“Here’s the latest set of Waterweave,” his grandfather said. His uncle began to walk away, and Jeb considered asking if he was willing to teach him how to Weave. He went to raise a hand, but his grandfather stopped him.
“Were you about to ask your uncle to teach you Weaving?” he asked.
“Yes,” Jeb replied honestly.
“Your Uncle Frank, who you’ve spoken with how many times?”
Jeb thought back to their interactions. Before getting a Class, he’d had no reason to interact with his Uncle Frank. Even since getting his Class, Jeb had only interacted with him when he made Manaweave.
“There was the-,” Jeb corrected himself, “no, he didn’t speak then. Oh! When I discovered Watergrass, he mentioned that it might be more accurate to call it Waterweave. I guess he was right about that.”
“And?” his grandfather prompted.
“And that’s it.”
“If you really feel the need to learn Weaving, we can look for someone else who has the Skill and has some free time. While your Uncle Frank is a fantastic Weaver, you’re already reaching the upper limits of how much he wants to interact with others.” Seeing that Jeb looked guilty about that, his grandfather hurried to add, “he would tell you if you were being a nuisance, but there’s no reason to potentially make him feel guilty by refusing your request.”
Jeb nodded at that. “Well, then,” he said, “I suppose that it’s time to see if this Waterweave is any different than the Waterweave that I grew.” He took a quick look at his Mana pool. He still had 200 Mana, so assuming the new Waterweave wasn’t better than it had been, Jeb would be able to fill one of the sheets.
He spent a moment debating which Glyph to force onto the Waterweave. Ultimately, since Least Shape Water was the one that he had used before to fill a sheet, it was the Glyph he used now. It wasn’t worth adding in the extra variable of whether different Glyphs might fill the sheet differently.
Jeb called the Glyph to mind and forced it to realign the fibers in the Waterweave. As Mana flowed into it, Jeb tried to control the rate it flowed out. He had limited success, but did manage to at least speed it up slightly.
When 100 Mana had entered the sheet, the Glyph blazed in his Magical sight and stopped accepting more Mana.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Glyphmastery First Tier Scribe Chain “Scribe a First Tier Glyph”. You have engraved Least Shape Water in Waterweave. Rewards: 19 Experience, Mana +5
“Interesting,” Jeb muttered.
“Hmm?” his grandfather questioned.
“This sheet of Waterweave only held half as much Mana as the sheets I grew last time.”
“That is interesting,” his grandfather agreed.
“I did notice that something felt off about the Watergrass as it grew,” Jeb said, “which might have had something to do with the way that its Mana capacity was shifting.” He thought back to the Enchanting Primer he’d read, but he couldn’t remember any discussion on how Mana capacity could change for plants.
“The day is young,” his grandfather said, gesturing to the pre-noon sun, “now that you know what the issue is, we can try growing another bed of Watergrass to see if you can prevent the generational decay.” The two of them began walking towards the raised beds.
Back at the raised beds, the two deliberated over whether to use the first or second generation seeds. There were benefits and drawbacks to both, and they ultimately decided to use the first generation seeds, since they at least knew what they would grow into without further interference.
As Jeb watched the seeds fly perfectly from his grandfather’s hand again, he immediately felt that they were missing something in the soil. He was able to quickly connect that feeling to the feeling of the soil missing Mana that he had felt after the last crop was harvested.
“They’re missing Mana,” he said.
“How much?” his grandfather asked, “and does it need to be Atttuned?”
“I’m not sure about either answer,” Jeb replied honestly, “but I think it’s probably better to try refilling them with Water Attuned Mana first?” Seeing his grandfather’s nod, he called Attune Water Mana to mind and started casting a cloud of Mana over the field. As he watched, the plants greedily sucked in the Water Mana.
When Jeb had put in two hundred Water Mana, he stopped. The field felt about ten percent less Mana hungry than it had. “Grandfather,” he asked, cutting off the flow of Mana, “how many sheets of Waterweave did you and Uncle Frank manage to make out of the last crop?”
