Tec Mage Chapter Ten: Teenage Adventures
Atlas was in real trouble his 4th apprentice was in pain and possible dying, the heat from the iron bowl he used to carry Forge was cooling, Atlas placed the bowl on the floor and pulled out the odd bits and pieces of wood from his bag, piling the wood around the coals, it was a good start but still it would take time for the wood to light up
"Mary, Kevien use your fire flare and place it in the bowl, Dracken go and buy as much coal as you can with the 50 silver you have" said Atlas
"Yes" all three of them followed the orders, Mary and Kevien placed there flames near Forge while Dracken disappeared around a corner
"That feels better" Forge voice had picked up but still was weak
Atlas picked up the bowl and started to walk back, the weight of the bowl, coals, wood and Forge meant he had to be careful and he could only walk back
"Let us help you with the bowl" said Mary while reaching out for the bowl
"NO, the heat is to much for you, it will peel the skin from your flesh, just keep your flames going and i'll carry the weight" said Atlas
"I'm still cold" Forge was still shaking and the wood was only just lighting up, Atlas could only use his mana deflection but he didn't need to waste the heat he was deflecting, because he was using both hands to carry the bowl Atlas deflected the heat up his arms and up to his head in till the excess heat was on his lips, gently Atlas blew out though his mouth his mana and pushed the heat though the air using the heat movement radiation on to the top of Forge, breathing in though his nose to stop the back draft of heat coming in his mouth and burn him
"mm that feels better" Forge wasn't shaking as much, so Atlas carried on to the dojo where they lived
As atlas entered the dojo behind the training hall, the first thing he noticed was Dracken had got back already with a big bag of coal "there's more to come, but i thought that you needed at least one bag right away" said Dracken
"You were right", Atlas put down the bowl and put more wood and some extra coals on to the fire that was in the bowl, the wood from before was now a light and there was continuous fire going, Forge was a lot happier and seemed excited about being in a new place
The 2nd thing Atlas noticed was the materials he ordered from the architect had been delivered and even placed in the areas he had marked, the most important thing for Atlas was making a home for Forge to sustain the animals heat, "Kids, i need to spend time on Forges home so tonight will be free lesson, meaning you can do what ever you like" Atlas handed over 50 silver to compensate Dracken
Atlas wanted to test his architect skill, so he measured the area out with his 2 meter stick and marked the ground with chalk, he activated the skill
Ding
A small hut was forming out of nothing but the resources were disappearing at the same time, it was a simple hut that was just about standing, the roof was flat and simple and the walls didn't have any support, and finally there was no foundations so the hut didn't stay in one place
The skill increased 40% to the next level but Atlas was not happy with the skill, with such weak walls an flat roof the hut could fall down on anyone in there, Atlas couldn't use the skill just yet
Instead Atlas moved on to Forge's new home, Forge was not a big animal just a long one, first Atlas dug down and made foundation, he placed one of his iron pipes that had holes drilled in it under the foundation, then using broken bricks and gravel he covered the pipes he also mixed cermet by using slaked lime, sand and fine gravel in the ratio of 1:2:3, building the walls was a piece of cake for Atlas and so was the roof, the roof was arched and to make sure the roof didn't fall down Atlas put a pillar in the middle, before the job was finished Atlas placed another wall of the same design touching Forge's home to make it double layered to keep in the heat
"There finished" explained Atlas to no one
Ding
Atlas looked at the message to find that he's architects skill had raised to level 3 and was 64% to the next level, this was due to the use of higher grade material and a successful build
Atlas poured some coal in to the oven and pick up a piece of wood that was alight from the iron bowl And chucked it in
