Tec Mage Chapter Five: Pain And Magical Gain
Atlas was shocked at the outburst of the dwarf but before he could say anything he was pushed in to the forge room with his apprentices, the room it self was huge, lined against the walls where hammers of all different sizes, pliers big enough to pick up beach ball sized objects and moulds of all different sizes all ranged from small gladiator swords to massive two handed battle claymores. In the centre of the room was a great forge about 4 meters circled wide, the forge it self was divided in to five, brick pilers separated each of the 5 places. On top of the pilers was a chimney to get rid of the fumes and heat safely, At each of the five places that the bricks divided there was a anvil, a set of small hammers, chisels and tools, a grind stone table and a long container that had oil in it
"Take a place" said the dwarf, the four of them took a place around the forge separate from each other "there's lots of ways to make weapons but we will be using moulds, moulds are the quickest and easiest way to craft weapons, the first step is refining the metal, you wont be doing this i've already done it but you need to know about it, its the most important step in weapon crafting"
The dwarf went on to say that to refine iron you needed a bloom furnaces, it was a tall stone chimney with bellows attached to the bottom " first you need to get some iron and in nature it was a rusted iron stone, then you roast it and crush it to about seed size, you then place coal into the bloom furnaces with the crushed iron ore a pound at a time equal parts coal to iron in till the bloom furnaces is full, then you wait for the iron to melt and travel though the coal, at the bottom you get the wast product called slag"
"The whole thing takes about a day but at the end you get a piece of iron shaped like a mushroom called a iron bloom...." all in one fast movement the dwarf had picked up a hammer and chucked it at Mary missing her by inches (CRASH) "ARE YOU LISTENING" shouted the dwarf
Mary had been playing with the hammers and now stood there shacking and almost crying, looking at the dwarf and then to Atlas, everyone apart from the dwarf looked stunned, such violent actions for something so small was unheard off even in game.
Atlas pulled him self together walked over to Mary's area and put his fingers to his lips, at this point he knew why the quest was difficult D, "don't say anything" Atlas said to Mary he then walked over to the hammer that was tossed over there by the dwarf, picked it up and walked over to the dwarf, Atlas handed over the hammer, the dwarf reached out for it and grabbed it but Atlas didn't let go
In a very quiet voice Atlas said "master blacksmith you may shout, cures and belittle my apprentice but never again try to hurt them"
"I can do what i want to you and to them, you agreed to it" said the dwarf while his eyes almost popping out of his skull and slightly foaming at the mouth
Atlas knew what he said was true to a certain extent "i agreed to do what you say in exchange for, you teach us all "
"Yes i know that what are you trying to say" the dwarf was shacking with anger
Atlas repeated what he had said "i agreed to do what you say but not my apprentices, you have to teach them according to the mission and i have to do what you say"
The dwarf at this explanation was fuming, then all at once he stopped shaking and started to talk clear and precise " yes, yes i did agree to that but now you've fucked your self, im going to make you my bitch, you'll going to want to die with the amount of pain your going to go though, take your seat", Atlas let go of the hammer and walked back to his place
Atlas thought what could he do, this is a game and in turn nothing done to him was going to last long, Atlas had no knowledge of the pain in the game even though it was less than real life it was still a force to be reckoned with, at his place the dwarf carried on
"After you've got the iron bloom you can cut it and put it into bars like these" the dwarf held up a bar of dark iron "this is what you PUNKS will be using" the dwarf then chucked it at Atlas which in turn tried to get out of the way but he was to late, it clipped him on the arm causing Atlas to hold on to his arm in pain
What is wrong with this animal Atlas was thinking, he looked over to his pupils, they all opened there mouths to respond , Atlas just put up his hand to stop there outburst, the pain was manageable and he saw the look of Dracken face, anger was filled in every part of his face, at this sight Atlas decide to lead Dracken by example
If Atlas lost his temper it might show to Dracken that it was ok to just give up and smack the dwarf, so he promised him self to work though it
"PICK IT UP" screeched the dwarf
After that the dwarf went on to explain that iron melted when placed in a orange clear flame " normal forges have trouble sustaining these temperature but my forge has magic in it to keep the heat at a steady heat and uses up less hard fuel such as wood and coal" the dwarf seemed full of pride after talking about his forge
So all you have to do is melt the iron pour it into the mould and wait for it to harden, then shape the edge re heat it and dip the edge in the oil and sharpen on the whetstone, GOT IT YOU GREEN PUS FILLED WASTE OF SPACE.... GET TO WORK THEN"
At those last words all 4 of them jumped and started to work
The work was hard physically and mentally, the hard lifting, hammering, reshaping and sharpening not only that, a close eye had to be kept on the flame and melted metal plus more than one thing was being done at once more than one sword was being made at once, but Alas was having the hardest time every now again the dwarf would criticize the work and hit Alas hard with his stick
The first day was coming to a close and Atlas and the apprentices had made 87 usable swords between them
