With his decision made about how he would focus his improvement for Empowered Runic Artistry that still left Nate with three other Skills to consider. Conceptual Automation, Metal Shaping and Conceptual Material were all close to evolving and needed a plan. Conceptual Automation was a Legendary Skill already and he intended to use one of his Skill Enhancement Orbs to guarantee a Mythic evolution. The main reason was that he wasn’t convinced he had done enough with the Skill that he was confident his plan for the evolution would be Mythic. Instead, he suspected even if it got a decent evolutionary effect, that the Skill would remain at Legendary.
With that in mind, his plan was straightforward and came back to his University subject on mana and affinities. Specifically, how ambient mana in locations would affect the mana used in those areas, like areas filled with water naturally resisting the usage of mana with an affinity for fire. The constructs created Conceptual Automation were using a material affinity to power themselves alongside his own mana. However, he had noticed that once they were created and the material consumed, the constructs were naturally being deconstructed by the ambient mana around them. It hadn’t been a noticeable issue in the Fourth Hell, which he suspected was due to the use of processed mana to power the Skill and the lack of ambient mana in the Hells, but it would be an issue against anyone with a powerful affinity, especially if they could empower it with a Concept. He had some processed mana now to experiment with and he was debating asking Coralie to assist, since as far as he knew she was the only Guildie currently capable of using their affinity and a Skill to add a Concept to their Spells.
The experiments he had planned aside, he was confident that if he could get his constructs to impart even a small part of the Concepts they were created from onto their environment it would make them far more resistant to ambient mana or the mana used by others.
For Metal Shaping he had a fairly straight forward plan. Increase the speed of change for the shaping. Though, if everything went to plan, Metal Shaping wouldn’t be evolving any time soon. He had another shaping Skill as a Skill Orb now, thanks to his Dungeon reward, and he was hoping to purchase or trade with the Adventurer’s Guild for another two or three, assuming they had any. If they did he would likely synergise the Skill, lowering its level in the process.
That just left Conceptual Material. It had started out as his first Legendary Skill in this world. Its evolution had paved the way to his Mythic Class. The creations that it had allowed had saved his life more than once. In many ways, it had been the core of his Class for as long as he had been on Galle. It had even played a small part in his art, like when he had used the Skill to improve the quality of the stones in the Slums of Etrua’s Capital. He had considered multiple options for further developing the Skill. If he was being honest with himself, he wanted to try and push it beyond Mythic, though he knew that was almost certainly a dream. Maybe, if he had a Sigil that was of the Grandmaster tier it might have been possible. But he didn’t. That meant it was almost certain to be a Mythic to Mythic evolution. So the question was, would he be satisfied with something simple like a stat boosting addition, or did he want to try and expand the Skill, and if so how.
Right now all the Skill was doing, beyond its fundamental ability to allow him to imbue affinities into materials and tier them up, was lowering the mana cost to do so and reducing the time required. There were two paths he saw for expanding its capabilities. The first was what it considered a material. Every material he had worked on so far had been a solid. Metal and wood had almost always been the substrate. The reason was that Conceptual Material added affinities by changing the molecular structure of the materials to create the sigils for the relevant concepts within the substrate. But, how would that work when applied to a liquid, or worse, a gas? By their natures, they lacked static structures, making it impossible with the way the Skill currently functioned. Yet, he knew it was possible to do so. Alchemy was proof it was possible. Now, as he understood it, alchemists were capable of extracting affinities from one material and imbuing them into another. In their case, it was almost always a liquid, which meant there was a way that a liquid could possess an affinity.
The other option was a method for speeding up his development of materials. He doubted he could make it much faster than what it currently was and only with Skill levels would he continue to bring down the amount of time to develop a single material. What he could do is potentially allow the Skill to target more than one material at a time. It would mean that he could work on two or more materials at the same time.
It would be a huge timesaver and from a combat and crafting perspective, the better option out of the two. But he already knew he was going to aim for his first idea. The reason, as always, came back to his art. Giving his paint affinities would be amazing and played into his plans for his Embodiment and his Tertiary Class. With his decisions made he settled in to enjoy the ride as he focused on preparing his defensive materials. In two days they would be back in the Capital and it would be time to do some trading with the Guild. It was time to flex his crafting chops and get paid. Kiri had been right about one thing. They were going to be rich, and he intended to spend his resources to fuel his development.
