Spoiler :
So.. “she” is dominating the poll, this chapter was written based on the to be expected result.. Mana stays an ex-female. To improve my story and get some ideas I'm currently browsing through stackexchange worldbuilding, and it's SO much.. too much.. I can't read it all..
I finished the rough map, AND information on human society. It's in the forum, information on how to create human background stories.
Ah, the date for “when are you going to write the next chapter of the origin story” has been set, it's the day I release chapter 10.
WARNING! Creating a realistic economy in a fantasy world with magic is so hilariously difficult, please don't hate me for strange numbers, I'm trying.. but I hit a really solid wall.
Here's the forum, and here's chapter 8.
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I want to change my writing a bit:
"Sound" (Ex.: Boom/Tickatickatick..)/ special intonations (Ex.: he is the "king" of this place. (not actually, but symbolically))
(Thought)
I think this might improve the structure. Do you agree?
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Help: And another night of doing nothing.. hey, once we enter human society, what are you going to do? Unlike others, you haven't been tasked with defeating a demonlord or something like that.. a MC without a drive, isn't that kinda pointless?
(Stop it.)
Help: No honestly, how are you going to use your time here? Elves live long, but they ain't immortal. You should do something with all of this time. Like.. getting as strong and unreachable as possible to stay alive. And then you could.. don't know, world conquest? Create an utopia?.
(You're bored right?)
Help: Yep.
(In this case, use that processing power to figure out what I should do.)
Help: -.- ... become immortal, become a god like being, travel the multiverse. In that order.
(..sigh..)
You have slain a level 12 tier 2 magical beast. 600 exp earned.
(Just because he's asleep doesn't mean you can ambush him.. let's just hope this doesn't set of a chain reaction like last time..)
You have slain a level 16 tier 2 magical beast. 800 exp earned.
You have slain a level 8 tier 3 magical beast. 4000 exp earned.
...
(It turned into a corpse party again.. I always have to kill a dozen or so till they understand.. how do they survive as a species if they keep suiciding? Well, at least I did something meaningful during this.. time.)
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Waking up to the sight he had gotten used to already..
“So, today we will go into a human settlement..”
“Yep. It's 10 kilometers, that's ten thousand meters away. We should get there in two hours or so. That's.. two times sixty times sixty seconds.”
After hearing the distance, he didn't bother trying to understand the duration of an hour. Two times sixty times sixty.. that was a lot. No, it couldn't be said that Quintus was dumb. But there was no use to learn mathematics in this world. He heard big numbers from the elders stories and understood their meaning, he also knew of the concept of multiplication as Mana had talked about it before.. but never taught him. He didn't think he would have to learn it.
After roughly a kilometer they saw a road and followed it to the village. Well, comparing to what we would think of a “road” it was more like a path.. one could only distinguish it from the surroundings due to the fact that the ground was trampled down. On their way they encountered a group of adventurers, but they just passed by each other. The group greeted them, friendly even, but not knowing the customs of this world Quintus just passed them without saying a word. One member seemed angry at this behavior, but was held back by the person that seemed to be the leader of the group.
“Leave him alone.. he probably has his reasons.”
Their travel continued, and after roughly an hour they had finally reached the village. Surrounded by fields and enclosures, some hundred or so buildings encircled by a wall, that was what it amounted to. Most buildings were made from wood.
The entrance was guarded, but the guards let them pass. Their job was to prevent magical beast from entering, and to tax traders, not to stop adventurers from entering their village.
(This place is small, but it looks pretty busy.. well, nothing compared to main streets in big cities, but considering the size of this place.. Now, there should be an adventurer guild around here.. I wonder if I'll get to do something using those little pieces of metal.. they glow when I use mana on them, they have runes on them.. but they don't do anything but glowing. Pity I only noticed them after killing everyone.. could have asked them about it.)
Help: Most likely it is used to recognize the rank of the individual, their leaders plate is glowing differently than the rest of them.
(But first.. we've got weapons to spare, selling them to a blacksmith would be a good idea.. would also inform me of the value of those coins.. yeah, let's look for a blacksmith.)
"This place is different from our village.. I heard that humans were far more numerous than elves, but.. so many in a single settlement?” - Quintus whispered into his cowl.
“Well, if this already impresses you..”
“You are telling me this is nothing in comparison to what you know again?”
“Well, honestly, yeah. If the buildings were hundreds of times higher, the city hundred of times larger.. that would be a settlement I'm used to.”
...
“How.. would one even create buildings this tall?”
“Science. That, and the tools, materials and the time. If you want I can teach you about science once our situation stabilizes. For now.. ah, this looks good. Could you go to that place?”
