What magic? The closest thing I have seen from magic is an insect that spat a spark out on my hand. Earth had sparks too… Alistair finally said after walking up to the tree with the frail-looking ladder made from thick branches tied to the tree trunk with a type of rope that did not scream “Durable” or “Trust me.” Identify. Alistair thought.
Makeshift Ladder (Poor)
Alright… Should I trust this thing? Alistair asked, waiting for a snarky response from Myst.
[No…] Myst replied. [Not in the slightest]
Yeah, that’s what I was thinking. Alistair said trying to find a safer way to climb up.
[Here is an idea, how about you craft better rope? that way you could retie the ladder legs as you climb?] Myst said in a tone that was like he was asking/stating the most obvious thing you can think of. [What do you think about that Alistair, do you think that would be a great idea?] He finished.
Look, I can do without the snarky comments, I am brand new, in a world that is very foreign to me, where even the basic fundamental things that make up the world are different. Alistair started. And I already thought about that, but I do not know how to make rope, and do not see any vines or such. Alistair finished, clearly working out his frustration.
[Well, I can try to empathize with you a bit, but have you already read your skills, specifically the one about crafting?] Myst said. [More specifically the description of the skill where it says that all you have to do is have the materials to make something and to imagine what it will be when you craft it.]
Right. what do you suggest I make the rope out of, I only see grass and bushes and such. nothing is long enough to weave into a rope. Alistair said desperately looking to find anything that can be crafted into a rope.
[Okay I see your problem, you are looking for things you can manually make into something, whereas with this skill, you just have to have basic materials to magically create the rope.] Myst explained. [So rope usually is just a bunch of plant fibers correct? and crass and bushes are made up of…]
Plant fibers… Alistair thought. So I can transform things like grass to their base components, and then use those to create a rope? Alistair asked, thinking of the possibilities of this revelation.
[Exactly. Grab a bunch of grass and plant materials, and put them in a pile here.] Myst said.
Alistair started gathering a lot of plant material from all around. Grass, leaves, small sticks, and the like, and placed them in a pile in front of the tree.
[Great, this should be a good amount. now touch the pile and imagine all of this plant material becoming long fibrous plant material perfect for making a rope.] Myst instructed.
Alistair did what he was told, placing his hand on the pile and imagining what Myst had said, Long fibrous stalks of good strong-quality plant fiber.
[Okay now think “Craft” like how you thought about making that branch into a staff.] Myst said.
Craft. Alistair thought, then he was greeted with a prompt.
Would you like to craft Plant Fibers using the following Plant materials?
Selected Plant Materials:
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Grass (3 units)
Branch (1 unit)
Leaves (2 unit)
“Yes,” Alistair said aloud.
You have successfully crafted Plant Fibers (4 units).
You have unlocked the crafting recipe for Plant Fibers (Common).
You have gained 20 Crafting Exp.
[Good job!] Myst said. [And you learned the recipe, so next time there wont be so much wasted materials.]
Wow, that felt both exhilarating and a bit draining. Alistair said. I wonder… Pools. Alistair thought.
Pools
————————
Health: 100/100
Mana: 261/300
Stamina: 90/90
Experience: 43/100
— — Break — —
Hmm, So I actually used mana, and it’s gone down 39 points? That seems random. Alistair thought to Myst.
[Ahh yes, I forgot to tell you the mana requirements for crafting. For every 1 unit crafted you use 10 mana. and since you made 4 units it deducted 40 mana.] Myst said. [But with your ridiculous Photosynthesis Passive ability, you regenerate mana very quickly, You already regenerated 1 mana from crafting to looking at your pools. Look at your mana pool now.] Myst finished.
Pools. Alistair thought.
Pools
————————
Health: 100/100
Mana: 265/300
Stamina: 90/90
Experience: 43/100
— — Break — —
[The time it took me to explain that you have already regained 4 mana. That is really quite astonishing.] Myst said excitedly. [You are going to be able to craft a lot more in one go and way more frequently with that.]
Okay. Alistair said checking the mental math. I wish I could have like, bars always up so I can know at a glance what my pools are. Alistair said, thinking about the HUD his video games had.
[Well, you can do that. Just think about where you want them and how you want them to act, and they should do what you want.] Myst said.
Alistair thought about a HUD where the health, mana, and stamina bars were red, blue, and green respectively in the upper left-hand corner of his vision, he then visualized the bars were filled with fluid with numbers overlayed showing current and max pool levels. This is awesome, can I do this with anything? Alistair asked.
[Well, not everything, but anything within reason and you have knowledge of.] Myst said, [What exactly were you thinking?]
Well, is there a way I could display experience? It’s also in the pool's sub-menu. Alistair asked.
[Try it out.] Myst answered with a tone of amusement in the way he said it.
Alistair concentrated on the bottom of his vision and visualizes a long golden bar stretching across the entirety of the bottom with a liquid gold bar inside of the almost transparent golden hue bar. Then also affixed the current exp and the exp needed for his next level up. Whatever that meant here.
[Nice, I like the color for that one.] Myst said, [Is that all you were wanting?] Myst asked.
For now, I guess, unless… wait, can I add a mini-map? Alistair asked excitedly.
[By Mini-map do you mean a small map showing you your current location? if so, then technically it is possible, however, the map will only display what you have seen, and as with everything will show more details the closer you look at things.] Myst said, [Gatherers and adventurers use this feature quite a lot actually, you can pin locations on it where herbs and plants are, as well as Dungeon locations and monsters as well.] Myst went on. [Maps can even be shared between party members using the connection they share with their companions, keeping you updated on their locations as well as what they discover. That is how cartographer teams explore and map out regions here.] Myst finished.
Oh, that is so cool. Alistair thought. He imagined everything he had seen so far and mentally thought “Map” and was suddenly surprised with a huge map in his entire view. He then visualize the map growing more transparent and zoomed out a bit, Making the map smaller and circular. It was mostly black with a trail of trees and green as if I were viewing a top-down map. It looked exactly like what a mini-map looked like now. Now which way is which? Hey Myst, does this world have cardinal directions? Like North East South and West?
[Sure do, would you like to add those to the mini-map as well?] he asked.
Yes please, and I want the mini-map to rotate as I do, showing that forward is always the direction I’m facing. He said.
[Go ahead and make it so, you are in control here Alistair, I’m just an observer and companion.] he said.
After a few short moments, Alistair was happy with what he had. Great, much better.
[Shall we begin crafting the rope now?] Myst asked.
Oh yeah, forgot about that. Alistair admitted while admiring the work of art he had created for himself. Just like a video game.