind had vapor locked and could barely get anything out. “I don’t know what to say. Until today, I barely had any control, much less knew what was going on. The ears only started changing today as well. This was all Nevem’s idea, and he didn’t really spend a whole lot of time explaining anything.”
“Ok, that sounds like him. I had assumed you were just some plaything or servant he was manipulating, but I’m not sure what to do about this. I really need to think about this before we talk again. For now, just work on leveling your skills. Do you have the Storm attunement? Do you have Wildform?”
Gin nodded twice.
“Great, concentrate on those. You will learn this spell at tier 2 and that will help. What form did he give you?” Autumn waved at the bubble.
“Raven.”
“Hmph, should have known. A good foundation, you really need to tier that up as well, so that we can get you some kind of cover. Ugg, Nevem. Leave it to you to create such a big mess.”
“Just be calm for a few days and then call me back. For now, pull your pants up and act like you had a good time otherwise the monitor will become suspicious and wonder what he missed.”
Gin was still trying to figure out how his pants were around his ankles when the bubble dropped. He was about to ask when he noticed the exposed flesh and smirk as Autumn slowly buttoned her dress closed.
“Ta, Ta!” She was gone with a wave before he could even get a word out.
[I’m going to kill her!]
Gin struggled through the remaining time in the dream but finally calmed down enough to read the “Build your Smithy” book. It was mostly skimming and making notes on what he might need.
Finally, he could feel the tutorial pushing him out into the real world.
***Post Arrival, PA Day 99 7:30:00 am, Time Remaining until transfer 8.13:30:00; transfer rank 3,459,832
Gin was torn between the need for sleep and the need to be doing something. His mental list of To Dos had only grown longer. The biggest obstacle he currently had was equipment. Tools, and a portable forge for Smithing; Cauldron, or glassware for Alchemy; Tools, and patterns for Leatherworking. He might have some patterns if he could overcome the embarrassment of looking in the book. The tools needed to be something that wouldn’t poison him if he made a mistake. Thankfully the smithing book had described simple ways to scale up a forge a couple of tools at a time. He could probably do something similar for Leatherworking and maybe Alchemy. Scavenging a local high school or college might be another option. While he was at it, he could see about getting some cooking equipment. He wanted to say that some people used copper pots and pans because they conducted heat better and he had seen a bunch of copper cups at the store. Though he could also swipe a bunch of those aluminum double-walled cups as well.
Feeling nefarious, Gin made his way to another tasteless breakfast and maybe a cup of coffee. He had broken the habit, but the lack of sleep was screaming for caffeine.
He peeked into the kitchen as he waited in line for breakfast, there weren’t a lot of copper pots and pans but there were some. If that was the case, then why did everything taste so bad? Maybe he could talk someone into letting him cook his own food.
The coffee was OK. The caffeine definitely helped, and he had high hopes for the taste until he remembered that it had to be ground, and that had evidently been done in something made of Iron. Blah! He hadn’t given it much thought before but most of the cups and coffee mugs were plastic. There were some people using ceramic pottery or the aluminum double-walled status symbols but those seemed to be BYO.
Pat sauntered up to the table as he was choking the last of breakfast down. “What’s up good lookin’? Did you get some last night?”
Gin spluttered water all over the table, “N . . . No, why the hell would you ask that?”
“You just look all shiny and new. So, you either got some or put a couple points in Charisma. You’re not going to be a Bard, are you?”
“Where’s your new boyfriend?”
“Asleep, he had a late night, and not just because he went diving back into the tutorial? So, I let him sleep in this morning.” Pat’s sly wink almost caught Gin in another spit take.
“Moving kind of fast, aren’t you?”
“Yeah, but it just seems like the right time to experience all life has to give. We aren’t guaranteed forever you know.”
Gin nodded along at the depressing thought.
“So, join us this afternoon at the obstacle course? We’re trying to get a group together.”
“Sure”
Gin had places to be, so he left Pat to her bacon and eggs and headed towards the Quartermaster’s hanger.
The Quartermaster was still busy doing inventory and had a squad of people processing wish lists and new sign-ups. Gin knew he couldn’t sign up, so he was looking for a way to get what he needed and planning a little late-night skullduggery. With a mental map of the hanger made, he headed over to the machinist shop to see if he could pick up some pointers on smithing with modern tools.
“So, you’re the first person I’ve met besides the gearheads working here to have Blacksmithing as a skill. Some people said they had it in the library, but most of the people coming through were concentrating on combat skills to keep themselves alive. Corey is the only one of us with the skill to be shipping out anytime soon. The rest of us won’t go until the end, I think. In the meantime, we are making weapons for the transfers and glad to have a job in all this chaos.”
“Yeah, I heard about the weapons and just wanted to see if I could maybe make my own.”
