Roy looked over his quarters; it was small and austere with only a mat for a bed. The goblins had quickly set up the small grey tent he was in; Epipollus had explained that the color marked him out as a guest as opposed to a clansman. Though it was cramped and the amenities were almost nonexistent, at least the platform raised the tent well above the waterline.
Roy removed his bag and placed his weapons on the ground, the weight of his belongings had struck a blow against his shoulder despite his considerable constitution. He stretched and messaged the joint, savoring the lightness of his being. Roy pulled off his soggy clothes and tossed them into a pile, using a towel he wiped himself down and changed into the set of clothes the goblins had provided. It was a simple attire, a gray tunic with matching gray trousers. Both were loose fitting, but tied down at the openings, allowing him a free range of motion without the worry of getting his sleeves caught.
There were no buttons, only strings and a band of fabric for his waist that kept the shirt from billowing. He finished his last knot and inspected himself; there was no mirror in sight. The clothes fit well, despite being made by goblins who averaged two heads shorter then him. It seemed the goblins often had human, or human sized, guests. It wouldn’t be strange considering the attitude Epipollus took, the chief’s name alone differed from that of the other goblins, it might be some indication of why they respected him so.
Roy pushed his belongings into a corner and exited the tent, he would bring along his dagger and the pitchfork. The goblins were better armed and armored than he was so he felt there was little reason for them to take his meagre possessions. Anything he had the goblins could easily retrieve from the deserted neighborhood. The only sticklers were the sledgehammer and the rod, they were magical and surely worth something, but he decided against carrying around his full arsenal. If he wasn’t willing to trust his host at least this much then he was not going to have a good time.
The chief and many of the others who had helped him get settled down had suggested he bring some form of weapon if he had one. The goblins didn’t seem to be sticklers when it came to running around armed and armored, even if he was a guest. Attacks by monsters were a constant threat and no one ought to run around completely defenseless.
When Roy exited his tent the sky was quickly darkening, sending the places unilluminated by the torches into shadow. It felt like he was on a pier, the wooden platforms snaking and wounding its way around and through the cluster of tents. Its surface was casted in a dull orange and rustic in its many mars and imperfections. Every step Roy took sent creaks scuttling along the wood boards; bits of mud or dirt would dislodge themselves and splash into the inky dark waters below.
It was only two feet deep, but by a trick of the light they felt fathomless. It was dark enough now that the sky became indistinguishable from the earth, his eyes would trace along the surface of the water and then there in the distance would be a glowing ball of ember, diffused through the mist. He knew they were torches, tongues of flame flickering against the impenetrable night, but they seemed like stars in the sky, each a binary with its reflection it the water.
It occurred to Roy that the scene was beautiful, a dozen, maybe a hundred spots of light, some fainter and some brighter, all suspended between the jet black water and the pitch dark sky. They stretched on in every direction, sometimes flickering as a goblin passed by, trudging towards the food stalls after a long day of work.
He had never seen a sight like this, never ventured far from his small town. He thought of quaint little European cities run through with canals, all alight from the streetlights as the sunlight gave way to moonlight. There were the photos and the videos, all the sights of the world captured and shared through data that crisscrossed the world to bring the world to him. Here he was seeing it with his own two eyes, he crouched and swept his fingers against the gleaming onyx surface of the water, he felt the rough wood under his palms, and he listened to the voices drifting from the nearby crossways.
It all filled him with a sense of wonder, a wonder greater than any he had experienced in a video game. This was why he had left the house of the old couple, for snippets like these that sated an innate wanderlust. Roy breathed in a breath of air, no longer was it thick like stew; it was fresh and filled with scents unexplored. Roy stood and slowly made his way towards the camp hub, every stretch of walkway was a new composition that he captured with his mind.
Soon the majesty of the night was replaced by the bustle of the goblins, all the residents gathered around the wood stands set up around the central tent. Here the torches were frequent and the goblins animated faces were lit up, the great big motions of their mouth, and the never-ending gesturing of their limbs filled with so much vitality.
Now Roy could smell the scent of food, warm and savory unlike his past few meals. There was spice and flavor in the air as the chefs heaped food onto serving plates and passed them out to the eagerly awaiting goblins. It wasn’t strange food either, there were greens and beans, what appeared to be rice but was more rose in color. Only the meat stood out, the skin was thick and rock like but it oddly smelled like chicken. It was Hastaos meat, stewed in a large pot alongside great round roots that thickened the soup.
