Six minutes and 47 seconds later

Alistair and Myst finally stopped laughing and settled down into more seemingly random chuckles. Alistair’s sides were beginning to hurt from the constant laughter and incoherent words spoken between them but they both knew what the other was trying to say which added more humor to the situation.

Okay… Okay, so if I understand this correctly, to shape an item I have to touch the area I would like to shape, and it will be more efficient and more malleable to my will as I shape it? Alistair finally got out after a chuckle at the start.

[That is what the skill description says,] Myst answered. [though I wonder if this is a skill the other grand shaping artists had and I either didn’t know they had or they never talked about it when I observed them. Because I do not recall anyone talking about upgrading the shaping skill…. Ever.] Myst said, [The conversations I overheard were mainly about the talent one had for shaping materials. Even the grand shaping artists struggled with some materials more than others and would refuse to work with some because of that.] Myst finished.

Hmmm, Alistair thought, his mind focusing on the material he was shaping. He knew how leather was made, how it felt, he could almost see the animal it came from while he was touching it. Maybe it has something to do with the person’s knowledge of the material. Alistair said.

[What do you mean? Things are just made. People already know that.] Myst said, not following what Alistair was trying to say.

Take leather for instance. On Earth, there was a process to prepare the leather you skin from an animal, it was called tanning… Alistair started, trying to share the image of a hunter skinning a deer. Can you see this? He asked.

[Yes, well somewhat, you are getting better at this but…] Myst complimented. [I am only getting glimpses, like if you were looking through a window, but the window is moving, so I have to try and move with it.] Myst tried to explain.

How can I make it better then? Alistair asked, really wanting to learn how to use the connection between them.

[You must picture what you want me to see, and feel our connection and reach out like you are showing me in the physical world. As if you are trying to show me a scroll or book… but in your mind.] Myst tried to explain.

Alistair focused, trying to feel the connection they shared. He felt nothing, it was like casting a line in the ocean and knowing there was no fish to catch but still feeling hopeful. It was an odd feeling, to say the least. How could one feel hope, when they know nothing to be there? He thought to himself.

[Can you feel me at all,] Myst asked. [Does anything feel foreign to you when you search?]

Nothing… Alistair thought, Nothing but emptiness, and hope… Then it hit him. Alistair reached for the feeling he thought was off. He knew nothing was there, and yet.

Hope…

He reached out with his mind, stretching far and grasping at the hopeful feeling that was growing more and more the closer he got. Then suddenly he felt a pull. It was more like it was a snag and he reflexively pulled back. Myst’s voice came into his head, albeit more faint than regular, like a whisper only… not. Like his voice was turned down. [It’s me, just let me in Alistair. Reach out to me, don’t be scared.]

Alistair felt a wave of comfort wash over him. His knowing disappearing. He no longer knew there was nothing in the ocean he felt, and was replaced by the feeling of companionship. Like he finally had someone to fish with… It was as if you always felt alone, and then discovered another part of you that has been trying to reach out to you. This other part of you not only being there but wanting to communicate, to share things with you.

Alistair reached out and latched on to the connection. He suddenly felt a huge wave of euphoria and then it was gone.

[There we go…] Myst said, however, his voice sounded much clearer. Not louder, but just more clear. [I can feel so much more now.] Alistair added.

Okay, so this is you?… Alistair asked hesitantly, thinking back on that moment of pure joy and euphoria he just felt. That feeling…

[Sorry, that was what I felt when you finally accepted the connection.] Myst explained.

I’ve never really felt anything like that before. Alistair said, realizing just how much Myst desired to feel the world and share their knowledge and experiences.

Okay, Alistair said, thinking about the image of the hunter once more, reaching out to Myst as he did. On Earth, after you kill an animal, you have to manually remove the hide, cure it, soak it, remove the hair, scrape the excess flesh off of it, and then tan it, before it becomes leather. Alistair started to explain and show him the process for each step. Then after it is tanned, it can be worked into whatever you would need the leather to be made into. We didn’t have skills like "craft" that did things automatically for us. Alistair finished.

[Interestingly grotesque…] Myst said, watching the long and tedious process from flesh to leather. [Life on Earth must have been very hard…]

Yes, it was. Alistair replied. The point is, maybe the shaping process improves when you have a working knowledge of how things or materials are actually made, helping the shaper coax the material into doing what it imagines. Alistair explained.

[The theory has merit,] Myst replied, thinking about how no one in Riftor would have this knowledge since things were created by infusing mana and using the skill "craft" on it. As for leather, you just crafted it from pelts that drop from animals. [That very well may be why no one to my knowledge has the upgraded skill like you.]

