Fred
I guess this sword upgrade Quest wasn't as truly impossible as I thought it was.
Well, except for the blood part. Even after two more weeks of Quest requests at the guild and other shops, I'm not done with that portion of the Quest.
I think the breakthrough was the realization that I could do the "100 Forms" under water after coating the sword in material. It was Gabe's idea, and while I'm honestly surprised that it worked, I'm not sure how I would have been able to do it otherwise. I still only know 4 of the 100 Forms. We didn't buy extra material, so it was convenient that Koji bought a bunch of very-water-soluble materials. Most of the material was gone by the end of the 1st swing, most were completely clean by the 2nd, and only a few held out until the 3rd or 4th. Only 1 material - flour - didn't come completely off. Even though I put an extremely light coating on the blade. Ugh.
I pull up my abbreviated Quest screen.
[Quest: Your Sword is Your Friend!*]
[1: Kill and slice 100 Swamp Snakes lengthwise. 100/100]
[2: Coat Sword with 1 kg of 100 different materials; do 100 Forms until gone. 100/100]
[3: 1000 horizontal and vertical slashes. 1000/1000; 1000/1000]
[4: Coat tip w/100 grams of 100 different materials, immerse in fluid, wipe clean. 100/100]
[5: Carve 10 kilometers in 10 different materials. 100/100]
[6: Coat grip with slick liquids, perform all 100 Forms without slip. 0/100]
[7: Fully bathe sword in blood of 600 different types of creatures. 261/600]
[8: Commune with your Sword every day during this Quest. It must drink of your blood, and the blood of at least one enemy, during the entire time of the Quest. 21/30, 21/30]
[Failure Meter: 72/100]
[* this Quest has been abbreviated.]
100 kilometers is only 60 miles or so. And while walking 60 miles would be a lot in a single day, 60 miles in multiple days? Eventually doable. I had the brilliant idea of just dragging the sword behind me on the road while walking through the city, but it didn't count as being "intricate" enough. Dumb sword. No way did I have the strength, stamina, or patience to do the equivalent of 100,000 1-meter-long sword slashes into solid rock when I finally started calculating how much I needed to do, and there was no possibility of me actually carving something. So I finally figured out the lazy way. Dragging the sword... in a spiral! I skipped the very beginning of the spiral (because who wants to carve that?) and started at a respectable 2 meter-ish circle in one of the quieter squares of the city. Then I just walked around the circle, slowly adding on layers close enough for them to count as "intricate." Every couple rounds I dragged the sword in a zigzag for good measure.
The first day of walking I got to the edge of the square. I told Gabe about it and that was when we realized something even better than before. The Quest doesn't say that the carving needs to have 10 kilometers of finished carving. It just says I need to carve for 10 kilometers. So the next day I found a way to attach the sword to my back and let it drag behind me as I just walked around the square. The first few times I made sure to stay in the same pattern, but after a few times when I had a tiny groove cut, the sword stayed inside as long as I didn't stray off the path. Or as long as some dumb salesperson didn't stop in the middle of the road and start setting up his stuff right where I had obviously been walking for the last 3 hours.
Man I hate people.
For the rest of the day, and the rest of the time working on that part of the Quest, I walked around the very edge of the square, right in the middle of the path reserved for walking.
Today was blood pickup day again. That's another aspect of the Quest that has stalled. I've killed every monster I can find nearby, including trying different monsters in dungeons and assorted biomes. Attacking any monster that either doesn't have blood (skeletons) or that I've already used adds to my failure meter. Which has gotten concerningly high.
Whatever.
The apothecary suggested that I travel through the forest for 2 days to get to ElderWood. It's a smaller city, and while there will be a couple more mobs to kill, the real reason is different. I was complaining that he didn't have enough kinds of blood and asking if he knew where I could get more, and he got a little bit upset with me. No idea why - I was just complaining. I flipped the Quest dialog (the full, unabridged version) to him and pointed to the line that said I needed 600 different types of blood. He spent way too long reading the Quest text, looked at me with an odd look on his face, and then swore me to secrecy. He then informed me that there's a hidden vampire enclave in the forest near ElderWood, and if I had any chance of finishing my Quest, it would be there.
