Bjorn and Tanisha did not care to watch the reunion of the werewolf leader and his son which was handled largely by the Jackrabbits. The werewolf pack leader was questioned by the council before they were made to leave. Despite the excitement of the morning things settled down quite rapidly.
Bjorn was concerned about Tanisha’s shift in personality; she was oddly mellow about the situation and seemed to be emotionally detached from the events she deemed as not a concern anymore. Bjorn didn’t know if she was in shock or if this was the new normal for her. She still had emotions but she seemed more decisive in what she would and would not engage with.
Bjorn watched her take out the last ingot from the cold infusion basin, and she whistled. The ingot was a uniform reddish black, its sheen looked almost wet in the light. She beamed as she walked over to him holding the metal for him to examine as well. Her tail wagged playfully as she waited for Bjorn’s reaction. Once he could get a better look and smell of the metal he could tell that it had changed fundamentally. It wasn’t magically different but something else. To his senses it was like metal blood with a mixture of something deeper he couldn’t recognize.
“I did it!” Tanisha yelled happily as she threw up her hands. “I actually figured it out thanks to you, Big Man!”
The joy in the bond was infectious. Bjorn started jumping up and down in excitement sharing in her success. More than anything he was relieved that while she was a little different she was still the girl he knew.
“Okay, I still have one more ingot. Let's get started and we can take them and the failures back to Joel.” Tanisha said.
Tanisha went back to prepping the basin for another infusion which would take several hours given how long it took the first time he saw the process. He went to a corner of the wagon that had a mat laid out for him, and he lounged across it.
“Bjorn, you leveled up five times thanks to Tanisha. I think you should go ahead and assign the UCP.” Failsafe said in his head. “And we still have a backlog of memories to sort through.”
“One thing at a time.” Bjorn responded mentally. “I’ll assign the points and as for the memories… I-uh,” he sighed deeply. “Okay, I need to get through them. We’ll do more tonight.”
Bjorn opened his status on the first page. Before he even added any points he had additions to several stats no doubt from surviving his ordeal with the werewolves.
----------------------------------------
Status Menu
Name: Bjorn Isin Scalebound
Species: Lernaean Hydra
Level: 32 + 5 = 37
Vitality: 140 + 5 = 145 / 195
Restoration: 210 + 5 = 215 / 270
Constitution: 120 + 5 = 125 / 135
Strength: 90 / 130
Dexterity: 80/ 100
Stamina: 90/ 115
Aether: 50 / 50 < 70
Aetheric Regeneration: 100 / 100 (+100 from bond)
Page 1 of 3
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Bjorn was pleased to see that his stats went up so much without even needing to expend his points. He guessed that whatever concoction they were using to slow his regeneration ability must have been a push for his stats to grow. Surviving was also a deep drain on his constitution and vitality which since he died for a minute was definitely true. His threshold for aether also increased which was always a boon.
He moved on to adding his fifty UCP. He felt confident in his survivability but one of the deciding factors in the encounter was his inability to move fast enough to avoid the arrows. He was only going to get bigger as he aged and leveled up, so dodging would one day not be viable. He needed to be able to take damage and keep pushing through it so in a move he hoped he wouldn’t regret he placed thirty points into restoration and the rest into aether.
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Status Menu
Name: Bjorn Isin Scalebound
Species: Lernaean Hydra
Level: 37
Vitality: 145 / 195
Restoration: 215 + 30 = 245 / 270
Constitution: 125 / 135
Strength: 90 / 130
Dexterity: 80/ 100
Stamina: 90/ 115
Aether: 50 + 20 = 70 / 70
Aetheric Regeneration: 100 / 100 (+100 from bond)
Page 1 of 3
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After he confirmed the changes he hesitated to speak about something that had been bothering him.
“Failsafe, did you see that memory of when I died?”
“Yeah. It was a lot clearer than the first time.” Failsafe responded.
“Any idea who my assassin was? Edita? I am pretty sure I knew her. The name and the feeling was like… I wasn’t killed by an enemy but by someone close to me. It wasn’t an invasion, it was a coup.”
“It seems that way. I don’t know who she was but I can confirm she was someone close. Remember the images of the people dying in your visor before you took it off?” Failsafe asked.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
It took a moment for Bjorn to go back to that moment in his memory. Although he doesn’t remember the people in that visor he did remember the feelings he felt in his past life with each portrait that went dark. It left a pit in his stomach, an echo of memories lost.
“Yes, I remember.” Bjorn said.
“Good. The woman was one of the people in the visor. I will show you if you let me.” Failsafe said.
“Show me how?” Bjorn asked.
“I can overlay parts of your past memories in your mental projection. It won’t be as intense as the original memory. More like you are watching it from a distance. No emotional influence from your past self or anything.”
“That sounds fine but limit it to her portrait.”
“Yeah, that shouldn’t be a problem.”
A moment later Bjorn activated his mental projection magic and instead of his stats or other menus he saw a still image of a woman’s face and half of her torso. She was in a neutral position not smiling but not quite frowning either. She was beautiful with a heart shaped face and delicate features. Her hair was raven black, and her eyes were both blue but not natural. They were fake, the words cybernetic implants came to mind and Bjorn rolled with it. They looked almost real aside from the shutters in their center instead of pupils.