“Why do you want to make your own? Are the ones we make not good enough?”
“No, I’m sure yours are fine. I was just trying to make something I could enchant.”
“Bullpucky, you’re an enchanter too?”
It took some convincing, but Gin finally wore him down enough that he was given a chance.
Most of the weapons they were making were basically steel cut in the shape of a blade and sharpened. It wasn’t that they couldn’t smith real blades. It was more an issue of demand and available time. They were doing some higher-end work for any of the soldiers being transferred or the Dreamers with cash. No Cash, no sword. There was even one guy, Corey, willing to take pearls, but he would hold the merchandise until you gained enough access to transfer the pearls. Corey was part of a group of 50 soldiers scheduled in the 12th wave. When he heard that Gin wanted to try enchanting something he dropped everything else to help out.
Everyone was skeptical of Gin’s desire to work with bronze but gave in when he said it was what he was comfortable enchanting. Gin had a basic formula for bronze from the “Build your Smithy” book, but a quick internet search later and they were watching a video online. Everyone was more confident after watching the videos. There was a lot of good information that would help them avoid stupid mistakes. Gin also decided that pouring a blade would be easier than actually forging one. He could also add in some of the runes and connecting scroll work beforehand. It wouldn’t be as powerful as something done personally by hand but would get the point across.
Gin and Corbin scrounged through the replica blades that the shop was using for design inspiration and found a leaf blade design that they both liked. Gin didn’t have any experience with casting sand molds but one of the other guys in the shop did. Evidently, he liked to pour aluminum in ant hills and make ‘Cool’ stuff at home. Between the three of them, they cast the first blade in aluminum, so that Gin could pre-carve the runes and make a reusable template for future casting.
The first bronze pour was a little rough, but it eventually cleaned up well and Gin was able to re-carve the finer scrollwork, that had been destroyed in the cleanup. The finished blade was no Masterpiece, but it was good enough for what Gin needed.
Unfortunately, He hadn’t actually thought the whole process through and hit the first major roadblock. The runes he wanted to use would not be temporary and they needed something more substantial to hold the essence imbuement in place. Thankfully the shop had a small supply of silver solder, and not the cheap stuff available at your local store. The solder was close to 90% silver, which was more than adequate for what he was attempting.
It took Gin about 30 minutes to fill in the runes, he was being extra careful as he used Imbue to transfer the essence from a Tier 1 Soul Pearl into the runes. He was thankful the skill worked without him having to bring the Soul Pearl into the real world. No one seemed to notice him using the enchantment skill and just assumed it was the silver pattern that would make the enchantment work. Gin grinned triumphantly when he felt the blade become empowered. His grin grew even more when the blade sliced through one of the Tier 0 blades the shop had been making.
With clear-cut evidence that his blade was better, the shop spent the rest of the day pouring blades for Gin to enchant. He had to fess up about the Enchantment skill, but no one seemed to put out and promised not to tell anyone. At least so long as they each got a magic sword. Gin even managed to swipe some bronze and silver for his own projects. It was mostly drops of splatter and extraneous pieces that were cut off after the pour, but it would be enough to start.
By the end of the day, Gin was tired and very hungry. Imbue took only a point of mana to activate and relied mostly on stamina to maintain concentration and a steady hand. He hadn’t even remembered telling Pat he would meet them at the obstacle course until she showed up at dinner.
“So, why’d you stand us up?
“Huh, what do you mean?”
Pat just rolled her eyes, “You were supposed to meet Matt and me at the obstacle course. We’re trying to form a team, remember?”
“Oh, yeah. Sorry! I got busy making swords in the shop and just kind of lost track of everything.”
“Why’re you making swords? I thought you had a hammer?”
“Yeah, I’m still going to use the hammer. I was just trying to get some blacksmithing and enchanting practice in, and seeing if I can snag some free mats.”
“Wait does that mean you have access to your magic like Matt? He wouldn’t tell me why or how he has access and it’s pissing me off. Why are you banging your head on the table?”
“Because my big mouth keeps getting me into trouble.”
“So, you do know. Spill?”
“Only if you promise not to let Matt know I told you?”
“Not a problem, He and the rest of his recruits can keep their little secrets.”
Gin spent the next few minutes explaining the benefits of completing tutorials. Not about the rewards, but the hidden benefits like the more you completed the sooner you got access to your skills and stuff. And that anyone completing 27 tutorials was also able to access their mana. She was not thrilled but understood why they were keeping it secret. She even promised to forgive him if she got a shiny sword too.
“That will teach him to not tell me. I can’t wait to see his face when I tell him that I can’t say where the sword came from, because it’s a secret.”
Gin was beginning to feel like a sugar daddy, only with swords.