The 100 Forms I have no way of figuring out, so maybe the vampires know something about that as well. Koji and Jade asked around to every guard or swordsman or hidden expert they could find, and no one had ever heard of it. Even mentioning the first 4 forms hit absolutely nothing. I even went to a library. Me. A library. And maybe there's a book that has it somewhere but I don't have time to read every book on swords.
(Don't ask me if I asked the librarian for help. Of course I didn't ask them for help. I waited until they left the desk before walking in the library in the first place. Why would I interact with someone if I absolutely don't have to?)
So after wiping the blood off the last time from today's shipment, I'm walking through the forest, sword strapped behind me, hoping that I don't get ambushed by any of the bugs I've already killed or a pack of wolves, since I don't have enough room in my failure meter for that. I brought food with me, water, and a charm that is supposed to make me smell like the forest to cover my tracks. Travelers sometimes use them. Merchants and people on horseback apparently can't because horses smell too much or something. I think the merchant explained but I just tuned him out.
There's something about my face that makes people just want to talk at me without ever stopping to let me speak. They come up, ask a polite question, let me answer for a half a second, then talk at me until they're done. At which point they walk away.
It happens in real life too. Which might be a reason why I prefer just killing things in video games rather than interacting with other people, NPC or no. But don't ask me about that.
Wagons full of trade goods also aren't affected by the charm. I would assume that some charms would be effective, but those are also probably the wagons with a guard escort who don't need forest-smell charms in the first place.
I start jogging. I probably could have waited and gone in a caravan, or something, but that would require planning, and talking to other people. I decided to go to ElderWood just today. And I can walk. I have feet. I don't need to ride on a horse.
Though having a mount would be cool when I can get one soon. Mounts in games were always one of my favorite things. Flying mounts especially.
Hopefully the charm holds and the trip's as boring as can be.
Except that I'm bored.
Dungeon Quest needs an auto-run function so I can leave my character running on the pathway and go do something else.
Whatever.
Anything in my Quest for more blood.
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Koji
Jade did laugh.
I bring it up now, two weeks after I bought a kilogram of almost every fruit in the market for Fred's Quest, because I don't think she's stopped laughing.
Or suggesting that fruit be the answer to all of life's questions.
"Jade, one of the apprentices cut herself."
"Have you tried rubbing fruit on it, Fruit Boy?"
"Jade, a customer needs help choosing the right color."
"I don't know, Fruit Boy... isn't there a fruit that can help with that?"
"Jade, can you please be serious for a moment?"
"Give me a second, Fruit Boy! Gotta grab some fruit if we're going to be serious!"
Right. Because you seriously need to be snacking on crunchy fruit while we have a conversation.
It almost makes me want to talk to her less.
"Mr. Fruit Boy, can you help us?"
Oh. Yeah. The apprentices and customers have caught on to the nickname.
Carmen has progressed slightly in her spell training, and two out of Jade's three apprentices finally got offered a class. Both as basic crafters, which was no surprise to anyone at all. Gladys and Jade's apprentices were offered classes on the same day. The last one is the little boy who Kai is helping, who, honestly, can't seem to figure out what he wants to do at all. Except sometimes his ideas require multiple hands more than he and Kai have available. Like right now where I need to hold the ends of the fabric just so because otherwise "it could mess up."
Kai has a lot more patience than I do.
My own progression is a bit more lackluster.
[Magic Spell: Spark]
[The most basic of magic spells. Manifests as a spark of mana. Depending on the user's proficiency, can be used as both an offensive or defensive spell.]
[Special Class SparkMage in effect]
[The user may manipulate the spell after it has been cast.]
[SparkMage cast count: 10,124,542
Current cooldown: 4.77 seconds
Current mana cost: 2.28]
Gabe is the maths guy in the family. All I know is that even casting Spark every single time it comes up, there's no way I'm going to improve my cooldown or mana cost in any meaningful amount anytime soon. I mean, that makes sense, as the starting point is ten million casts, which would take, oh... over 38 years of nonstop casting every 5 seconds without break.