The dwarf then looked over each of the swords while muttering to him self "mut fuk errr RIGHT YOU LITTLE SHITS your work today was crap the worst i've seen, and i've seen orc weapons, just get the hell out...... not you Atlas". the kids looked back at Atlas he looked back at there faces, they looked afraid "it's fine kids go ahead and make dinner for me" Atlas said calmly
The apprentices looked back while making there way to the door, after they had left Atlas spoke coldly to the dwarf "what do you need"
"Here take this" the dwarf handed 50 silver to Atlas
Atlas was surprised about the money, he's impression of the dwarf was that he was mean vengeful and cruel, the money was put into his hand "what is this for"
The dwarf looked up to Atlas and smiled, not a heart warming smile but a twisted look, " it's for this" the dwarf shouted, grabbing Alas other hand like a snake, he pulled his hand in to the forge plunging his hand deep with in the flames and burning coal
"AARRGGGGGG" screamed Atlas the pain was less then real life but still so very high and all consuming he tried to pull back but the dwarf strength was too high it didn't even move
The dwarf let go and Atlas fell back onto the floor, his hand had melted but still held together with bits of melted flesh "the money is for a healer, now you know not to fuck with me, i'm the boss and your nothing, i can do what i want with you, its like you said, you agreed to do what i say, and i say PAIN IS ON THE MENU HAAAHAAHA, NOW GET THE FUCK OUT AND DON'T BE LATE TOMORROW" the dwarf dragged Atlas out side and pushed him out
Atlas was on his ass shaking, he had no ideal where to go for help, all the places he had been so far was for crafting and buying materials, the first step Atlas knew he had to do was stop the blood that was oozing form his melted hand, with great difficulty he searched his bag for the metal wire and a piece of wood, he wrapped the wire around his arm and tighten it with the wood making a tourniquet, stumbling out of the ally Atlas grab the nearest person he could find, it was a female mage
"AHHGG GET OFF ME" shouted the mage, she looked at the man's face it was a sight to be seen dark patches were around his eyes and he was sweating hard all over his face
"Help me" moaned Atlas he was barely on his feet almost tripping on his feet, the girl was backing away she didn't know what was going on all she could see was a big man coming towards her sweating, her first reaction was this man was a pervert, then she saw the hand, with just one look it made her feel intense fear and a bit sick, she had seen many rabbits and foxs killed but after the battle the loot would be divided and the corpse would disappear.
"Wait what happened to you" she was obviously scared what ever happened to this man might still be around and might happen to her
"Get me to a healer" muttered Atlas he was losing strength with each second that went by, the mage knew time was a factor and helped the man on to her shoulder, her knees buckled at the man weight, he wasn't over the top heavy but being a mage the girl had low strength and couldn't take much weight
"This way, there's a church over here" the mage pointed with her free hand " it wont take long to get there, stumbling though the streets it looked like a drunk couple making there way home but it was in fact a desperate struggle to get to the church
At the church steps the mage and man pushed passed the line full of people waiting for a buff from the church " HEY YOU CAN'T DO THAT, WAIT IN LINE LIKE THE REST OF US" said a random man that was waiting in line "YEA, GET YOUR ASS BACK TO THE LINE" shouted a second man. As they got to the front of the line one of the people in line grabbed Atlas and twisted him around "GET BACK IN LI...", as Atlas was twisted around his melted hand almost slapped the guy in the face "FUck, man shit what happened to you"
The female mage just grabbed Atlas and pulled him back on her shoulder and pushed the doors to the church open "I NEED SOME HELP, NOW" screamed the girl, the noise echoed though out the hall and within seconds two paladins and a priest was running up to them
"What's all this about one of the paladins said, with out a second thought Atlas trusted his hand in front of paladins face, the paladin was a seasoned warrior and didn't even flinch, "i see, priest do some thing about this". Within seconds the priest was covered in a pure light and muttering words "holy god madden of light give me the power to heal this poor soul". The hand was covered with the same light as the priest and the hand was mending, first the blood stop completely then the muscles where being attached back on the hand and finally the skin grew back
Atlas looked at his hand, he knew of magic being able to heal almost any wound but the contrast between pain and relief was amazing "thank you, that's was a great relief" signed Atlas " how much do i owe you"
"Nothing, a donation maybe" said the priest hopefully
Atlas reached over to the donation box and put 40 silver in "do you by any chance sell healing spell books", Atlas had the feeling that the dwarf wasn't finished with the cruel acts and healing would be very useful
The priest spoke up "i'm afraid not, we only give healing skills to people of our order or persons that complete favours for the church besides you need the faith stat to make healing really useful"
Atlas was disappointed, " oh well, thank you again" at this point Atlas turned towards the mage girl
The mage girls face was slim and her eyes where big and light blue like dear's eyes,her lips where full and nose straight, altogether a very attractive women, but what did that mean in a world where you could change your appearance
"Miss, my name is Atlas and i'm very thankful for your help" raising his arm so he could shake the hand of the mage Atlas noticed that the girl was backing up "what's your name miss"
At the last question the mage started to take steps back "WHAT, umm no wait no my name?"
