It technically only took me 4 days to get back up to 15 silver. I would’ve gone back immediately to grab it, but I didn't want to spend all my money at once. I needed a little cushion before I spent everything.
I came back a week later to pick up the regeneration ring. I spent that time farming goblins with Grifith then sprinting back to the city. I ate my usual dinner at Half Moon then went to my room to read. I had Theona grab my laundry yesterday, so I'm stocked up on clean clothes at the moment too.
I pulled up my status sheet and admired my progress.
User: Claff:
Health 240/240
Stamina 200/240
Mana 259/360
Quests [2]
Kill Goblins 0/∞
Kill Slimes 0/∞
Party [0]
SKILLS
PASSIVE
Enhanced Body Lv 7 [43%]
Increased Mental Capacity Lv13 [41%]
Regeneration Lv14 [32%]
ACTIVE
Arcane Magic Lv 9 [73%]
Barrier Magic Lv 9 [90%]
Game-like Storage Lv8 [92%]
Storage (9/18)
0 g 23 s 31 c
1. Bowie knife
2. 25 shirts (varied colors, cloth)
3. 10 pants (cloth)
4. 10 underwear (5 boxers, 5 sock pairs )
5. 3 rations (3 sandwich)
6. 3 minor stamina potions
7. 1 leather armor set
8. 464 Cat Ears
9. 5 books
Wow, I've come a long way in a week. It’s a shame I didn't have many uses for Arcane Explosion though.
I thought back to my first time using the skill last week.
I told Grifith I had a new spell to try out, and that I wanted to test it out of combat my first time. He agreed and told me to be careful and aim it away from him. I obliged and turned my back to him while I prepared. I pulled my status up and got a refresher on the pattern for the spell.
It looked to be an area of effect spell centered on my location of choice. I aimed for about the midpoint between the center of the field and the road, with me at the center and Grifith standing a good ways behind me.
I brought the pattern to fruition by pouring 15 points of mana into it. There wasn’t much of a sting time, and seemed to only require however long it took me to supply mana to the patter. It was very different from casting Mana Bolt or Basic Barrier. They required time to set up properly. I only had to throw mana at this until it went off like a bomb. It allowed for rapid casts, but had a heavy mana toll.
When the last point of mana joined the rest in the pattern, an explosion radiated out from the center of my target. It was loud, but bearable. It rushed out from the epicenter in a large wave of energy. There wasn't much of a physical aspect to the spell, but the ground around the center looked to have been blown by a large gust of wind.
“Damn kid, got an AOE spell for your level 5 boost. That’s impressive. Most casters don’t get large area spells until 15 or 20.”
I was happy about the explosion, but disappointed by the small area it covered. It only went about 5 feet from the center. Which realistically is impressive, but I still wanted more.
And thankfully I got more as I continued leveling the skill up. Levels 6 and 7 brought with it a decent boost in radius and power of the spell. Level 8 also had the aspect of decreasing the mana requirement to 13 points per cast, along with power and radius. Level 9 gave me the biggest boost to power yet. It increased the radius of the spell from 10 feet all the way to 15 feet, while bringing the mana cost per cast to 10 mana even per cast. Yet the Explosion only grew in power.
On the third day of the week, it got to the point where I couldn't practice the Arcane Explosion spell on the ground anymore. I had to aim it about 20 feet in the air to get proper practice with it without hurting anyone. This came with the effect of grabbing the attention of every person and monster half a mile from us. That made for some interesting explanations, along with a decent increase in goblin kills.
Grifith had me stop using the explosions for the first half of the day. I was bummed, but it gave me time to practice my Barrier Magic. I got to the point where I could trap the goblin using only 1 barrier. My control over the skill increased with its levels. I could make a barrier with three walls instead of just two at level 5 of the skill. Now that I'm at level 9, I can make an entire cage with just one casting. It takes a large amount of mental control on my part, but doing so only helped me power level Increased Mental Capacity.
The first half of the day we farmed Grifith’s spawn point for the goblin so he can get his detection practice. The second half consisted of me using a giant Arcane Explosion up in the air to gather all the goblins in around half a mile of us. They were attracted to the noise. After that, Grifith and I worked to slaughter them all. I tried limiting my explosions so I could help out the way the spell was meant to be used, but I was too afraid of hitting Grifith. Instead, I rapidly fired my Arcane Bolts all around us. My increased mana pool really came in handy then. That and my relatively high level regeneration made killing goblins a cake walk.
My Regeneration and my Increased Mental Capacity skills brought me to a monstrous 306 mana per hour. I was getting a point in my mana pool every 12 seconds. It didn’t sound impressive, but the goblins really were quite slow. It made picking them off as they charged at Grifith and I very easy. The rapid fire of my mana bolts accounted for more than two thirds of my Arcane Magic experience this week due to how many we killed.