Part of me bemoans the loss of whatever an advanced spell credit is supposed to be used for. Firestorms called down from the sky? Glacial ice? Terraforming a massive castle from a swath of earth or stone?
Instead I have sparks.
Sparks which stick around instead of disappearing after the normal travel distance, and move however I want.
At first, that was cool. Really, really cool. Magic with lasting effects is usually much higher grade, has huge costs, or significant cooldowns. Spark? Costs pretty much nothing, casts instantly, and takes only a few seconds. And with Rapid Cast, I can shoot a stream of sparks that respond in the exact same way. Yes, the cooldown increases based on how many sparks I channel during the cast, but I only have one spell. It's not like I'm going to cast something else. So every hour I exhaust my mana making a thousand or so sparks, then do a light show for the kids to give them a break.
Pretty cool, right?
Until Gabe shows up and can learn every literal spell and skill in the game. Including, apparently, the exact same spell I'm casting - Spark, as cast by a SparkMage. Yes, it costs him three times the mana, he has to cast it 30,000,000 times or something to get that exact spell, and it also apparently is such a dangerous ability that I can't even vent to anyone about it, but being able to duplicate the only spell cast by a special class?
Where's the special?
I sigh.
"You seem troubled, Koji."
I turn to see Gladys looking in my direction, her voice quiet and her face always looking like she knows more than she is saying. Far, far more. Honestly, I don't know much about her. She and Kai came from a little village called Faerie Beach (actually, Kai isn't from Faerie Beach but I haven't figured out that story exactly yet), they walked here, and they spend their days doing quests around the city. Finding lost cats. Babysitting kids. Apparently recharging mana crystals or something similar if Kai's offhand comment is accurate. I can't imagine him lying, but I also don't want to think about Gladys potentially having more mana, or more intelligence, or more whatever, than I do. I'm already struggling with my sense of purpose as it is.
And that same person just made an obvious effort to reach out, looking like she knows exactly what is happening, and has some type of magical method of fixing it.
Oh whatever.
"Yeah. I just..."
I gesture to the sparks floating above my head in a loose depiction of Earth's solar system. I was actually pretty proud of that one, studying size and distance and orbits in real life so I could bring them into Dungeon Quest. Interestingly, as soon as I started treating tiny spark spells as if they held mass in a solar system environment, they actually started acting like that. Because of that, it was far easier to get the system moving properly. It helps that anything I can imagine the sparks can duplicate.
But I sigh again.
"I feel stuck, you know?"
She smiles and nods slightly, gesturing for me to go on.
"I've always wanted to be able to do magic. And I love it. But I wanted something... I don't know, showy! Big! Impressive! Some type of massive spell that could change the world or something. And now I've gone and chosen a special class that makes it so that I can only ever cast spark."
Gladys smiles again.
"It can be really hard to want one thing when life gives you another."
She looks over at Kai as she says it, but the smile doesn't leave her lips.
"In your case, Koji, I think that you just haven't really understood what Spark is."
I look at her a bit defensively.
"I know Spark. It's the only spell I've cast. Ever, and I've cast it the equivalent of ten million times. I have all that data downloaded into my head. And you say I don't know Spark?"
"Would you ever imagine that Spark could do that?"
She points to the solar system above my head.
"...no. But a pretty solar system is nothing compared to a massive spell that can change the world."
"Is it though?" Her eyebrows rise in mild disbelief.
I try to figure out what she's trying to tell me. Gladys is a genius. I know at least that much from the things she says. But that doesn't mean that I get it.
"I don't get it Gladys. Can you just tell me?"
She smiles and shakes her head.
"And ruin your fun and sense of accomplishment? Come on, Koji. You know better than that."
"A hint then?"
"You already have all the hints you need for now, Koji. You had them before we even met. You've got something really, really special there. Something that, if I understand your wishes, could be exactly what you wanted."