Atlas waited for the coals to heat up by dismantling the hut he had erected with his architect skill, he then went over to the iron bowl where Forge was sleeping
Atlas had made a oven with a small chimney, a bellows that wasn't complete and no door facing the oven
It was getting dark but Atlas no longer had to get up to deal with the dwarf and it was still two game days before he was going to meet up with the tutors guild, so Atlas picked up the sleeping Forge and placed him in the oven he had made for him, Atlas looked in side to see Forge wrap it self around the pillar which by now was a red hot, the coals in the blaze didn't produce smoke as much as wood, so Atlas closed of the chimney with a flat stone, Atlas check on the kids that where all asleep, did the chores of filling the barrel and so on, then Atlas moved on to the bloom furnaces and forge
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The morning was well and truly started in fact it was close to midday when Mary had gotten up, in her room was a straw mattress a chest made by Atlas and her tools that she had bought the previous day, she got dressed and started to clean her tools, she was happy and excited, not only had she brought tools for blacksmithing but also had acquired the skill at level 7, she moved out her room and was meet with Kevien who was still sleepy, Dracken seemed to have got up already and was no where to be seen
"Morning" Mary yawned
Mary and Kevien was engaged in small talk as they moved out side
"What are you going to do today" asked Kevien
"I don't know, maybe i'll go to the library to see if there is any blacksmith class i can obtain" Mary said
"Well i'm going to.." Kevien started to say
"Ohhhh" squicked Mary, she had spotted the new buildings that Atlas had erected
There was a half built forge in the same design as Forge's oven home but big enough for a man to walk in and beside that was a big bloom furnaces for the turning ores in to workable metal
"Afternoon" Atlas said
Mary was still jumping up and down while almost dancing around the half built forge
"THIS..THIS IS TOTALLY UNFAIR" shouted Kevien
Mary had stopped dancing and turned to Kevien, Forge was woken up
"Where am i" Forge's voice was uncertain and scarred
Atlas walked over to Forge and pulled out the red hot iron bowl form the oven that he was on "it's ok Forge, i'm here, i just put you in your new home when you were sleeping" Atlas brushed some ash out of the bowl and filled the empty spots with new coal and wood, he placed the bowl out side of the oven so that Forge could be out side but if he got cold he could move back in to the oven
"I'll be with you in a moment Forge" said Atlas
Atlas was getting annoyed with the attitude of Kevien, it seemed that Kevien maybe a bit selfish and quick tempered but it wouldn't help to start shouting at him
"What's wrong" asked Atlas
"Look at this, first you make us do blacksmithing for Mary sake and then you build this for her, when it my turn, when do i get to be a mage" Kevien's hands were all over the place as he tried to explain why he was unhappy
Atlas annoyance was now turning in to anger, all this time with the kids and only Kevien was this needy and vain
"Kevien, i assume that your level 7 in blacksmithing the same as all of us" said Atlas
Kevien was about to talk again but before that Atlas raised his hand to stop him
"With blacksmithing level 7, requirements on equips go down by 14% so it will make it easer to use items in the future, not only that i made a place where you can practice magic attack's but you lost your self to the magic, a sort of battle lust, also you only told me you wanted to be a mage just about a week ago, where Mary told me straight away plus do you have any gold to buy the things you need and finally your intelligence and wisdom are not high enough yet to learn magic from the guild" the last bit Atlas made up but Atlas thought he needed more
Kevien was flushing at the cheeks "i bet that i have more intelligence and wisdom than you" Kevien said sulkily
"Why would you say that" asked Atlas
"I watch you, and your all over the place, learning blacksmithing, making scarecrows and now this new forge" Kevien was talking to Atlas with annoyance "but i read in my spare time and even belong to the library" Kevien sounded smug
Atlas was thinking so what, he also had a membership with the library, "ok, how much?"