Now that I had the money from all those kills, it was time for me to reap my reward.
I walked into the enchanter’s shop, whose name I never learned. I was immediately accosted by the dark skinned man, with his creepy white smile.
“Hello again, my friend. Back so soon are we? Has it truly been a week since you last came here?”
“It has indeed. And I brought my money for the mana regeneration ring, as promised. I assume you still have it ready for me?” I held my hand out and used my storage skill to make a stack of coins appear. I put them back as the man started to reach for them.
“Of course, let me go grab it for you.” He turned away from me and disappeared behind a beaded curtain that hid much more than it should.
“I was surprised you wanted the regeneration ring anstead of the capacity ring.” He was calling out from his hidden room. “With how much mana you had in your hand the last time we met, I thought you were more of a mana hoarder than a generator. But it appears we can all be mistaken.”
“Who says I can't be both? I have quite the capacity and the regeneration as it stands. I would just love to have more of it. More regeneration means I can have more mana to spend at a faster rate. I would have loved to buy both, but I dont have the money for that, and as you said, the two enchantments don’t play well together.”
“Oh you got me there, my friend. Ah here it is!” He walked out carrying a small blue box. “The ring of regeneration, as promised. That will be 16 silver, if you please.”
“16? But it was only 15 silver just last week!” I felt a bit cheated at the increase in price.
“Ah yes, the silver is the holding price. 16 for the ring, 1 silver for ensuring it stays ready just for you.” He smiled his pearly whites at me again and I harrumphed.
“Fine, here’s your money.” I piled the money on the counter in 4 neat stacks. He counted the coins quickly and handed the box to me
“It’s been a pleasure doing business with you my friend. Any time you have any enchanting needs, feel free to come to me. I can always do custom requests, though they might take some time.”
“Actually I do have one thing I want to ask about. Are you part of the enchanters guild? I heard they buy mana, and now that I have 20% more than I did just a few moments ago, I figured it was a good time to sell some. I could always use some extra money.” I gave a smirk of my own as I took the ring out and put it on. I felt a cool wave of power rush through my body as the ring sized itself to my finger.
“That I am. Give me a moment to close down for the evening and I can even bring you there myself. I was already almost done for the day. Not many people come in during the last few hours of the day anyways. Wait outside for just a moment and I'll be right with you, my friend.”
I walked outside and played with my barriers for a bit. I could feel the increased mana regeneration energizing me. I was at the point where I was gaining an entire point of mana every 10 seconds. It felt amazing to feel this powerful.
The mysterious man finished closing his shop and came out. He turned and locked the door. As he did, I felt a strong wave of power emanate from the whole building. I assumed this was all his security enchantments being activated.
He led me down a twisting path of left turns, right turns, and u turns. I felt like he was purposefully trying to confuse me. I was getting frustrated when he finally stopped in front of a large white building more impressive than even the adventurers guild hall. It had what looked like 6 floors and white granite columns out front that went all the way to the top.
“Here we are. The Enchanter’s Guild. Impressive, is it not, my friend? Not many outsiders are permitted entry. Most have to make enchanting requests through other means. Very few regular casters are ever brought here, but there are a few anomalies about your mana that I would like to ask you about as a favor for favor.”
Of course there’s an ulterior motive. Whatever, I guess a few questions can’t hurt.
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“Alright. But I will say my willingness to answer is dependent on the rate I get for my mana. How about we have a conversation after I finish my business here?”
“Of course of course. No rush my friend. No rush.” He bowed apologetically, though I knew it was all a farce. He only wants information.
He brought me inside and I looked around and gasped at the sheer magnitude of the display of wealth. There were precious stones on almost every desk I saw, people of various races working on them. The only desk without some jewels on it was made of solid gold.
My benefactor brought me forward to the golden desk and coughed to get the person behind its attention.
They looked up and started speaking. I couldn’t even tell that anything was being said until I leaned against the desk. As my hand made contact, it was as if plugs were removed from my hand.
“-want to sell mana, huh?” the androgynous voice asked. They were hidden under a deep hood that I couldn't see under. My benefactor replied with, “Yes, my good friend here does. I can vouch that he has quite a bit of mana to give as well, though I do not know the exact quantity.”
The hooded person turned to me and said, “I see. If you can follow me, I can bring you to a testing room. We can go from there.”
They got up and started walking down a granite hall to the left of their desk. My mystery man followed, and I followed him. After a few turns, we entered a room with a few tools and I sat down at the only chair provided.
The hooded figure handed me what looked like a stopwatch and told me to pour exactly 5 points of mana into it. I did as asked and handed it back. They took it from me and connected the watch to a different device that had a large crystal attached to it.