The building stuck out as it was made from stone, and the furnace, currently used by the smith, gave away its purpose. “ClingClingCling”, with rhythmical movement the hammer struck the metal, gradually turning it into what looked like nails. After finishing his work, the smith turned to the onlooker.
“Hey, what are you here for? Got some businesses? My son's in the store you know, if you need anything..”
“Do.. you buy finished products?”
“Hmm? What's that about? You want to sell? Don't look like a trader to me.. well, this is this, and business is business. What do you got?”
...
“Those are.. hey, I still remember this one! Made it myself! How did you get those!”
“Found them on a dead body. Next to some beast, biggest I'd ever seen. Had to wait till it left to recuperate it.”
...
“You're telling me Levan's dead?”
“Don't know the guy, only ever met his remains. But if he wasn't dead back then, then I don't know what else he was.” (God, those lines I'm spouting.. but looks like it works..)
“This guy.. he was like a big oak, nothing could have felled him.. so he died.. ah, sorry, you're just here for business right? .. the other weapons?”
“Corpses close to him.”
...
“The entire team eh.. I.. can buy three swords, all daggers and the armaments. Don't think I'd get to sell the rest anytime soon. I'd give you a pech for all of this.. that alright?”
“Fine with me.”
The man took out a white coin and handed it to Quintus, taking the other goods in exchange for it.
(So.. this is called a “pech”..)
After having heard the news of Levans death, the man had a rather dark expression on his face. His second son had been part of that team. For a scavenger to be the one to deliver the message of his death..
“You done? I'm rather busy you know?”
“Actually.. (Not the best moment.. he seems down, looks like I delivered bad news.. well, worst case I'll get some information out of it..) there is another thing I'd like to request.”
“What is it?”
“What would I have to do to become a blacksmith?”
...
“You.. want to become a blacksmith?”
“Yes. If I can't, I'd be glad to just help a blacksmith out.”
..
“You, go away. I've got no business with you anymore.”
He wanted to be alone. He wasn't going to show his tears to a stranger. Just four days ago, that was the last time he had seen his son. And it would remain the last time. He had known of the risks of being an adventurer.. but it hadn't even been a year! This stranger, he robbed his dead son, delivered him the news of his death, and then kept pestering him! Why didn't he go away!
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
(Well, looks like this isn't going to end well.. but hey.. let's not forget to leave without also leaving an impression..)
“Looks like I should go.. well, have this.. it's the reason I wanted to give smiting a try.”
Throwing a leather pouch to the smith, Quintus turned and left. The smith caught the pouch out of reflex, and after he realized what happened, Quintus was already twenty meters away. He didn't bother chasing after him, not to give that person something back.
(Now.. let's see how he is going to react..)
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He.. spend some time alone. Then some time with his wife, telling her the message he himself never wanted to hear. This wasn't the first time they had lost a child. Their first daughter died before even learning how to walk. For the following days, the mood within the house was heavy. After having somewhat calmed down, Keith had no intention to even look at he object the scavenger had given him. But.. it's shape was odd, what was it? Also.. it made a noise, “Tickatickatickatick..” but one day.. that noise stopped. It was that day he couldn't hold back his curiosity any longer.
“What.. is this?? This thing, .. what is it?? This part can be turned.. “Tickatickatickatick..” ..this noise again? And.. it's moving?!? What is this?.. it has a glass cover too.. how could anyone give away something like this?!?”
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(Melt some sand, melt some steel.. you managed to remain stuck at this level for centuries? Well, it's time to help them catch up..)
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“Dad, there's someone in the store.. he says he has something he wants to discuss with you.”
“Not now! Tell that person I'm busy!”
This device.. he knew what it did now! It measured time! But.. why would someone create this? For what purpose?? There had to be a deeper meaning to this..
“He said to deliver you a message then.. do you want to know more about the blade cutting time?.. that's what he said.”
...
A room within the smiths house..
“You.. just what are you?”
“I just like to create.. what do you think of this?”
“It measures time. But.. how does it work? And why create it?”
“Well, being able to measure time accurately is better then not being able to do it. What can one do with it.. compare speed. How long did it take for a person to travel a distance? In my opinion, everything is like a blade.. the sharper it is, the better the results. At the moment we measure time in days, weeks, months.. those are what I'd call dull ways to measure time. I wanted to sharpen this blade..”
He understood! He had watched how this device cut time into tiny pieces, all the exact same size.. wasn't it the dream of every craftsman to create the best tool? And this person, he had done it! There already were tools to roughly measure time, but those were either cumbersome or couldn't be moved at all, and usually inaccurate. This thing didn't improve any of those flaws, but eradicated all of them! It didn't matter what kind of person the man in front of him was, as a fellow craftsman, he couldn't help but admire him.