"What" Kevien said while blinking
"How much do you want to bet or what do you want to bet" Atlas was baiting Kevien
"You name it" Kevien said
At these words Atlas was sick of Kevien attitude and was tempted to tell him to do one but instead said "how about life"
"Wh what do you mean" Kevien was stuttering
"I mean life, if i win i get your life in till you die and if you win you get my life in till i die" said Atlas
"Th.. that's too much" said Kevien
The answer Kevien gave, told Atlas that Kevien was not too confidant about his stats
"Fine but next time think about what your say before you say it, after all it's not very intelligent to do that" Atlas was rubbing it in
"ARIGHT I BET ALL OF MY MONEY" said Kevien with raised voice
"What all 2 gold and 5 silver" Atlas was beefing up the sarcasm
"YEA" Kevien voice was still raised
"Fine i'll go first" said Atlas, "show intelligence and wisdom stats to Kevien
Atlas didn't want to show his stats to Kevien, he was feeling bitter towards him
[Character Name: Atlas] [Alignment: Neutral]
[Level: 3] [Profession: None]
[Wisdom: 31] [Intellect: 31]
As soon as Kevien started to read the pop up message his face went pale
"I don't want to play this game any more" whined Kevien
Atlas took that as a win, "you see what happens when you ego gets in the way"
"What's that" said Kevien, he still had the hump
Atlas had forgotten the game was set in medieval days, "your pride, it's fine to be prideful of what you are or what you can do but when you shove it in some one face it just obnoxious and having a big amount of mana or high intelligence makes you incomplete, but if you don't believe me that's fine, ultimately it's up to you how you improve"
"Ok i understand, may i have my money back" said Kevien
Atlas looked at Kevien with disbelief, he couldn't believe what he had said, it sounded like Kevien was taking the piss
"You bet money and lost, so no, that money is mine now" said Atlas
In truth Atlas was going to give the money back but it seemed Kevien was just saying what he thought Atlas wanted to hear
As soon as Atlas finished talking Kevien had stropped of to do what ever he wanted to do for the day while muttering under his breath and Mary was looking between the two but left as well
Atlas didn't know what to do with Kevien, he just thought that he was at that age, Atlas moved on to Forge
"Right, Forge just some questions to get along, what do you eat" asked Atlas
Forge looked up at Atlas, he looked happy to see some one "me and my brothers and sisters are sustained by fire and feed by mana, plants and meat" replied Forge
" Explain, please" asked Atlas
"As long as we have fire or heat my kinds body absorbs it but we don't get stronger, we just exist, mana we eat from anything but they have to be dead or willing, also it's good for my age" Forge was looking at Atlas with hope and his tail was shacking with eagerness
"Did the dwarf feed you and do you want some of my mana" asked Atlas
"Of course not, he knew about our kind being self sufficient and he didn't want me to be too strong but when he first put me in the forge he did offer his mana but i think he knew that my kind needs to .. modify it and he wanted that from me"
The small pause that Forge did interested Atlas
"And yes i would like some mana" Forge was still shacking
"Ok take some" Atlas reached out his hand
Forge looked at Atlas hand, he looked a bit awkward and sceptical
"What's wrong, it's ok my mana will come back and i have a lot now" explained Atlas
"It's not that......., i just been under the control of the dwarf for so long that i think this maybe a trap, but you not treated me bad but pretty good so far and you did show up the dwarf" said Forge
"That's ok" Atlas was retracting his hand
"NO, WAIT" said Forge "i'll take your mana but i do have to warn you, for me to take your mana as food i need to modify it, or should i say modify you"
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Atlas moved his hand back a bit "explain" said Atlas
Forge looked a bit desperate while looking at Atlas hand "it's not a true modifying, it's just a skill but first i got to bite you, so some of me is in side of you", if snakes had lips then Forge would be licking them right now, he had hunger in his eyes
"Are you sure it's just a skill" asked Atlas
"Yes, completely sure, i think that's why the dwarf wanted me to feed on him
Atlas offered his hand again and Forge bite him on his hand
"Owch", Forge had retreated to his oven "it wasn't that bad" said Atlas
"It's not over yet" said Forge from the oven
The bite on the hand was heating up not unpleasantly but warm and it was spreading though out Atlas body, after a couple of seconds of a warm feeling the heat gained in power and now Atlas was sweating, after that came the blood boiling pain, Atlas was in such bad pain that he activated mana deflection by instinct but it didn't help, now he was on the floor the pain had increase pass the pain he felt when he had his hand forcibly plunged in to the fire for the first time at the dwarfs work place, within seconds Atlas had passed out
"Atlas.....,Atlas....,ATLAS"
Forge was moving towards Atlas and tapping him with his tail then moving back to the oven to absorb the heat
"Wake up" said Forge