I watched a lot of episodes of how things are made when I was younger, and I have intimate knowledge of a lot of materials and how they are made. Thank you discovery channel, Alistair thought. I'm confident that I would be able to shape most materials if this is the case.

[What are episodes?] Myst asked.

We had televisions. They show you moving pictures, kind of like how the avatar image we had up, but they were boxes instead and they showed you things people recorded with a camera. Alistair attempted to explain, then thought, How about I just show you?

Alistair conjured up a memory of him sitting in his dorm watching TV. The Office was on and he was laughing at Dwight cutting the face off of a CPR dummy. That was a great episode, Alistair chuckled.

[Oh, wow.] Myst said. [How did that work without magic?]

Technology… Alistair thought, Through innovation throughout the years after the discovery of electricity. Alistair explained. He imagined an old man flying a kite with a metal key attached to it, lightning striking the kite and watching it travel down and hitting the key, making it red hot. Electricity powered all of our devices on Earth. We found safer ways to harness and generate energy, though at great cost to the Earth’s health.

He then showed him images of power plants and the pollution they spewed out, car traffic where exhaust from engines steadily polluted the air. Then he showed the Earth getting warmer and warmer, the polar ice caps melting, and tsunamis taking out entire cities. He stopped, feeling overwhelmed at the loss of life as well as feeling lethargic because he was so close to solving that problem for Earth.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Anyways, Alistair began, Let's move on to the Armor and see if I can cover up my birthday suit, huh…

Alistair pulled up the avatar window and had it put on the armor jerkin. It was long on the arms and torso area, but the neck and waist were perfectly fine. He visualized the armor retracting its hide, using the excess that was retracting and moving it, or rather shifting it to the center of the chest, hopefully providing more protection in doing so.

Once Alistair got a clear image of how he wanted his armor to look, he placed his hand on the Jerkin and began to shape it. Starting with the shoulders and moving down the arms, then back up again, making the leather bunch up and roll as he did. It felt exactly like how sculpting with clay felt, only less messy. he brought the bulge of excess leather to the center and left it there for the time being. He then moved down the front of the torso, softening it up on the first pass, as he did with the arms, and then smoothing it out pushing the excess up towards the already growing center. Once he was done, he flipped the jerkin over and did the same on the back, putting the excess of the back of the jerkin in the center of the back instead of pushing it towards the front. After taking a second to make sure it looked to be correct, he placed his hand on the slightly lumpy center that made up the center of the back. He visualized the armor getting stiff, especially where the spine was and the columns of muscle that rode up along with the spine, careful to leave the shoulder blades flexible. After he got it as stiff as he thought he could, he still had a bit of excess, so he decided to get fancy and shape the excess into a nice design on the back, he pushed the leather towards the shoulders and made the leather press into itself, making scales in a formation in what looked to be like wings of a dragon. Nice, Alistair thought, flipping the armor over.

Now for the front… Alistair made the chest stiff in the front, like the back, only covering more, first the chest, then the shoulders and collarbone area, then finally down the ribs, making impressions to allow the stiff leather to become flexible before going stiff again. As for the rest of the excess, he focused on the center where he had an image in his head of a dark dragon head. He took a few moments taking the image he had in, every detail, the scales, teeth, horns, as well as the eyes… Blood red eyes… The Emblem he envisioned suddenly shimmered into place, as soon as Alistair saw it, he cut off the mana to his shaping skill and sat down, admiring his work. He stared at the face of the dragon that was now adorned on his new leather jerkin.

[https://editor-cdn.reedsy.com/books/64177712ea5f35dfcab72ab6/images/55d83718500f85691b0b9a25051f796a.png]

[… Wow.] Myst finally let out.

Alistair felt the slip of a feeling he could only describe as “Awe.” He felt good about what he saw and he slid his fingers over the emblem, feeling all of the rises in leather, the scales, the long spikes coming from the side of its face, everything.

Yeah, it looks great, and it feels amazing too. Alistair said. Let's take a look around for some pants.

[Leggings, but sure,] Myst corrected before adding, [I think I saw some leggings, over there that looked to be about the same color.] Myst highlighted the leggings he was referring to so that Alistair could see them.

Your being able to highlight things for me is so great. Alistair thought to Myst. I wonder what tracking things will be like with you.

Alistair walked over and identified the pant-, leggings…

Leather Leggings (Uncommon)

+4 Inventory slots

Armor: 6

This Armor was made by a skilled leatherworker using the hide of a young dark Wyrm. The leather has been infused with the mana of the creature it came from over its young lifetime, instilling properties of the dark mana type. This armor takes in light to warm the wearer. The leatherworker kept defense, aesthetics, and functionality in mind when crafting these, making sure to add secret pockets that allowed ample storage without sacrificing the look and feel of the pants overall.