*************
Nate sat across the table from Prefect Porter. Kiri was present as well, taking the seat beside him with Deverell lingering somewhere behind them. Upon their return to the Capital, after having a bath and getting cleaned up from their travels, they headed straight to the Guild compound. It was time to start utilising his crafting to make them rich and that meant finding someone to supply with crafted goods. Thanks to Deverell’s intervention they had cut through the red tape that would have seen them discussing any deals with one of the Gold ranked Adventurer’s who managed the logistics and supplies for the Guild. Instead, they ended up in this private meeting room with a Prefect.
“So, ya wanted ta make a deal did ya? What are ya wantin’ and what are ya offerin’?” asked the cantankerous old Earth Mage.
Nate glanced at Kiri who launched into the spiel.
“We can provide runecrafted items to the Adventurer’s Guild upon request ranging from Common all the way to the Epic tier. Anything provided can be customised to an agreed upon extent and can be of almost any design,” she explained, her blue eyes intense as she stared at Porter.
“Customisable eh? Before we get into tha nitty gritty, what would ya be wantin’ in return? More Dungeon tokens? Materials?”
“In return, we want payment in the form of Stat Orbs with the option for Rare tier or below Skill Orbs.”
“Not materials eh? Interestin’. Won’t ask how you’re getting what ya need,” replied the Prefect, tapping the side of his nose.
Nate smirked to sell the act. If the Prefect wanted to believe they had some under the table deal with crooked nobles or smugglers, he was perfectly happy to encourage it. Kiri had offered to take ten percent of their payments for handling any negotiations and making the deliveries. He had of course shot that down immediately. They were a team. She watched out for him and he watched out for her. She had argued with him for a bit before finally accepting half under the provision that she would also find other places to sell his crafted equipment and act as the middle-woman. He knew she was already considering a few shops and the Auction House. She had even floated the idea of a storefront in the merchants district that could act as the front and allow him to sell simpler things. She had however shot down her own idea shortly after making it, explaining that such a venture would rely on volume of sales as the margins were lower. Either way, as far as he was concerned, if she wasn’t earning a fifty percent cut yet, she would in the future. It helped that it would drive his mentor Luc crazy as his mentor was only getting a twenty percent cut for the manerium sales.
Stolen story; please report.
Porter leaned back in his chair, the wood creaking beneath his weight, which didn’t make a lot of sense as the old man was skinny and the chair looked sturdy. Nate chalked it up to a skill related to density or something similar.
“Alright, I’m interested. What can ya offer?” the Prefect asked.
“Runecrafted rings and amulets for any Stat. The same for weapons and armour, including wands, all of which can be enchanted to be stronger, sharper, more durable or a list of elemental enchantments. We can also do more quality-of-life runecrafted items but you’ll probably find they’re cheaper to purchase from some of the enchanters.”
Nate tuned out what followed as Porter and Kiri got stuck into the details, only piping up when Kiri confirmed the time, cost or difficulty for certain types of runecrafting. The end result was a contract that detailed what they would get in payment for each item based on rarity, number of Stats it provided or the runecrafted effects of the item. The basics were that for providing a runecrafted item they would be given access to Stat Orbs that would total half of what the runecrafted item provided. Kiri seemed happy with that and so was he. The icing on the cake was when Kiri demanded they be allowed to purchase three Skill Orbs of rare or lower quality with coinage. Porter had pushed back but eventually capitulated on the agreement that the Guild would take priority for any crafting requests over any other clients that Kiri managed to acquire.
That was how he found himself teleporting back onto the University grounds, having spent almost the entire fortune he had taken from Fabien’s storage ring, with four new Skills ready to be absorbed including the one he had acquired in the Dungeon run.
Skill Orb (Rare, Level 2)
Stone Shaping
Skill Orb (Rare, Level 5)
Crystal Shaping
Skill Orb (Rare, Level 4)
Water Shaping
Skill Orb (Rare, Level 3)
Wood Shaping
“Happy?” asked Kiri as they entered his room.