The crystal started to glow in a magical manner that had no color to it. The hooded person gasped a little and left the room.
My benefactor - I hate calling him that, but he hasn’t introduced himself yet, and I don't want to give my name to him, either - started in awe at the glowing-but-not-glowing crystal. Then he looked at me, then back to the crystal.
“So what exactly happened? And why does the crystal look like that?”
He turned to me, having gained a bit of his previous composure. “You, my friend, do not possess any elemental affinity. That is quite the rarity. I knew your barrier magic possessed none whatsoever, but I thought that was just an effect of the skill. But no, your raw mana possesses no affinity. And you have so much of it, and it is so pure. Pure power course though your veins, my friend. Pure, uncorrupted power.”
“But what does that mean? Sure different skills possess different elements, like fire or water magic, but what does that have to do with my mana?”
He looked a little lost for words at that. “Let me try to simplify this for you. Everyone has some sort of affinity. Some are like you said, fire, water. Some are more ambiguous, like dark man, or life mana. Mind you, dark mana affinity doesn’t make you a bad person, it’s just a simple affinity.”
I nodded along to his explanations.
“Skills also have an affinity. Like the fire magic skill, or the water magic skill. Now if someone with an affinity of water tried to cast fire magic, the fire magic will not be as strong. This has nothing to do with how much mana was put into the spell pattern, but with the water affinity mana corrupting the fire affinity spell, making the whole pattern weaker.”
“Makes sense so far. But what’s that got to do with me?”
“I’m getting there, my friend. I’m getting there. You possess no affinity. In theory, your mana could be used to power any spell to the exact same degree as it could a spell of its opposing nature. As water puts out fire, fire boils water. But you do not have fire or water. So your fire ball has the same power potential as a water ball.”
“I see. So storing my mana would let someone use it to perform a wider variety of magic than someone else’s elementally corrupted mana. Is that the gist of it?”
“‘Is that the gist’ he says. Bah. Young ones these days have no sense. The potential of your mana is immense. We could use your mana to power virtually any spell in the world!”
He had a mildly crazed look in his eye for a moment. I almost started to cast a barrier between us again like I did last time. Thankfully the hooded person came back in and he regained control of himself.
“If you could follow me please. The guild leader would like to speak to you for a moment.”
My benefactor almost seemed to pale at that.
“You should come along too.”
I got up and followed them again. They walked much faster this time, to the point I almost had to jog.
So much for my Body enhancement levels.
The three of us went up four flights of stairs. The first flight was white granite. The second was a black granite, sanded smooth er than the first floor. The third flight of stairs looked to be made entirely out of gold. The last set we climbed was a deep, glowing purple stone that had jewels embedded in it.
How much money do these enchanters make?! Did I grab the wrong skills? I almost got enchanting too! That should at least count for something! Hagrid, I messed up!
We got to the top and stepped out into the landing. There was a halfway to the left, with a series of doors on either side.
“These labs are reserved for our most esteemed guild members.” The hooded figure explained. “If you meet anyone, please show your utmost respect. Some of these members can be rather… Eccentric at times. I’d rather not have to deal with any tantrums if I can avoid it. But if it comes to it, I will do what I must to ensure your safety.”
I agreed to be on my best behavior. We walked through the hall, and I was doing my best to be as silent as possible, going as far as to hold my breath as we passed the doors.
At the end of the hall was a purple door that had one word written in diamonds. I could feel power radiating from it.
Master
The hooded figure opened the door and stood to the side, allowing my benefactor and I to enter, though he made sure I went in before him.
I couldn’t help but feel disappointed. It looked like a regular office from any office building in my old world. There was a wide desk front and center with two chairs on the visitor side. The desk was piled with mountains of paperwork that looked to be hastily pushed to the side. Behind the desk sat an unimpressive man who looked to be in his mid 50’s. He pushed his blonde hair back as he stood up, and I saw he had pointed ears. He was an elf. That made his apparent age all the more impressive.
He walked around the desk and pushed a cork board filled with papers to the side. As he approached me, I could feel waves of power coming off of him.
He reached out to shake my hand and I hesitantly accepted it.
“You must be the mystery man of the hour. I am the leader of this fine establishment. You may call me Paris. What might your name be?”
Paris gave a friendly smile to go with his handshake.
I can’t tell if he’s being nice because he wants my mana, or if he’s this way with everyone.
I returned his smile with one of my own. “My name is Claff. And I work as an adventurer at the guild. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”
“I see! I had a few years when I was younger working as an adventurer. I was only successful because I was enchanting my own gear. A little cheap, but it worked all the same. I can’t say I miss those years, but they were definitely fun.” He let go of me and went back to behind his desk.