"Urgg, i'm up" Atlas head was spinning but the ache in Atlas muscles stop him standing up, so instead he sat up while rubbing his head "What was that and why didn't you tell me that this would happen" asked Atlas
Forge was in the oven again, it looked like he was hiding "that was the skill entering your body, and the reason i didn't tell you was i didn't think you would want to do it after hearing what happens
"You are probable right" Atlas was thinking a bit naughty "well i got what i wanted, now to talk to the dwarf"
"What?" Forge was backing up in the oven
After seeing this reaction Atlas felt bad "i'm sorry that was a joke but i can see that you didn't see the funny side, i didn't mean it"
Forge popped his head out the oven "you had me going, for a second i was regretting giving you the skill"
Oh the skill, Atlas thought, he check the pop ups
You have lost conciousness
Atlas thought that this pop up was useless and ultimately weird, why would it tell me that i've lost conciousness when i can't read it because i've lost conciousness, Atlas carried on reading the pop ups
New skill: Avatar Of Fire
Atlas check what the skill did
Avatar Of Fire: You can call on a aura of heat, later levels the heat turns in to flames, acts as a sustained buff
200 mana is used and won't be regain in till the deactivation of the skill
Fire resistance +5%
cold resistance +5%
unknown
unknown
a sustainable skill, Atlas had not heard of one before " is this skill rare" asked Atlas
Forge just looked up and against all odds Atlas swore Forge shrugged "i don't know, i just used it on the dead so i could eat there mana"
"We will see" Atlas decided that mana food was fine but Forge should eat some proper food, he took the stone that was blocking the chimney of the oven and placed a iron cooking pot on top, he filled it with water and placed meat bones in the pot, Atlas needed to boil the bones for 30 minutes to get the meat broth but in the mean time Atlas offered his hand to Forge, Atlas activated the Avatar of fire skill, nothing felt different but he could see a small aura of heat coming off him, Forge jumped at the chance and wrapped him self up Atlas arm and placed his own head on Atlas hand, it looked like Forge could survive a little bit when near Atlas when the skill was activated, Forge was sipping at Atlas hand so Atlas used Mana manipulation to push his mana to his hand to make it easier for Forge to eat
When Forge was satisfied Atlas placed him back in the oven but decide to keep the skill activated, Atlas chopped up some vegetables and meat very finely, after the 30 minutes he fished out the bones and placed the vegetable and meat while adding a couple of herbs and salt and pepper to taste in the pot, the soup was coming along nicely and a good choice for some one who hadn't eaten anything for awhile but it was too thin Atlas would uselessly add some flour and butter but he didn't have any so he added some cheese
When the soup was ready Atlas poured some in to a bowl and offered it to Forge, he looked at it then at Atlas "how am i going to eat this", Atlas felt a bit foolish, Forge was a snake and didn't have lips to suck liquids and no hands to use tools, picking up a spoon Atlas offered his other hand for Forge to climb on to
Feeding Forge with the soup was kind of cute, with each mouth full Forge's tail shook like a dog that found a bone, when the soup had been eaten Atlas again placed Forge back in to the oven, he then cleared out the ash from the oven and replaced it with coal, Atlas picked up the bowl and poured some soup for him self, drinking straight from the bowl Atlas check the rest of the pop up messages
Warning: you have the maximum amount of skills for a non class, to gain more skills you need a class
This was going to be a problem, maybe, Atlas just shrugged he was planning to go to the mage's guild but now he was going to do it sooner, in fact next day would be good, when all of the apprentices where with him, Atlas carried on making the forge
Kevien was stomping though the streets and kicking anything that was smaller than a dog, he was thinking how dare Atlas take his hard earned money from him, like all hard up teenagers they didn't see how good he had it but thought how bad things were and everyone was against him "i'll show him one day" Kevien said
"Hey lad, looking for chance to make some money" said a tough looking middle age bald man, he had hair that was brushed over his bold head and it looked weird and slimy, he was flicking a gold coin in the air and didn't have a bit of dirt on his crisp black suite, his hat was tucked under his arm and his finger nails look clean and well taken care of
Kevien walked over to the bold man, being brought up in the slums he new better than to trust a man like this but his anger with losing his money and the feeling that the world was against him "what would i have to do for the cash" he asked
"Not a lot my son, just a little moving and dealing in goods" the bold man was smiling now and Kevien could see some mithral teeth
Kevien thought about it, there wasn't much that was illegal "how much for how long"
"Lets discus that in here" the bold man was pointing towards a bar
Kevien wasn't worried it was a public place and if he didn't like what he heard he could just leave, he followed the bold man in to the pub, as the door closed behind him Mary came around the corner looking for Kevien
