Once again, I looked at the entry for my newest skill.
ᛋᚹᛖᚾᛞᛋᛖᚾ: As an Eldritch Alchemist, you specialize in crafting esoteric technology that was created by the ᛖᛚᛞᛖᚱᛋ. You immediately gain the ability to construct ᚨᚾᚲᛁᛖᚾᛏ technology. With this skill, you gain a new ᚨᚾᚲᛁᛖᚾᛏ template with every level. You can also [Enhance] ᚨᚾᚲᛁᛖᚾᛏ items for which you have a template.
ᛋᚹᛖᚾᛞᛋᛖᚾ As an Eldritch Alchemist, you specialize in crafting esoteric technology that was created by the ᛖᛚᛞᛖᚱᛋ. You immediately gain the ability to construct ᚨᚾᚲᛁᛖᚾᛏ technology. With this skill, you gain a new ᚨᚾᚲᛁᛖᚾᛏ template with every level. You can also [Enhance] ᚨᚾᚲᛁᛖᚾᛏ items for which you have a template.
With the gray text box in front of my eyes, I noticed that there were only three separate runic words. One described the skill, one described the technology’s creators, and one described the technology itself.
“System. Can you define this term?” I pressed my finger against the first runic word written on the text box.
[DEFINITION: THE SKILL GRANTING ELDRITCH ALCHEMISTS THE ABILITY TO CRAFT ESOTERIC TECHNOLOGY]
“Wow, thanks,” I said sarcastically.
Evidently, the System also didn’t understand the runic words. I clicked each undefined word one by one and asked the System for a definition, but every given answer was just as unhelpful as the last.
“System,” I said, pointing to the first undefined word. “Translate this word to [Esoteric Construction].” I went down the list and gave my suggestions for how the System should translate the other two words. “Translate this to [Elders], and translate this to [Esotech].”
[COMMAND RECEIVED]
[ALTERATIONS HAVE BEEN MADE TO UI]
In accordance with my requests, the skill list was altered. With the changes in place, it was much easier to read.
Esoteric Construction: As an Eldritch Alchemist, you specialize in crafting esoteric technology that was created by the Elders. You immediately gain the ability to construct Esotech technology. With this skill, you gain a new Esotech template with every level. You can also [Enhance] Esotech items for which you have a template.
Esoteric Construction As an Eldritch Alchemist, you specialize in crafting esoteric technology that was created by the Elders. You immediately gain the ability to construct Esotech technology. With this skill, you gain a new Esotech template with every level. You can also [Enhance] Esotech items for which you have a template.
Though the phrase “Esotech technology” was jarring, I actually understood what the System was trying to communicate. I probably should have changed the suggested translation to deal with the grammatical inconsistency, but I really liked the word “Esotech.” It made the technology created using forbidden secrets from the space between the stars sound like a product from Silicon Valley.
I navigated back to the [Crafting] page and quickly altered the [Crafting] tree to only show [Esotech] in [Tier I]. With those parameters in place, only eight silhouettes remained. Those silhouettes represented the Esotech constructs I could create at this level.
The Esotech silhouettes were shaped strangely, but all eight of them resembled some mundane object from the real world. These objects were: (1) a pistol, (2) a robe, (3) a sword, (4) a dagger, (5) a book, (6) a ring, (7) a scepter, and (8) a crown.
Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.
Something about the crown put me on edge, but I quickly put that thought out of my mind. At the present time, I could only construct the pistol, anyway. Every other item required Mithril, Spiritwood, Velum, or Auramite. I unlocked the pistol construct and read the item description.
Esotech Pistol: This single-shot pistol taps directly into the infinite power of the Outer Realm. Targets take 10 - 100 MD when hit by the beam of energy projected from this weapon. The Esotech Pistol must be reloaded after every shot, and the barrel must be replaced after every fifth shot. When the Elder Sign round used to fire this weapon is depleted, this item’s creator can use a Level One spell slot to recharge the round. 60 Starsteel for one pistol. 5 Starsteel for one Elder Sign round.
Esotech Pistol This single-shot pistol taps directly into the infinite power of the Outer Realm. Targets take 10 - 100 MD when hit by the beam of energy projected from this weapon. The Esotech Pistol must be reloaded after every shot, and the barrel must be replaced after every fifth shot. When the Elder Sign round used to fire this weapon is depleted, this item’s creator can use a Level One spell slot to recharge the round. 60 Starsteel for one pistol. 5 Starsteel for one Elder Sign round.
My priorities changed the moment I saw how much damage the Esotech pistol could do. I walked over to the large pile of raw material and junk that had previously been clogging space in Hellman’s [Inventory] and built an Esotech pistol with the raw material. A moment later, I built four more Elder Sign rounds and jammed them in one of my pockets.
The Esotech pistol resembled a high-caliber hunting pistol. Compared to the laser pistol, the grip was sturdier, the barrel was thicker, and the sights were completely nonexistent. Based on the shape of the Esotech pistol, I knew it would have massive recoil.
There was one last item on my level up to-do list: my new skill. I navigated over to look at my new level 4 skill.
[NEW SKILL ACQUIRED: BOMB MAKER]
Bomb Maker: When inside of your [Workshop], you can construct a number of bombs equal to your [Reason] modifier (4) without the use of raw material. The bombs detonate automatically if they are more than thirty feet away from you for more than a minute. The power of these bombs is determined by your level and [Mind] stats. Your bombs deal 4 - 26 MD and deal damage to everything within 12 feet.
Bomb Maker When inside of your [Workshop], you can construct a number of bombs equal to your [Reason] modifier (4) without the use of raw material. The bombs detonate automatically if they are more than thirty feet away from you for more than a minute. The power of these bombs is determined by your level and [Mind] stats. Your bombs deal 4 - 26 MD and deal damage to everything within 12 feet.
I quickly realized the potential utility of the [Bomb Maker] skill. Within seconds, four palm-sized spheres labeled [Alchemist Bomb] were sitting inside of my [Inventory].
As I strapped the holster of my oversized Esotech pistol to my left thigh, I turned my attention back to Carlos and the others. Their conversation-turned-argument seemed to be reaching its natural conclusion.
“There’s no way!” Liz shouted.
“Vincent was there. If you doubt me, just ask him,” Carlos said.
“Not you. That ketchup demon must be lying. There’s no way that every cultural and technological achievement in history was the result of a group of aliens with the most pretentious name in history.”
Ketchup demon? Oh, she must have been referring to Hellman.
Carlos had apparently been busy during the conversation as well. He had replaced his sword with one of the many swords discarded by Hellman, and a steel chestplate hung from his shoulders.
Simon and Claire were also wearing discarded armor from Hellman’s [Inventory], though both of them had decided not to pick up any of the discarded weapons.
Liz continued. “If all these ideas were given to us, then can we really be sure that human creativity even exists?”
Carlos scratched his head in thought before answering. “Creativity exists, I’m sure.” He snapped his fingers as he came up with a counterargument. “Demons! We resisted the Nephilim indoctrination when we started viewing them as demons instead of pagan gods.”
I decided to cut in. This philosophical argument had nothing to do with our long-term survival, which was my only concern at the time. “Let’s take the conversation back a few minutes. Everything within sixty-two miles will be made uninhabitable tomorrow. We need to evacuate.”