She smiles again and walks over, taking the fabric edges from me.
I leave the solar system floating above the fabric; the kid seems to have been using it as motivation or inspiration, and while I could have it move to follow me, it'll stay there until the sparks eventually expire on their own. As long as no one touches it, they'll be fine.
I already have all the hints, do I?
Well, hints are usually written. And it doesn't take a genius to recognize that there is one primary source of text when it comes to Dungeon Quest.
I pull up the spell description for Spark, and the class description for SparkMage.
[Special Class: SparkMage]
[The SparkMage excels in casting a single spell - magic spark! Unlocked by casting the most basic spell 10,000,000 times without ever casting or gaining proficiency in another spell.]
[The SparkMage may manipulate magic spark spells after they have been cast. Cooldown and mana costs are reduced based on total number of times cast.]
[Due to an extreme focus on the basics of magic, the SparkMage may not learn or cast any other forms of magic, nor may the SparkMage wield a focus of any kind.]
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[Magic Spell: Spark]
[The most basic of magic spells. Manifests as a spark of mana. Depending on the user's proficiency, can be used as both an offensive or defensive spell.]
[Special Class SparkMage in effect]
[The user may manipulate the spell after it has been cast.]
[SparkMage cast count: 10,124,542
Current cooldown: 4.77 seconds
Current mana cost: 2.28]
I read through the descriptions trying to find something that I haven't seen before. I can manipulate spark spells after they've been cast. So... maybe I can take control of other people's magic? As long as they're only casting Spark. Which is mostly useless. But still cool. And maybe I'm missing something there. I'd call over to Gabe to have him cast Spark... I think he actually learned it, maybe? Then I realize he isn't actually here. Then again, Grace got her Pacifist class faster than anyone else, and it's not like cramming two more bodies into the crafting booth is going to make it go any faster for the other kids.
Either way, that doesn't feel like the lifechanging, mind-blowing advice that Gladys was trying to give but not give me.
I can't learn or cast any other forms of magic, and I can't wield a focus. I already know these ones. No wands, no staves, no books or floating orbs, and no spells other than spark.
I'm starting to think that this is actually a joke class. One the devs created as a meme or something, and the AI kept it because "who would ever cast Spark ten million times without ever gaining any proficiency in another spell?" Since talking with Gabe and Carmen, who are more mage than I am right now, explains that there are many, many ways to gain proficiency in a spell. Even common ways, like, maybe, getting targeted by a spell, reading about a spell, or even seeing the spell be cast. Somehow my passion for Dungeon Quest, and my desire to do stuff on my own, somehow meant that I made it this far without ever seeing another mage spell in action.
I struggle to wrap my mind around that one. It must only award proficiency if you're watching... the entire spell? Watching intently? Watching with the intent to learn? I have no idea. I definitely saw spells cast when we were at the rainbow pools. I've seen Jade cast minor crafting spells. I've seen magicians on the side of the street doing their things, and I've seen people casting out in the fields and forests. So it's obviously more than just seeing a spell.
Anyway, none of that matters anymore, because I'll only be able to cast Spark until I die, they introduce rerolls for characters (mixed thoughts on that in the community - people who've bricked their build or ended up with long jail sentences calling for it while others claim that adaptive stats and adaptation in general does enough for that), or go through a class change. Which is very unlikely.
I keep reading.
Depending on the user's proficiency, can be used as both an offensive or defensive spell.
I check my cooldown. I can cast again, and I pull out a few sparks.
An offensive spell I get. Spark is offensive. You shoot it at a creature, and it causes mana damage. It's the simplest, easiest, most mundane magic there is.
This has got to be what Gladys was talking about.
But how could Spark be defensive? Other than killing the thing before it can attack you. And that being defensive is a stretch of the imagination if there ever was one.
I look at the sparks above my fingertips. They rotate around in a spiral, habit since I feel like it looks cooler that way than the sparks coming out as a stream.
Defensive.