As Bjorn looked at the woman he started to hyperventilate. Something about this being the person that killed him dredged up something in his soul. Something painful although Bjorn didn’t have the context behind the emotion. He closed the mental projection to see Tanisha had turned to face him. She must have felt his emotions because she stopped what she was doing and sat beside him on the floor.
“It’s okay, Big Man.” Tanisha said although she sounded a little ashamed. “I have this feeling that I am acting differently. That some of the things I feel now are not quite the same as before. When I killed Sabec something changed in here.” She tapped her chest over her heart. “I am still me though. I am still your Tanisha.”
Bjorn was taken off guard by the sudden admission. She mistook his reaction to these memories for a reaction to her. He nodded, and she hugged him, and the two stayed like that until the basin was ready for the infusion.
***
“You didn’t have to come with me, Joha. It’s not that far from town and I have Bjorn with me.”
“It is also a lot more dangerous now that an unknown number of skinwalkers were released after the druids were forced to leave their little hideout,” Joha said.
Bjorn, Tanisha and Joha were walking through the Jackrabbits camp. It was Joha’s first time out here, and he looked adequately impressed. There were far more businesses than he thought would be here. He could definitely find clientele for his spices, and he seemed to be considering his next move while they walked. It wasn’t as busy as the main town with it being on the through road to Lavi but the amount of people couldn’t be ignored by a merchant of his caliber.
They entered the blacksmith shop and found Ironjaw Stonecrusher, better known as Joel, at his counter. The dwarf smiled once he saw the group enter. He welcomed them all in with a wave of his hand.
“Well if it isn’t the talk of the town herself,” Joel said. “We heard what happened with the werewolves and that skinwalker. Crazy fuck’n times we are livin’ in, what with druids out in the woods kidnappin’ wendigo and turnin’ 'em into Divine’s damn skinwalkers. Glad you and yours made it through in one piece.”
“Yeah, it’s been more than a little insane the past few hours,” Tanisha said.
“That’s an understatement,” Joel replied, his gaze shifting to Joha. “Nice to meetcha, name’s Ironjaw Stonecrusher most people just call me Joel. Your wife here is one tough woman no doubt about that. I was wonderin’ where she got it from till I heard about you. The spice trader that tanned Alaric’s hide and got him limpin’ outta town with his tail between his legs. I was wonderin’ when I would get to meet the other half of this one here.”
“We aren’t married,” Tanisha interjected, her voice firm but polite. “I am his apprentice.”
Joha chuckled softly and extended his hand to Joel. “Joha Bhatia, she is right, she is more like a student or daughter.”
“Ah, my mistake.” Joel, realizing his error, quickly adapted, shaking Joha’s hand with a hearty grip. “Either way, it’s good to see you both in one piece. Now, what can I do for you today?”
Tanisha took a deep breath, glancing at the bundle she carried.
“I’ve come to pick up my daggers and the bardiche and... well I also have to present you with something.”
“Ah, your daggers. Been workin’ on those beauties. They're both done, sharpened and polished. I really think you are going to like the bardiche as well. But what do ya have for me?”
“I attempted the cold infusion process but I told you it was my first time,” Tanisha said, her face reddening with embarrassment. “Out of the ten ingots you gave me... I managed to successfully infuse these two.”
Tanisha unwrapped the bundle, revealing two gleaming ingots, each infused with a faint but unmistakable magical effect permeating the now dark red, blue steel ingots. Bjorn felt Tanisha’s embarrassment with such a low amount of successful ingots. She took the rest of the ingots from her inventory and placed them beside the properly infused two in a double stack of four. She was so busy trying not to look him in the eyes she missed the moment Joel's eyes nearly fell from his sockets; they were open so wide.
“Two out of ten that is really damn impressive,” Joel said. “Was this really your first time? You’re talkin’ a success rate of twenty percent on your first go. Inexperienced infusion specialists might get one in ten if they’re lucky, and here you go, pullin’ off this?”
“Are you serious?” Tanisha asked. “But I ruined eight of them.”
Joel waved a hand dismissively. “You didn’t ruin nothin’ I’ll melt ‘em down tonight. Consider those eight part of the learnin’ process. What you did with these two—now that’s the mark of someone with real potential. I should hire you full time. Do you have time to do more?”
He reached under the counter and brought out a pair of short, wickedly sharp blades. The metal gleamed with a bluish sheen. They were the same blades but something about them looked better, new and touched by a master of his craft. He had to go to the back to get the bardiche but when he returned Tanisha whistled. The bardiche wasn’t as ornate or enchanted as the one she got from the princess but it was close. The blade hummed with magical resonance as he placed it on the counter beside the knives.
“These had some tricks to them but they are perfect companion blades,” Joel said. “I did reinforce them and touched up the enchantments so that you won’t blow them up again. They will feel a bit heavier with the new material but they are the same blades just like you asked. Should serve you well in whatever chaos you find yourself in next. The bardiche though.” He chuckled as he ran his hand over the weapon. “This thing is a monster. I had it attuned to you so it should resonate with your fancy magic better than the daggers. Take it to a wandmaker and they should be able to turn it into a fully functional staff as well.”
Tanisha took the daggers, testing their balance in her hands. A small, satisfied smile tugged at her lips as she felt the familiar weight.
“They’re perfect, Joel. Thank you,” Tanisha said. “Oh, and we are going to be in town a little bit longer. Can you make me a full set of armor? Plate this time. My last set caught on fire.”