At this strange behaviour Atlas was thinking that maybe she still hadn't got over the mince meat hand and was still shaken up about it or something completely different, "calm down, its ok if you don't want to tell me your name, but at least let me give you this", Atlas held out his hand with 10 silver in it
The mage looked at Atlas hand with terror like he held a weapon and had intent to harm her
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"I'll just leave it here then" said atlas watching the reaction of the mage girl
"Wh..what happened to your hand" asked the mage, "did you use a spell with out protection"
This question greatly interested Atlas " what do you mean by protection"
"Ummm well when you use a spell like flame you need protection from your own spell other wise you get burnt"
"Carrie on, i'm listening" Atlas said while nodding
"Ummm when you cast a spell there is two things that happen, one mana is gathered to the hand and two the element is a piled making a fire ball and the mana gathered to the hand protects said hand by making a gap between the magic and the hand" explained the mage
"That's very interesting, tell me more" asked Atlas
"Umm what umm no i cant i've only just learnt magic my self" explained the mage
"Well thanks anyway, if you need a hand with anything then ask the instructor in the training hall for me, he knows where i live"
Atlas walked out of the church and headed back to the dojo, on his way back anger and humiliation hit him "what reason does that little monster have for being so hateful and vile". Atlas swore revenge, not straight forward revenge like killing the dwarf, death was to sudden, the dwarf wouldn't learn anything he needed to feel pain and shame but how to go about it he wasn't sure
At the dojo Atlas greeted the kids and had a quick something to eat, after his dinner he started afire using the broken scarecrows and wood from furniture that he couldn't fix. He sat on the floor, it was a cool evening and pleasant on the skin
"Right kids to day for magic i want you to try magic missile, i my self will be trying something different"
"Wait, what happen with the dwarf" asked Mary
"I don't want to talk about it, lets just say never take anything from him, it will likely hurt you" explained Atlas
"No, you got to tell us, you can't jus."
"Stop, what happen to me has hurt me and my pride, but with time i will get my revenge and after that time i will tell you about it" explained Atlas
Atlas took a deep breath and then carried on "like i was saying magic missile will be your goal, take what youv'e learned from your flare and apply it to magic missile, i can't help you right now because i will be trying something different"
"What are you doing" asked Kevien
"Testing something out" replied Atlas "just carry on with you magic"
Before he started he had to delete of all the notices that he piled up when working at the forge, there was a couple of stat increase and health lose notices where the dwarf had hit him but there was also some thing else, endurance.
Endurance: Reduces the loss of vitality and stamina. Stat points distribution is possible and depending on the character’s actions, it can increased by itself.
Atlas was thinking how much endurance he would need to withstand burning forge coals, he put the thought to one side and carried on deleting messages in till he got to the point his hand was placed into the forge, his life at this stage had dropped drastically but his endurance had shot up
Atlas was thinking he could increase his endurance easier than any other but it would be painful and again put it to one side, finishing deleting his messages Atlas prepared him self
Closing his eyes Atlas searched for his mana, it was easier than before and quicker, he then started to try to move it to his arms then he poured al of his mana he had in to his left arm then his right arm, at this point he got a message
Ding
Skill: mana manipulation has been learnt
"Definition of mana manipulation" said Atlas
Mana manipulation lets the user use spells faster and makes spells stronger or weaker depending on the users will
Increases and decreases Attack Power with a magic by -10% to +10%
Increases Attack Speed with a magic by 3%.