Defense is like... a shield, right? But... sparks have no mass. You could build a wall by spacing them a quarter inch apart, but that feels like an offensive placement or trap, not something defensive. But it also feels closer.
What I really want is for the spark to spread out somehow - to make a magic shield that can block...
My mind trails off as I see a glowing shield just in front of my finger. A tiny shield shaped like a CTR ring, corners shining with the familiar glow of Spark.
A box appears in my vision as I see the shield.
[Congratulations! Your experimentation and multiple successful shapings of Intent with Spark (and guidance from a minor avatar) has born fruit and you have gained the passive SparkMage class skill SparkShape]
[Passive Skill - SparkMage: SparkShape]
[Imbue one or more magic sparks with Intent, allowing them to acquire and maintain physical characteristics and shape. SparkMage may store well-known patterns for easy reconstruction. Mana cost varies.]
I blink and read the description again.
This is a lot more vague than I was expecting. But vague doesn't mean bad. Usually, on the contrary, it gives more flexibility. Simple descriptions give power, vague descriptions give flexibility. Or something like that.
I rapid cast sparks until a small cloud swirls above my fingers. Then I simply wish for them to change - not just into a shape, but into something physical. The sparks bloom into the solar system I made before. It should have been obvious since I wasn't thinking about the sparks at all in the system. I had simply set them on a course, and rarely made corrections if the orbits seemed to go awry. They were following a set of rules. My rules.
I push again with my will, and the sparks flip into a CTR shield again. Then into a ball, about the size of a baseball.
"This is the big test, right? To see if they can actually act differently than just a group of sparks."
I reach out and grab the ball.
I've manipulated my sparks individually before. Jade wanted to know if I could touch them without them exploding, and I can. But they've always exploded when they touch anything else.
I try to push my will into the ball, which squishes slightly under my fingertips. I lift it up and...
"Koji."
I turn to see Gladys smiling at me, knowingly.
"Yeah?"
"I applaud your eagerness and your fast learning. I just wanted to remind you that you're holding over a hundred spark spells, each cast by a special class mage."
"...yeah?"
"We're in a market."
I look around and realize the impact of her words.
Jade's crafting stall is somewhat large, compared to many of the other stalls in the market. Hers has room for actual crafting inside, where simpler booths are places for tarps or tables covered with items for sale. But the area just outside her booth is still pretty small. Even a normal cast of Spark, before I went SparkMage, would pass a dozen booths before hitting its range limit. And while Spark isn't electrical or fiery in nature, it would still cause damage. A hundred sparks?
I calmly hold the ball in my hand and think about letting it dissipate, and going outside the city to practice.
Wait.
I glance down, then up. And then throw the ball up into the air as hard as I can, pushing with my will.
The ball rises higher and higher, unimpeded by air resistance or gravity.
And then it explodes.
Sparkling lights drift through the air as the spark ball explodes horizontally, a 2-dimensional firework in the sky.
I wait, but there's no sound of explosion. Most people didn't even notice, except for those who saw me throw the ball into the air in the first place. And in a crowded magic market, it would be possible to assume that I threw a charm in the air, and not a spell.
But it worked.
I just willed a set of Spark spells to form together into a ball, ignore air resistance and gravity, fly upwards through the air, and then explode into a horizontal disc that is slowly fading out in the sky.
And if I can make a firework from Spark spells, as well as a shield and a solar system... can I make a bow? A sword? A massive gigantic raincloud complete with lightning strikes... or a fiery inferno?
...
...
...
I look to Gladys with what I'm hoping is the most grateful face I can muster.
"Carmen! We're going! Outside the city walls, right now! I have to practice and you're coming with me to make sure I don't do anything stupid."
I grab her hand and we jog through the stalls to the gate looming not far away. All the while, my mind races, thinking of the ways I can use Intent to make Spark into the most amazing spell that has ever existed.
I can't stop smiling, and a giggle turns into a full-throated laugh, drawing a concerned look from Carmen and probably more people in the crowded marketplace.
I don't care. This is amazing.
This changes everything.