“So I hear you want to sell your mana. Any particular reason why? Or just want some extra coin?” He maintained his smile through it all. It felt almost fatherly, but slightly off. I couldn’t put my finger on it.
“I mostly just want some extra coin. Adventuring is working well for me, and I earn plenty. But I want to look into doing some dungeons in the future and will need a good bit of money to buy better gear.” i kept it honest for now. I saw no reason to lie.
“Money rules us all, doesn’t it? Well my associate here tells me your mana is rather pure. I’d love to get a sample and see for myself, if that’s alright with you.”
“I see no problem with that. That being said, how will the mana purity affect my pay for selling it to you?”
“Depending on my findings, I might be able to get you a premium rate of 5 silver per hundred points you give. However, If it’s not up to the necessary standard, I can only give you the basic 1 silver per hundred points.”
What’s with his smile? Why is it bothering me so much?
“I see. That works well for me. How do we proceed then?”
We did something very similar to the lab downstairs, except this crystal was a lot larger, about two feet from one end to the other, and shaped almost like a teardrop. As the Crystal glowed-but didn’t, Paris’ smile wavered a bit.
“Well it fits what I'm looking for. How much do you want to sell right now, and how often are you willing to come? The purity you have is astounding. If you want to come once a week, or even daily would be awesome.”
I started to pull out my status to check what I was at right now in terms of mana quantity. I was also starting to gain better control over my status as well. I pulled my resources up
User: Claff:
Health 240/240
Stamina 220/240
Mana 360/360
Full mana. Sweet.
“Well I can do 300 points right now. If you want to wait an hour after that, I can do 300 more then too.”
Paris’s smile dropped as he looked shocked at what I said.
“I’m sorry, I think I misheard you. Did you say you can provide 600 points of mana in an hour?”
I nodded and smiled. “I have Regeneration as one of my passive skills, and the ring I just got from my friend here only added to the boost.”
I looked over at my benefactor. His jaw was wide open and slammed it shut as I brought attention to him. He put on a clearly fake smile that looked painful. He nodded as Paris looked to him
“I see. Well that’s wonderful then. We can provide you an area to rest after you make your first deposit, and my associate here will come get you when you're ready. In the meantime, follow me to my personal lab, and you can get started.”
He brought me to the hall, and we entered the first down on our left. There were jewels, rings, necklaces, and many pieces of armor strewn about on the tables. On the shelf at the back of the room was a floating metallic ball that had an ominous feeling to it.
Of course we’re going to the floating ball of death over there.
Paris used a special tool to bring the ball towards the middle of the room. He fiddled with the tool again and touched it to the ball.
“There will be a small spark and then 300 points of mana will be drawn from your hand. Try not to resist it, as it won't let go until it’s done. It should be fast though, especially if you add to the mana drain. The more you push your mana into the ball to aid the process, the faster it will go.”
When it was stationary again, he told me to lightly press my hand against the surface of the ball. I felt a small static shock and a slow drain of mana from my hand. I focused on the drain and ushered a wave of mana from my mana core by my heart, through my arm, down to my left hand, and then out into the ball. It took a total of four seconds before I could remove my hand again.
“What happened? Did it not work?” Paris looked at his tool in confusion. “That’s not right. The draining process should take at least a few minutes. What was that?”
He started getting mildly heated as he looked from the tool in his hand, to the ball, to me then back to his tool.
“Well, like I said. I wanted to sell 300 points of mana right now, and another 300 in an hour. I just pushed the 300 points into the ball, and took my hand off when I was done.”
“Well yes, I see that. But how did you finish so quickly? The drain is set to only take 100 an hour. Even if I boosted the mechanisms, it would only take 300 an hour at the most.”
“Oh, I just have practice dealing with large amounts of mana at once. So I could just shove the mana into the ball and call it good. I didn’t break anything, did i?” I was talking about me pouting over a hundred points of mana into my barriers at night. I’ve been getting better at doing it faster.
“No, no. Everything seems to be fine. Are you alright though? 300 points is a lot of mana to use at once.” For once he seemed genuine in his concern. I realied now that the off feeling was him faking his smile. But a true researcher could never fake interest in their project, can they?
“I’ll manage. Now where’s a quiet place for me to sit? I have a book I've been dying to read.
I finished the geography book a couple days ago, and I finished the history book last night. Tonight was my plan to start the dungeon book I bought. I was eager to get started on reading.
The hooded person brought me down to a private room on the first floor where I had access to free food, water, and a private bathroom. I took some time to clean up as best I could and grabbed a small snack. I still planned on eating at Half Moon when I finished here.
I took a seat at the desk and got started reading.
“Okay, let's see. What’s the closest dungeon to Silface. Ooh, there’s a slime based dungeon 15 miles north of here. I wonder if Grifith would be down to join me for it.”