Mikal peered out from the crack in the door and scanned around the shack. The pale blue light of the night had been replaced by the warm glow of the sun. He shivered, his jaw tightening in fear, as a flash of the pitch-black fingers of the creature from last night popped into his mind. Even though he had just fought for his life right here, the surroundings outside the shack seemed undisturbed. Seeing nothing suspicious, he opened the door further and poked his head out, looking to the left and right. The chill, fresh air gave a cold sensation in his throat as he breathed. Everything appeared to be still. The forest looked much the same as it had; looking at the shack's wall, he saw the entire thing was covered in swirling patterns of faded red. About a meter and a half up, three jagged lines cut deep furrows into the wall. Disrupting the faded patterns.
He stood there for a while, his whole body tensed to slam the door shut should anything appear. But the tingling feeling from the night before was gone, and the forest seemed quiet. A little more confident, he opened the door fully. A black furled object lying on the floor just inside the door caught his attention.
Item Name Ayoga Finger Description The furled black finger of an Ayoga. The clawed finger is slowly dissipating as its bond to this dimension has been cut. This object contains dark essence and the concept of shadow. Type Ingredient, Material Known uses and effects None Rarity Rare
Only slightly disgusted, his face cringing, Mikal picked up the finger. Black tendrils flowed from the bottom of the finger, dissipating into the air. The hollow feeling of hunger made him wonder if he could eat the finger, but he quickly rejected the idea.
He wondered what "essence" and the "concept of shadow" meant. He tried focusing on the words in his interface, hoping more information would reveal itself, but nothing happened. Not wanting to hold the finger longer than necessary, he put it on top of the desk before he started going through the drawers of the desk. All he found was a long, sharpened tube; his interface told him it was a rotted quill. He also noticed a barrel in the innermost corner of the room, but the stench and cloud of dust that met him once he managed to pry the lid off only made him regret opening it.
Giving the room another once over, he tried to lift up the bed, but it was bolted to the floor. He tried dragging the desk away from the wall, hoping something useful might have fallen down into the crack between the desk and the wall. There was nothing. Pushing the desk back to the wall, one of the corners got caught on something. Bending down to investigate, he found that one of the floor's planks was a little lower than the others. And the desk had got caught in the divot.
Curious, he pushed the desk back. Why was one plank lower than the rest? Besides this one short plank, the entire floor was completely level. Investigating closer, he found a small carved-out half-circle in the plank; his finger was too big to fit in the opening. But the quill might just fit. Poking the quill into the hole, he angled it so that he could leverage it to lift the plank up slowly. And it came loose; he lifted it just enough to get his fingers under it and then tore it open. Forgetting all sense of caution in his excitement. He peered into the small square hole in the ground the plank had uncovered. Inside was a small leather bag, a yellow string tying it closed. He picked it up and analyzed it.
Item Name Small Bag of Holding Description Small leather bag made from sturdy, oil-treated leather. A yellow string thread through holes keeps it closed. Its contents appear at the holders' behest. Effect Any item that can fit through the bags' opening will be stored in a 1m3 area. Items are stored in stasis. Stick your hand in the bag and apply will to summon forth a desired item. Cannot hold living or aethereal items. Type Runed item Rarity Uncommon
That was certainly useful. Mikal, intrigued by the notion of "applying will" to the bag, cautiously opened it and peered inside. To his surprise, despite the bag's small exterior, he couldn't see the bottom. Remembering the description from his interface, he tentatively reached his hand inside, focusing his mind on the concept of "willing" an item to appear. As he did so, he felt a slight tug, and the interface before his eyes flickered to life with a new display:
Small Bag of Holding Name Quantity Grimoire: Sparrow Strike 1 Book (Unlearned Language) 1 Rowaberries 212 Space Used: 0.01m³ / 1m³
There was already stuff in the bag. He wondered what a grimoire was; well, there was only one way to find out. He untied the bag, placed his hand inside it and like he would will his interface away, he willed the Grimoire to appear in his hand. Taking his hand out of the bag, he now held a dark blue book with an intricate pattern on it. After he took his hand out, he realized how stupid what he had just done was; he had stuck his hand into a completely black hole, having no idea what was on the other side. This made him realize that he really trusted the interface. He had believed the information it gave, not giving a second thought to its accuracy.
