The Chaos Lands (Part 5)
Idris fist pumped and whispered quietly, “Yessss!” It was a bit rude for Order to be calling them the bad guys when it was literally Order that gave them the quest but… Idris decided not to worry about it.
He pointed at Eana then rotated his hand between thumbs up and down. She smiled up at him and gave a big thumbs up. They high fived over the corpse of the forest guardian, which had begun to collapse into a pile of broken ironwood and leaves.
“Still can’t believe Order gave you 200XP for that quest and I just got a hundred. Plus 50 for the kill. Also, bummer,” Idris said, pointing down at what was left of the guardian, “I wanted to stuff that thing in my inventory and feed it to the shimmering rocks. Could still take some of the wood I guess.”
“It’s all broken pieces though,” Eana remarked, but as she did the last of the magical energy that had held the creature together suddenly shifted color, from the pale misty blue of mana to a vibrant green. It came together in an undulating sphere, like a bubble bobbing in place in the air just in front of them
“What?” they both said in unison.
But no prompts popped into their vision to explain the phenomenon. Maybe this sort of thing was common to the adventurers but it was completely new to the two of them.
Idris reached out his hand to touch the thing but stopped at Eana’s sudden harsh intake of breath and cringing look.
“What if you pop it? And it’s like, good but you broke it?!” she said.
Reflexively Idris narrowed his eyes at his sister like she couldn’t possibly say anything less likely, but he withdrew his hand.
“Ugg, I can’t believe you’re making me do this,” he said.
“What?” She asked.
Idris opened his interface and focused in on the Identify skill.
Identify
Classification: Magic, General
Description: Gives general knowledge of inanimate objects and materials.
Higher levels of proficiency increase the amount of available information.
Investment Cost: 100XP
He had just earned 100 more XP so might as well spend it - he was no worse off than he was earlier that day.
Spell Earned
Identify
Mana Cost: 5
Mana Increase: 2
Just mana and no stat bonus? It was incredible how quickly he found himself wanting extras to go along with his quests and progression. But there it was.
“Hope this works,” he said. His eyes flashed as he used the Identify skill on the glowing green orb.
“Oh wow did you just get a skill to examine it?” Eana asked, sounding impressed.
Idris winked and focused in on the prompt that had appeared in his vision.
Upgrade Orb
Type: Raw
Rarity: Uncommon
Description: Bring this orb into contact with any item to increase its rarity to the level of the orb. Cannot be used on items of a greater rarity than the orb.
Lifetime: 2:51
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“Wow this thing is amazing!” Idris said, then noticed the final line of the prompt, “It’s got something called a lifetime and it’s counting down. I think we have to use it before it reaches zero.”
“OK, but what is it?” Eana asked, sounding excited and impatient.
Idris had a serious decision to make. On the one hand, he could upgrade his hammer. It would be incredible to see what would happen to it with an increased grade. Would it change materials? Get a new shape? Maybe it could even get magical properties!
But there was that warning about it not working on items of a greater rarity. His hammer was pretty reliable but could it possibly be uncommon grade already? He looked down at his hammer and cast Identify again.
Heavy Iron Sledge Hammer
Rarity: Common
Description: A simple but well made hammer of iron and oak.
Damage Potential: ☆☆
Defense Potential: ☆
A two star damage potential didn’t seem great, but then again Idris had no clue how many stars were possible or, really, what two meant. He could definitely do some serious damage with it but… he quit musing and got back to the decision.
He was seriously tempted to thrust his hammer into the glowing sphere right then and there, but on the other hand, he could gain serious big brother points and do something nice for his sister if he let her use it.
He held out his hand to her and said, “Let me see your staff really quick. And your bracelet.” Eana handed them over with some more complaints about wanting to know what he was doing but Idris ignored her. Eying his remaining 7 mana he cast Identify again.
Ironwood Stick
Rarity: Crude
Description: Made from the trunk of an ironwood tree.
Damage Potential: ☆
Defense Potential: ☆
Getting the “stick” fixed up by the carpenter or blacksmith back in Irondale would likely bump it up to common rarity, similar to his hammer. So for both of them increasing the rarity to Uncommon was an incredible boost to the power of their weapons.
He waited for his mana to recharge the necessary few points and then cast once more on Eana’s charoite bracelet.
Polished Charoite Bracelet
Rarity: Unknown
Description: No information available.
Stat Increase: Unknown
Discovering that Eana’s bracelet was above his ability to identify felt underwhelming. He had expected it was rarer than uncommon given the fact he had been digging ore out of the mine for years and had only come across this one magical gemstone. Still, it was worth learning about and it made the rest of his thinking that much clearer. The Upgrade Orb likely wouldn’t work on it.
Just being out here for a couple of hours and Idris had earned more experience than a couple of weeks in the mine. He wanted to stay out here, and if they did then he might need Eana to be more of a participant in the fighting. Sure she had the advantage of being able to imbue her attacks multiple times, but even when imbued her damage output wasn’t on his level - especially with her “staff” being identified by Order as a literal stick.
So, get stronger himself or put that off for a while and be a hero to his sister while making her more useful in their little band?
He sighed, and thrust the crude ironwood staff into the glowing upgrade orb. The green energy flowed down into the staff coursing over it causing the entire thing to glow. Beneath his fingers Idris felt the wood itself begin to move and flow.
Shocked, he let go of the staff which hung in the air in front of him.
“Whoa!” Eana gasped, as the staff glowed with a sudden brightness that was almost too much to look at.
The staff, which originally had a mangled, roughly straight shape made from imprecise imbued cuts, had completely changed form.
The shaft was now smooth and uniform where it had not taken on additional characteristics. At each end there were now thicker sections, like cuffs surrounding the ends making them heavier and like his hammer, better able to focus the energy of an attack on a single point. At three places along the rest of the shaft, near each end and in the middle, softly ridged and supple looking wood swirled around to make handholds for different types of holding styles.
Eana made excited eye contact with Idris, who nodded. She took her new weapon reverently. She gave it a few experimental swings, moving her hands along the different grip points to try out various forms of attack that hadn’t seemed obvious when swinging what had basically been a branch before.
Checking constantly on his mana and waiting for it to go above five so he could cast the spell without incurring a mana headache, Idris eagerly reached for the staff so he could find out how it had changed.
“That is way too cool. Think I can see it for a second?” he asked.
Eana handed over the staff and Idris cast Identify.
Ironwood Staff of the Monk
Rarity: Uncommon
Description: Finely crafted staff of ironwood made to balance attack and defense. The craftsmanship and strength of material makes this staff ideal for inscription.
Damage Potential: ☆ ☆
Defense Potential: ☆ ☆
“Well?” Eana asked eagerly.
Idris explained to her what he read and how it had changed when the staff upgraded from crude to uncommon.
After contemplating a moment, Eana said, “Looks like we’re going to be out here awhile. Can’t go home until you get one of these upgrade orbs for your hammer.”
Idris waggled a finger at his sister and said, “You see? That right there. That is why you’re my sister.”