“The bed of Watergrass made twenty sheets of Waterweave,” his grandfather said, “why?”
“It seems like I need to add around two thousand Water Mana in order for the bed to not degrade in quality,” Jeb said. Since his grandfather didn’t say anything immediately, Jeb continued thinking aloud, “two thousand Mana in twenty sheets of Waterweave means that each sheet of Waterweave would need around one hundred Mana. Each sheet already has Mana capacity of one hundred. That means...” Jeb trailed off, his mind struggling to make the final leap of logic.
“So the Mana capacity of a sheet of Waterweave is the same as the amount of Mana that it was able to absorb while growing?” his grandfather finished the thought for him.
“I suppose so,” Jeb said, “though I do wonder whether these will hold one hundred and ten Mana, since I fed in two hundred Mana.”
“What do your Skills and instincts tell you?”
“I have a feeling that they won’t,” Jeb replied, a little confused, “it seems like the Mana capacities are discrete values.”
“Do you want to see whether the halving capacity each generation is a trend or if the first generation holding two hundred Mana is the outlier?” his grandfather suggested.
“We may as well,” Jeb replied. As they moved to the next plot of land, he realized that there was no Quest Notification waiting for him. “Grandfather, can you think of any reason why I wouldn’t have completed the Quest for understanding what was wrong with the growing conditions for a plant?”
His grandfather paused with his hand in the bag of seeds, clearly considering the question. “I really have no idea,” he finally said, “it could be that the System doesn’t consider Mana levels as a soil condition. It could be that me being here is holding the Quest back from you, or it could be a matter of intent.”
“Intent?” Jeb asked.
“Think of the many tasks you’ve done since gaining your Class,” his grandfather said. “Why did you not receive a Skill for Reading when you read at the Library before you came home?”
“I don’t know.”
“It’s in many ways similar to the way we advise people to skirt around the restrictions of their Class. Intention is what the System judges actions on. That being said, the actions are just as important. You can believe all you want about the ways that smelting iron would make you able to play the lute, but the System won’t give you Lute Playing without picking up a lute.”
“And you think it’s because I wasn’t actively trying to complete the Quest that I didn’t get the rewards?” Jeb asked, looking for confirmation.
“It could be,” his grandfather agreed. “In either case though, it’s not like you’re particularly hurting for Statistics, are you?”
Jeb checked his Status. “My Charisma and my Mana Depth are still lower than my Vitality. None of my Mental Statistics are at one and a half times my Vitality score either, which I have a vague memory of you saying was the safe threshold to avoid getting placed into a Spellsword Class.”
His grandfather shrugged his shoulders, clearly considering what to say. “I’ve been reading more, and it looks like there are really two considerations worth talking about. As a general rule, and I haven’t found anything suggesting it’s different for Mages or Mud Mages, you want all of your Physical Statistics to be within twenty percent or ten points, whichever is larger.” Seeing Jeb about to speak, his grandfather continued, “other than Presence, of course.”
“It looks like I’ll need to raise all of my Physical Statistics other than Vitality and Presence,” Jeb said.
“Something similar is allegedly true for Mages. You want all of your Statistics to be within fifteen percent or ten points, whichever is smaller.”
“So I’ll still need to raise my Mana Depth and my Charisma.” It was a little frustrating to Jeb that he had been corrected about which Statistics he would need to improve, only to find out that he was actually right.
“And for Mud Mages in particular, your lowest Mental Statistic needs to be at least twenty percent higher than your lowest Physical Statistic other than Presence and your highest Mental Statistic needs to be at least twenty percent higher than your highest Physical Statistic.” That math took Jeb a little longer. If he brought his Strength and Dexterity to their bare minimum, they would both need to be thirty one. Twenty percent higher than thirty one was only thirty seven, which was less than the forty six that he would need to raise his Mental Statistics to in order for them to be within fifteen percent of his Magic Affinity.