Roy waited near the back as the crowd thinned, goblins carrying plates of dinner scattering around the walkway. They gathered in small groups and chatted animatedly, bursts of speech in between large mouthfuls of food. Making his way towards the front, Roy spotted the performer who had been manipulating orbs of fire. He sat near the edge, legs dangling over and into the water as he quietly dug at a plateful of greens.
Hastily, Roy grabbed a plate and thanked the plump looking goblin who manned the stall, the individual was easily twice or thrice as massive as the others. Eyes on the target, Roy weaved through a small gathering, brushed past a few especially tiny goblins with diporpotionally large ears who chased one another across the deck, and found himself staring at the back of the goblin magician. This was it, he was going to learn magic from this individual, his name was Tig if Roy recalled correctly. As he was about to call out to Tig, doubt assailed his mind. What if magicians closely hoarded their spells and secrets?
He had watched his share of kung foo movies, all the venerable masters kept their techniques under wrap, only sharing them with their disciples. Magic was probably a game changer, more influential than any brand of kung foo. It would be like walking up to the military and asking for blueprints. Of course this was a individual, not a large organization. It would be reasonable to assume that he would need to trade something in return for knowledge, a hurdle too great for him at this point.
Roy pulled back his arm and made to leave, suddenly, slowly, Tig turned around. Eyebrow-less eyes raised in surprise.
“Oh, didn’t see ya there, got somethin’ for me?” Tig set aside his food and waved Roy over.
“Umm, no I don’t have anything for you, I was just about to leave,” Roy wanted to bolt, make some excuse and turn towards the hills, but there was still a spark of hope that kept him rooted on the spot. Maybe, just maybe he could get something out of this.
“Just a figure of speech lad, take a seat if ya wanna talk,” the wood board gave out a hollow clack as Tig patted the ground, “you’re making me nervous, standing there and all.”
“Well, if you don’t mind,” Roy took a seat, and crossed his legs, he didn’t fancy sullying his new pants.
“Course I don’t mind, I’m always lookin’ for company,” TIg picked up his plate and swallowed a mouthful of what appeared to be algae, though brighter green in color, “Say, you’re from around here, ain’t ya?”
“Yeah, born and raised, heh,” Roy took a look around him and recalled his trek through the town, it felt like a new place now.
“Never left?”
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“Nah,” though now he couldn’t wait.
“Sounds nice, I’ve been wanderin' for half my life,” Tig looked down at the food in his plate before continuing, “I ain’t borin' you am I.”
“No, no, of course not. I’m actually really... interested in your world,” Roy protested.
“Right, different worlds and all. Gotta say, if there’s one boon to my life, it has to be all the places I’ve seen. Dragon’s Keep in the Empire, Siria in the Dominion, and the World Spires in the between, I’ve seen it all...” Tig looked at Roy, “That’s right, different world, heh.”
“What are those places like?” was there a chance that he would one day see the sights with his own eyes.
“Big, real big and impressive, I ain’t the one to describe it. Can’t do it justice, you ought to ask the chief, he’s got all these big words and he knows the Empire like no other goblin around here,” Tig’s eyes seemed to flicker for an instant before dulling again to a dark crimson, “It ain’t enough though.”
He caught a hint of frustration in that last quiet mutter, “I see.”
He needed to broach the subject of magic, the talk of other worlds was sending his heart into a flutter, but his goal was to learn an ounce of magic. Tig was a performer, was that what he did travelling from place to place, “Hey, Tig, do you travel around doing shows like the one from earlier.”
“You saw it huh, just a bit, enough for bed and board. It’s more tricks than a real show of magic, you ever seen a real magician...”
“We don’t have real magicians on our world.”
“...Oh, well, you ain’t seen real magic till you’ve seen one,” Tig seemed at a loss for world, “No magic before this...”
“This was the first bit of magic I’ve seen, it was amazing” he couldn’t really count Lestrat, the boy didn’t really know magic, it was more a trick of the system than what Tig had shown.
“Well, what you saw ain’t the good stuff, every farmer and his wife knows that trick,” Tig finished up his food and rested the plate beside him.
“Every farmer?” did that mean the spell was common, that magic, at least at that level, was widespread. Like a lighter, or basic arithmetic.
“Course, how else you gonna light a quick fire? Flint n’ Steel? Hah!”
“Oh, well since we’ve never had magic...” would Tig offer to teach him, it seemed like such a simple thing.
“You can’t light a wee fire with magic. Heh, listen here, I’ll teach you real quick. It’ll take no more than the time it takes to eat a meal, how ‘bout it?”