The skill wasn't what Atlas was aiming for but something is better than nothing
Atlas was moving the mana around his body increasing his aptitude, Atlas concentrated all his mana in to his hand and held it there, the mana was still in his body but Atlas felt it was leaking a little bit, he reached out to the fire in till it started to hurt, then with his non mana hand he did the same, the distance to the fire and hand was the same
"No change" Atlas was disappointed, he dropped his hands and carried on moving his mana around, now that his test had failed Atlas was lost at what to do, 30 minutes of playing with his mana Atlas took a deep breath in though his nose inhaling the smoke and started to sneeze
"achoo, achoo, achoo" Atlas liked the feeling that a sneeze gave him but sometimes it was just in the way, he continued to play with his mana but couldn't find it any more
"What, were my mana, i cant seem to find it" he was desperate to find it searching his whole body. Atlas searched the last place it was at, his hand and felt a very faint mana surge seeping into his hand, at this point he raised his arm and pressed his hand slower but closer to the fire, inching closer and closer to the fire he made it to the tip of the flame before he had to retreat
Atlas came up with the conclusion that his mana was pushed out of his body and was protecting him by blocking the heat by making a barrier of mana, like a pair of gloves and that the mana was seeping back into him
"Hah so pushing mana out causes the protection, just like the mage said but how did i push it out" Atlas knew it was connected to the sneeze
"Maybe i need to save some mana back when i consecrate my mana to my hand and clash it together so it has no where to go but outside, maybe" Atlas didn't know for sure and right now testing was the quickest way to find out
The first test was to see if he could separate his mana in to small pieces and sustain them, 30 minutes later he just couldn't do it, he thought back to the only magic he had learnt mana flare and examined it
1: mana flare was connected to my mana so it could be sustained
2: so did that mean the mana flow connecting the flare and him could shrink and expand, it was more likely according to mana manipulation description
So with these theories he started a new, instead of separating his mana completely Atlas tried to divide his mana source but leave a thin connection between the two
It was much easier almost at once did Atlas seceded in the separation of mana, Atlas put it down to his mana flare training, after that he decide to try again with the force expulsion of his mana, concentrating part of his mana into his hand he rammed the two separated mana together
Nothing, nothing happen or to say the thing he wanted to happen didn't happen, the two mana just combine together, thinking more a 3rd theory came to him
Adding a rotation to the mana in his hand but keeping the other mana steady he clashed them together
Ding
Skill: Mana deflection
"Definition of mana deflection" asked Atlas
Mana deflection is a basic shield of magic, not true protection where the shield stops the attack but redirects the force, later levels will increase duration and power
A true personal skill where each mana deflection skill is different to each other
Decreases mana consumption by 10% for manna deflection
Increases speed of mana deflection speed by 10%
skill takes 20 mana a second, can concentrate mana to make mana deflection stronger
"Lets see how good this skill is" Atlas activated the skill, now that the skill was learnt Atlas could use the skill as a short cut, raising his hand he reached out again towards the fire
"HA haa ha it works" Atlas hand was above the flames, he could barely feel the flames heat, Atlas returned his hand back to his side
"Mana deflection, hmm its not blocking the heat but redirecting it but where to, where is the heat going to" he was thinking some more about the name of the skill and the properties of heat
Atlas in real life was a skilled plumber which meant that he had to learn all thing connected to the craft included how fire and heat was used
Atlas remembered that there was three different ways heat transfers
1: radiation, heat energy transfer though air by waves, so putting your hands beside a fire and feeling the heat energy
2: conduction, Heat energy can move through a substance by conduction, like when you put metal into fire and the heat energy transfer to the handle
3: Convection, occurs when particles with a lot of heat energy in a liquid or gas move and take the place of particles with less heat energy. like water being heated and moving because they have more energy
He new that these three heat transfers were the answer, after 30 minutes waiting for his mana to recharge he carried on with the experiment, he picked up a stone that was beside him with his left hand and raised his right hand towards the fire
Activating the mana deflection skill he only covered his hands, arms, and torso and put his right hand over the flames, the heat was being radiated into his mana, then using convection he pushed the heat down the mana like a river down his hand, arm though his torso and his left arm to his left hand, finally he used conduction to transfer the heat to the stone
Atlas had used up most of his mana by doing this, he with draw his right hand and his mana ran out "owch" Atlas had dropped the stone
"That was hotter than i expected", the heat had transferred in to the stone but the stone was small and had heated up faster than expected
Ding
The three principals of heat transfer has been added to mana deflection
For adding the three principles of heat transfer to mana deflection
wisdom increased by 2 point
int increased by 2 points
"What now?" Atlas wanted to test it out in the fire not just on top of the fire but he was still shaken up about what happened in the forge "later maybe when i've levelled up the skill a bit
The night was getting on so Atlas decide it was time for bed, after the kids had fallen a sleep Atlas replaced the water that was used up from the barrel and placed more food on the table, while doing these things he thought back on the days activates and how the whole episode happened
It didn't matter how or even why the dwarf was the way he was, what mattered was not to push the dwarf in to a action like that again, looking back Atlas realized that by quoting the mission out loud to the dwarf had given him no choice and enlighten what he could do to Atlas according to the mission
To push the dwarf might be risky but to keep him angry might make it safer for Atlas
At the end of his small chores Atlas decide to get some sleep if he was going to get his revenge and work for a weeks he need to get small amount of sleep here and there, lying down he log out
End Of Chapter Five: Pain And Magical Gain