“I understand! But.. just how does this thing work?”
..
“I'm sorry if this was disrespecting! I know that knowledge for creating this is not something one would just give away! But this thing, it intrigues me too much!”
“No, it's alright.. I was just thinking about how I could explain this to you.. if you want, I could teach you.. steel and sand, that's all I need. The sand I can get myself.”
..
“Here is the steel! Can.. can you show me?”
“Yeah.. this is more than enough..”
He would gladly have offered for the man to use his forge, but what then happened.. first the steel. It floated into the air, started glowing red, and then.. there was only one way to describe it, beautiful. The metal was formed into countless tiny pieces.. then the same happened with the sand. Person? Ha! This was no man! It was a divine being! Patron to all artist, Vulcan.. for him to have send another emissary to this world! Could it be.. his sons death was a sacrifice?! His son was the one that brought this being to this world? And in exchange.. he would receive its blessing?! This.. this was the dream of every craftsman!
“What I just did.. it can be done with the right tools. Currently.. you are missing the tools to produce the tool. The question I have for you is.. are you willing to improve?”
“Yes!”
(Ah.. really, show them what they don't understand and they'll either fear, hate or revere you.. and this worked out just fine.. looks like I got ourselves a place to stay..)
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Keith Klein, he was but a simple blacksmith, like his father had been, and his fathers father.. producing goods for the villagers and adventurers, that's what he did every day. His father had taught him forging techniques and some engravings, which he had already passed on to his son.. his blades were sharp and durable. He had a simple work, and he was happy with it.
But one day, his life changed completely. From that day onward, he didn't try to perfect the techniques he already knew.. but to learn new techniques from this being, this divine craftsman. The ideas he was confronted with.. they were so simple, yet brilliant! A cog, it was nothing but a piece of metal with a specific shape.. but it brought the force from one location to another, could change it's direction, could convert power into speed, speed into power.. but this was but a “piece”, something meant to become part.. of something bigger.
Cogs already existed in this world, but found close to no usage. And this was about to change.. this, alongside many other things..
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(Well, while recreating all the awesome things from my old world would be great.. different circumstances demand different methods. No one around here really cares about clocks, nor would they care about other “useless” inventions.. what the people here want is weapons, working tools that make the work they already have easier.. not something that would require a new line of work.. and all of my inventions need to be registered at the smiting guild if the smith wants to sell them..)
To prevent craftsmen from creating and selling what they wanted at whatever they felt to be the right price, thus creating an unstable, potentially unfair price, guilds were responsible for fixing prices and the quality of goods. A member of a guild was prohibited from selling anything that was not on their list, or selling listed goods for a different price than the listed one. Since Keith was registered at the smiting guild, there was no way for him to sell Manas creations.
(Guess I've got no choice.. everyone can become a merchant.. there's a guild for those too, but it's not like I'm forced to join.. but I'll have to get a license to sell in this village..)
“You.. are going to leave??”
“Nah, no worries.. I will stay in the village, it's just that the rules of this society would greatly slow down progress.. I still have so much to teach you, it feels like I didn't teach you anything at all.”
“I will wait for masters return!”
(This is really convenient.. he told me everything I wanted to know, no questions asked.. going away and leaving someone this useful behind would be a waste..)
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The lords residence, one of the few stone buildings in the village, also the places responsible for handling paperwork related to the village, was the perhaps best guarded building within the city.
“Halt! What brings you to the lords residence?”
“I wish to register myself for the right to sell goods in this village.”
“Lowest floor, first door to your right. Draw your weapon or go up the stairs and you will be considered a danger. Understood?”
“No worries.”
In the room there was a counter, occupied by a single man. The difference in status between that person and the villagers was clear due to his clothing alone.
“You came here to?”
“Register myself for the right to sell goods within this city.”
“Member of a traders or merchant guild?”
“No.”
“Member of another guild or the adventurers guild?”
“No.”
“You will have to declare all goods you sell, and deliver a tenth of the money earned to the lord every month. Break the law and you will face the consequences. Registration will be five nelar. Also.. asking you this isn't really part of my job, but what do you even intend to sell in this village?”
“All kinds of things.. here is five nelar, with this the registration should be complete?”
“You still have to choose a number from one to thousand and a name to register under. Should your license be lost, report this immediately. If you don't, any crimes performed using it will go to your name.”
“You wont ask to state my real name?”
“What means do we have to confirm that information?”
“I'd like to register as Deus Machina then. Number six hundred and sixty-six.”
“Strange name.. well, let me look.. yep, that number is free.”
And certified with the lords seal, I was now allowed to sell goods in this village as long as I gave away a tenth of my profits. Small, occasional transactions where legal even without this document, but if one intended to run a business.. time to get things started..