“Of course!” Roy sat up straight and gobbled down the rest of his food, it was delicious but the every item had a mushy texture, and almost melted as he manuevered it around in his mouth.
“All right! Come on, give me your hand I’ll show you how it works,” Tig held out one small green digit an placed it on Roy palm.
“You gotta focus on your mana, you got that bit right?”
“I think so,” Roy concentrated on that second layer of himself, the mana that clung to every nook of his body. He could feel it now, a mass inside his mass, though something was different. The mana on his left arm was... denser, more focused and followed an odd pattern.
Roy looked at his left arm, it was the one with the Beryl Blooms coursing through it. The mana seemed to be denser where it lay over the blooms, “Alright lad, now focus on your right palm, where I’ve placed my finger.”
Roy ignored the concentration of mana near the blooms for the moment and felt his right palm, felt the well of mana that lay inside his limb. There was something else too, mana like his own, but different. He scrutinized it for a moment, feeling it push against him, or rather his mana.
Skill Up!
Mana Sense LV 4 > LV 5 (Novice)
You may now choose a minor perk for Mana Sense
“I think I can feel your finger now,” he spoke through gritted teeth, focusing on that bit of foreign mana just hovering beside his own.
“Good, now watch,” the mana began to change, he couldn’t describe it but it became inherently different, no longer just foreign to his body. As he touched his mana against it he felt warmth spread though his second body, it rippled along his mana before finally disappearing.
“How’s it?”
“Warm,” his own mana was just a constant presence, but Tig’s now seemed to have a characteristic. It was warm, maybe even hot, but it didn’t make his body any hotter.
“Try to copy it, here,” the barrier that seemed to enclose the foreign mana thinned and broke apart, now the warm aligned mana began to spread against him, some of it mingling with his own before being ejected. In that brief moment Roy could feel it clearer than he had before, like he was looking at the inside of a watch as its needles ticked by.
Roy focused on his own mana, on what it could do. If he just tweaked it, willed it to be warm... A small patch he had been focusing on suddenly began to change, shift from a constant pressure to something else. It was heading in a direction, metaphysically, he pushed it along, injected more of his will into the sliver of mana. As time passed the bit became warmer and warmer until it felt like a fire had been ignited in his pool of mana.
It spread, agonizingly slowly, almost imperceptible if Roy couldn’t focus on the cluster of warm mana and feel it grow.
Skill Up!
Heat Affinity LV 0 > 1 (Novice)
Skill Up!
Align Mana LV 0 > 1 (Novice)
“You got it, now you wanna use it before all your mana gets aligned with heat. If that happens you’ll have to purge it all or will it back, that takes a while. You got it now right?” Tig stood up, excitement obvious in his features, “Take the mana and push it out of your body!”
Roy focused on the slowly spreading cluster and pushed, it was discrete from everything else and shifting it was surprisingly easy. He brought it to the edge of his body and then shoved it through the barrier that kept his mana in. The membrane yielded and opened up allowing the ball of warmth to slip through.
Despite that he could still feel a connection to the mana outside of him, a cluster floating through space, unaffected by gravity but slowly dispersing.
Skill Up!
Mana Manipulation LV 0 > 1 (Novice)
“I feel it, you’ve got it out, now you gotta set it on fire, turn it physical you know? It’s kinda hard to describe,” Tig waved his arms around, as if trying to draw something on thin air.
“How do I do that?” Roy squeezed out the words, trying to focus on two things at once.
“I don’t know, ya gotta just do!”
Roy focused on the patch of mana, he couldn’t see anything there, where a small cloud of warmth the size of a fist hovered. It was warm, a thing of pure mana which only seemed to affect like substances. He wanted it to burn, to turn into energy. His mana was like a second body that existed under his own, what if he pulled it out, not along its own plane, by into his own?
Roy focused on the cloud of mana outside his body and pulled it into the physical world, like he was guiding something through a tunnel. On the other side the air within the cloud burst into flame. A flash of fire that lasted for only a second. But it was real, he could feel a rush of hot air wash across his face and see the curious dance of the tendril stretching up towards the sky.
Skill Up!
Heat Affinity LV 1 > 5 (Novice)
You may now choose a minor perk for Heat Affinity
Ability Up!
Flame LV 0 > 5 (Novice)
You may now choose a minor perk for Flame
Skill Up!
Rapid Conflagration LV 0 > 1 (Novice)
Skill Up!
Envoke LV 0 > 1 (Novice)
“Ya did it! Got enough there to light a good campfire alright.”