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His Magic Affinity would need to be approximately fifty, which he was well over. That was a relief, though Jeb did realize it meant he would need to start scheduling time for running, stretching, and lifting each day. His grandfather clearly came to the same conclusion, because he told Jeb to go complete the Daily Quests he needed.
Jeb took a quick look at the Running, Lifting, and Athletics Quests to make sure he knew what they were. After all, it would be a bad idea to accidentally complete the Quest that gave him Vitality in addition to the ones for Strength, Endurance, and Dexterity.
Minor Quest First Tier Run Run for a minute per point of Endurance you have. (Repeatable)
Minor Quest First Tier Lift Lift ten pounds per point of Strength you have. (Repeatable)
Minor Quest First Tier Stretch Stretch for a minute per point of Dexterity you have. (Repeatable)
Minor Quest Second Tier Move Exercise for a minute per point of Vitality you have. (Repeatable)
Jeb focused as hard as he could on his stretching not being the same thing as exercise. It was a difficult argument to make, though his focus on stretching his fingers did help him to justify the claim. When he’d stretched for a little over twenty minutes, he saw the Notification he was waiting for.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Athletics First Tier “Stretch” You have improved your Dexterity. Rewards: 1 Dexterity, 19 EXP
Accepting the reward, he began to run. It was strange to think about the fact that he’d been running a lot lately without activating the Quest. As the minutes stretched on, though, Jeb realized that he hadn’t been running for twenty minutes, let alone thirty since he’d stopped working on the Physical Daily Quests. The minutes seemed to drag by as he kept forcing himself to go faster.
When the Notification came up in his vision, Jeb collapsed to the ground panting.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Running First Tier “Run” You have outlasted your Endurance. Rewards: 1 Endurance, 19 EXP
Thankfully, he had managed to avoid activating the Vitality Quest. Jeb looked around. He had gone into a bit of a trance by the end of the run, so he wasn’t entirely sure where he had ended up.
To his relief, he had finished the run by the barn that held weights. Jeb loaded a sack, picked it up, and completed his final Daily Quest.
Congratulations! You have completed the Minor Quest Lifting First Tier “Lift” You have grown your Strength. Rewards: 1 Strength, 19 EXP
Wiping the sweat from his brow with a quick application of Least Shape Water, Jeb made his way back to his grandfather.
Jeb’s Status Sheet at End of Chapter:
Jeb Human Age: 16 Class: Least Mud Initiate Level: 1 Experience: 5797/100
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Total Statistic Load: 336 ->339 Physical Load: 124 ->127 Strength: 28 ->29 Dexterity: 21 ->22 Endurance: 30 ->31 Vitality: 41 Presence: 4
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Mental Load: 212 Intelligence: 47 Willpower: 48 Magic Affinity: 54 Mana Depth: 33 Charisma: 30
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Mana: 910 ->915
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Glyph Attunement: 25 Least Shape Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Earth (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Shape Earth - Efficient (Modified) Tier 3 Spell Least Shape Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Conjure Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Water (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Air (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Move Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Hold Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Destroy Fire (Modified) Tier 1 Spell Least Create Mud (Modified) Tier 2 Spell Attune Earth Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Water Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Air Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Fire Mana (Modified) Tier 0 Spell Attune Sand Mana Tier 0 Spell Least Create Sand Tier 1 Spell Attune Sand Mana - Efficient Tier 2 Spell
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Bard Songs Known: 1 Lute Enforcement
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Skills: Least Mud Magic Meditation Mana Manipulation Spell Glyphing Improved Glyph Groking Gift of Gab Running Identify Soil Savvy Animal Handling Fertilizing Lifting Athletics Lute Playing Singing Musician Pollination Brewing Distilling Bardic Magic Smithing Wood Identification Woodworking Soil Improvement Enchanting
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Achievements: Focused Meditator Student of Magic
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Quests: Major: Slay the Dragon of the West (Progressive)