I mean it, please do not go around calling yourself the “Dark Knight…”

Inventory slots? Alistair thought reading the bit about the pants giving the wearer “+4” to inventory slots.

[Yeah, you have an inventory. Like everyone else…] Myst said matter-of-factually. [You mean to tell me you didn’t have an inventory on Earth?] He asked.

We had what we could carry… If that’s what you mean. We had pockets that we could put things in, or you could wear backpacks to put things in as well. Alistair thought, Women often wore purses to carry all of their necessities. Alistair continued. Please don’t get me started on "Murses”, or man-purses… Alistair finished.

[Yeah but those just added to your inventory total, right?] Myst asked, curious as to what he was getting at.

Technically, there was no ‘Inventory.’ You had what you can carry. Alistair said, trying to explain. For example, say I have an apple, and I wanted to carry it. I had to physically put the apple in my pocket, but only if the apple could fit in my pocket, if not I had to get a basket or bag to put them in. Alistair tried to explain while mentally visualizing it for Myst at the same time. We only had what we could physically access.

[That sounds and looks like a horrible inconvenience.] Myst said. [So you just walked around with everything physically latched onto your person?] Myst asked, once again wishing never to experience Earth where Alistair was from.

Yeah, it was. We didn’t have a magical inventory system like this place. Alistair thought, realization hitting him as he did. “Wait, where did that loot go, from the chimera we killed? Alistair asked, The “core*” and whatnot. He clarified.

[It's in your inventory of course…] Myst said, not realizing how it sounded to Alistair.

Yeah, I get that I somehow have an inventory, but how do I access it? Can I see what is inside there right now? Alistair asked.

[Of course, just think about your inventory and ill bring it up for you.] Myst said a flicker of a pair of eyes rolling quickly flashed across the connection. [And if you’d like to take something out, just will it in a free hand you have.] He finished.

What’s in my inventory? He thought.

A grid-like panel appeared before his vision. There was a few boxes filled with things, as well as a counter at the bottom along with a spot for currency. The counter showed “6/40 used slots.” and the currency showed “0 Gold.”

1 Chimera fur (Camouflage)

2 Chimera Fang

4 Chimera meat (Raw)

4 Cat’s Paw

1 Core* (Small)

1 Starter Kit (Divine gift from Mother)

As he read each of the slots, and what was inside of them, he noticed one that was highlighted with a bright glowing white border, it stood out from the others.

What is this Starter Kit? Alistair asked, It says it's a “gift from Mother…”

As soon as he asked, it appeared in front of him as a foot locker-sized box. It was elaborately made. It was mostly dark and almost purple, Its trimming shined and seemed to be made of a hard material, either stone or metal. It looked to be both gold and silver that resembled intertwined leaves and branches. The deep dark almost purple box had small lights almost twinkling from it. Alistair leaned in and tried to take it all in. It looked like the night sky was being held by a celestial-looking metallic tree. A serenely deep hum could be heard by Alistair when he peered into the darkness and a high-pitched sound, Alistair couldn’t make out entirely clear, when he looked at the trimmings. The closest thing he could describe it to, was when he was a child, listening to rice crispy cereal after his mother poured milk on top of it, but it was… more than that. The sound made him feel… Excitement. That was exactly it… It was the most beautiful thing Alistair had ever seen.

“Oh my god…” Alistair let out.

[Great Mother…] Myst let out at the same time.

Before Alistair could register what he was doing, he watched his hand reach out to touch the box, he felt like he needed to touch it, like what he wanted most in the entire universe was inside of that box, and if he could only touch it, he could finally get it.

His hand touched the box and suddenly the top of the box popped open. The room was instantly flooded by a beautiful light, with more colors than Alistair had previously thought existed. Vibrant colors swirled around, bathing himself and everything around him. After the lights slowed and seemed to float all around the room, they all took off. As if being pulled by a magnet, the lights were crashing into Alistair, being absorbed. Startled, Alistair covered his eyes, afraid of what was going on, until he felt it. He felt an immense sensation building inside of him as more and more light got sucked into his chest. He looked down and saw that just above his belly bottom a small ball was starting to glow. At first, it was as small as a pea, and as more light continued to rush into him it grew. Quarter sized, and growing. It looked to be growing and condensing slightly as it did, making it seem like it was pulsing.

Then, as quickly as it had started, the light stopped. It’s not that it stopped, but it was all now absorbed and was now glowing through Alistair’s midsection. it was now the size of an orange or grapefruit. It continued to pulse, although pulse didn’t seem to be the right word. It was like it was trying to expand, but was being pressed down by an outside pressure. Alistair was starting to get scared, his mind racing, trying to figure out what was happening. He kept thinking that it was going to explode soon. He continued to watch it and silently prayed to no one in particular for it not to explode.

Not again…