"Hey girl looking for some fun" a voice called out while a man stepped out of a street, Mary was well aware the dangers of being a female
"Not with you" said Mary
The look on the man's face would suggest this was the first time his pick up line didn't work, "YOU LITTLE TART", the guy looked a bit drunk and his fists were in the air ready to be brought down
With the skills Atlas taught her she side step him but she didn't have a weapon but what she did have on her was her tools which one of them was a big iron hammer, she pulled the hammer out and thrusted upwards right between his legs
"owhhuhuh" the guy fell over with his head on the ground and his ass sticking up, he was coiffing and throwing up while cursing
Ding
Mary ran as fast as her legs could take her in till she was behind a shop, she was out of breath and while she was resting she checked the new message
New skill learnt: Ball Buster
Level 1
5% extra damage against males
5% extra critical damage
Mary was still out of breath but was on her knees laughing which didn't make her lungs feel any better, after 5 minutes of laughing she got to her feet and whipped a tear from her eye and carried on her search for Kevien
Dracken was walking in the slums, the reason he was there was to start a information network, he knew that the best people not to be noticed was the poor and decide to ask people he knew to keep a ear out for good info, he was going to pay them dependent on how useful or juicy the info was, Dracken had 50 silver on him, which was a good full grown mans weeks wage in the slums
"Oh lookie here boys, isn't it mister money bags" there was 4 dirty boys walking towards Dracken, each one had a piece of wood and was tapping it in there hands and were the the people that stole from Dracken last time "what do you have for us today"
Dracken tried to take the advise of Atlas and calm him self "i'm not looking for trouble guys"
"Oh really, you hear that, he doesn't want no trouble, well you got some" replied the biggest boy
Dracken knew it was pointless to talk and bargain and was preparing him self for a fight, but this time it would be different, the first thing Dracken did was take a page out of Atlas fighting book, "shut up you fat pig of a monkey"
They all looked shocked but the biggest lad recovered first and started to yell at the guys to attack, Dracken ran to a ally mouth, he could hear the boys running behind him still, "hurry and get him, COME BACK COWARD", Dracken turned around and uppercut the first guy knocking him out, the other three had prepared them self but unlike last time they couldn't get behind him
"If we rush him we can take him down easily" ordered the biggest one
All three ran towards Dracken, Dracken had seen a underdog fight before but not in till he saw Atlas did he see a underdog win before, he kicked the shins of the nearest boy making him fall over and then stepped back as the 2nd boy fell over the first, the biggest boy was hanging back out of the way, Dracken needed to take out the ring leader so ran forwards and stepped on the face of the 2nd boy and jumped towards the big lad but he seemed to be ready, his hands were behind him ready to hit Dracken with the wood he was using as a club
"SPARK FLARE" yelled Dracken, Dracken's light magic was infused with lighting element and materialized it in front of the leaders face blinding him
"What's going on" the leader swang and missed Dracken by inches, Dracken landed on top of the leader and pushed him to the floor while punching as many times as he could, he then rolled forwards off him to turn to boy 1 and 2, the leader was spitting blood as he was getting up he was still standing but was wobbling all over the place
"Kick his ass" another order came from the biggest lad, the other two guys didn't look so sure and Dracken took advantage of it, he needed to show them he wasn't the same as last time and wasn't going to take it any more and so used the other magic he learnt "SPARK MISSILE" he fired two of them in to the face of the leader knocking him out
"Shit man, he knows magic" boy 1 and 2 ran while stumbling over there own feet
Dracken was standing over the knocked out leader, he was pleased with him self and decided to take the money the leader had, it turns out he had 4 silver and a copper badge with the number 32 on it, he pocket it and was about to leave when a man ran to him
"Wait, wait" he had his hands up "i saw everything, that was great kid, those little punks have been demanding money from the shops around here for protection, while in fact it was money to stop them busting up our shops, i'm just glad that some one put them in there place, i can't wait to tell every one about this"
Ding
Shop keepers in the slums will give you 1% discount
It was getting late and Atlas was putting his finishing touches to the forge when Mary, Dracken and Kevien came home
"Hi there" Atlas looked at the kids, there seemed to be something different about them "anything new happen?" asked Atlas
All three of the kids looked at each other and then back at Atlas "no, nothing new" they had a weird wooden smile on there faces and Atlas knew some thing had happen
End Of Chapter Ten: Teenage Adventures