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Item Name Grimoire: Sparrow Strike Description A dark blue tome featuring an intricate silver pattern on its cover flowing into the shape of a sparrow at its center. The pages are edged with a silver trim that glows faintly. Type Spell Grimoire Rarity Rare, Ancient
A spell? He slid his hand over the cover, the silver pattern felt cool against his skin. He tried opening the book, but the cover would not budge. Instead, he got a new box.
Message Would you like to absorb grimoire? Doing so will unlock the spell for you and your Companion. Grimoire will be destroyed in the process. Yes No
Okay so he could absorb the book? What did it mean to unlock the spell? He remembered the last time he had been offered a choice from his interface, he hoped that pain had been a one-time thing. Just the thought of that mind numbing agony sent a shiver down his spine. A dull ache of remembered pain materializing. Refocusing on the decision ahead to cast away the unpleasant memory, he went over what he knew. Okay so he knew what the word spell meant, but he did not know what this specific spell did, it could be dangerous. On the other hand, who would hide a book that granted a spell in the floor of their cabin and then have the spell be something bad. For that matter who would create a book that gave a spell that hurt the one who learned it? Also, from what he knew of the word spell, he thought one had to cast the spell for it to do anything. His curiosity burned to know what the spell did. Besides, he needed all the tools he could get.
He felt a shard of ice in the center of his brain, scared of a repeat of last time, he braced, tensing his body. However the shard did not hurt, the feeling merely uncomfortable. Slowly the shard spread out until his entire brain felt cold. And then it stopped. And a box appeared.
Congratulations! You have unlocked the spell Sparrow Strike. Companion will now assist in casting of this spell.
Name Sparrow Strike ( ཧ ) Description A created shimmering sparrow that flies with transferred momentum. Even the wrath of a sparrow is not trifling. Effect Create a sparrow of energy at a location within 10 meters of the caster and transfer momentum from the caster's fist to the sparrow. The location must be visible to the caster. Sparrow disappears after 2.2 seconds or when transferred momentum is lost.
That seemed really powerful, if he had had that spell he might have been able to deal with the thing attacking him last night. Completely forgetting about the other items, he rushed out of the shack to test the spell. Now, how do I cast? Not sure what would happen he focused on a spot on the ground 5 meters away from himself. He tried holding the name of the spell in his mind, and as he had done with the bag of holding, he willed it to activate. Immediately, he felt... something leave his body, it felt like some of his energy went out of his body to create the spell. He felt a little weaker after the strange energy had left him like it required a little more focus just to stand there.
Focused inward, he didn't immediately notice that a small blue bird-shaped form had appeared about a meter above where he had aimed and was falling towards the ground. The bird had its wings spread, and its form was soft, almost transparent, with a light blue color like a cloud inside it. It looked more like a glass figure of a sparrow than an actual bird. It fell to the ground and exploded in a small blue cloud of energy before disappearing entirely. All that evidenced it ever being there was a small patch of ground having been cleared of needles. Mikal jumped in excitement and exclaimed.
"That was awesome!"
Having seen the small explosion, he felt it safe to try to cast closer to himself. He focused on a patch of ground a meter in front of him. Again, the sensation of something leaving him came, and a sparrow appeared a meter above the ground. He watched the sparrow fall and the explosion again. Why did the sparrow appear a meter away from where he aimed it? The description had said that momentum was transferred from his fist to the sparrow; perhaps it was because his fist was a meter above ground? He walked closer to the nearest tree and aimed the spell a couple of meters up its length. This time, the sparrow appeared around a meter above where he had aimed at the tree before falling to the ground again. He had expected it to appear a meter below, at the same height as his fist.
Still unsure of the mechanics, he wanted to try moving his fist while casting the spell. It turned out to be more difficult than he expected to all at the same time, focus on where he wanted the spell, hold the name of the spell in his mind, will it to activate and move his fist. The first few times he tried, his focus shifted from where he wanted to aim to his fist, and the spell just didn't activate. Finally, the spell activated, but it was too late, and his fist had reached the end of the punch before the spell activated, making the result the same as before.
He tried a few more times before, finally, a sparrow appeared a couple of meters away from the spot he aimed, flying towards it before exploding as it hit.
"Yes!"
Mikal exclaimed, making a fist in front of himself. Excited at finally getting the hang of it. The rush of excitement made him dizzy, and he fell back on his ass. After every cast, he had felt weaker and weaker. It was a strange sort of weakness; he didn't feel any physically weaker or slower, but it was as though it required more effort to get his body moving. He sat there waiting for the sensation to fade, pondering the spell.