“Very. I’m going to see if they synergise right now. I can’t wait any longer!” he replied with a grin.
It had been a pain to wait while Kiri and Porter finalised the deal knowing he was effectively holding onto four different Skills and was potentially inches away from achieving the Material Shaping Skill he had been offered while in the Fourth Hell.
“Go on then,” Kiri said encouragingly, kicking up her feet on his table.
Holding out the Skill Orbs he absorbed one after another, starting with Wood Shaping before progressing through Stone Shaping, Crystal Shaping and finally Water Shaping. The notification that appeared made it all worth it.
Skill Synergy discovered between your Metal Shaping (Rare) Skill, Wood Shaping (Rare) Skill, Water Shaping (Rare) Skill, Stone Shaping (Rare) Skill and Crystal Shaping (Rare) Skill. Combine these Skills to gain Material Shaping (Epic) Skill.
Proceed?
Nate didn’t need to be asked twice as he agreed to the synergy.
Material Shaping (Epic)
An artist is limited by the materials they use to craft, create and express themselves. Paint is only one medium by which ideas can be made manifest. This skill allows the user to mould matter into the shapes they desire at the cost of mana. Mana cost is based upon the tier of the materials being shaped and the volume of matter being shaped. Mana Cost decreases by 1% per Skill Level. Mana cost is further decreased by 10% of the users Intellect.
Material Shaping 1 > 6
He could see the resulting Material Shaping skill was already level six, the average of all the Skills that went into the synergised Skill. The thing he liked the most was that the description still referenced his art and paint, which made him suspect he could reshape his paintings on the fly if he desired. That might become important for his future aspirations.
“Happy?” Kiri asked with a knowing smile.
“Very. When did Porter say he would have his first order ready?”
He knew Porter had mentioned it to Kiri while he had been down in the Guild Vaults selecting the Skill Orbs he wanted to purchase.
“He said he would need two days. I reckon the first order will be to outfit some of the Gold-ranked adventurers who are loyal to the Guild. After that he will be posting the list on offer and the prices in the main hall. Not sure how much work we’ll get you out of it, since the prices might be a bit steep for the average Etruan Adventurer, but it can’t hurt. In the meantime, I will talk to the Auction House. I reckon you could provide them with a couple of custom pieces and if we can focus on items that are in demand, then there is a big opportunity there. Does that work?”
“Works for me,” he replied easily.
“Alright. Did you want me to stay tonight?” she asked carefully.
He knew if he said yes that she would drop everything to do so. But he didn’t want to keep her from spending time with her girlfriend, as they hadn’t really had any alone time on the Dungeon run besides a little time to cuddle and rest in the caves. Besides, his farsight sphere of awareness had noticed something interesting and he was confident he was about to be busy.
“Nah, it’s all good,” he replied.
Her eyes said she wasn’t sure she believed him.
“Really, I am fine,” he added with a smile. “Now shoo. I’m about to have company.”
Kiri raised her eyebrows before glancing at the wall in the direction of someone approaching his room before her mouth made an ‘o’ shape. Instead of immediately vanishing she smirked at him, waggling her eyebrows before disappearing in a burst of soul energy.
Only a few seconds after Kiri had left there was a knock at his door. He opened to see a smiling, but if he was judging correctly, unsure Britt waiting on the other side.
“Hey, Nate.I heard you all got back from the Dungeon run, but you didn’t come in with Coralie and Flash?” she asked.
“Kiri and I had to take care of some stuff at the Guild before we headed back,” he answered, stepping out of the way and ushering her inside.
She immediately crossed the border into his room and the short blonde bee-lined towards the half-finished painting on his easel. He had always enjoyed how much she liked his art and she looked beautiful framed by the light leaking in through his open door.
She turned to him as he closed the door and said in a rush, “I know something’s been wrong lately…and I didn’t want to pry. I just hope you’re okay and that we’re still friends?”
He gave her a small smile. The truth was, he was doing a little better. Between his defensive creations, his newly minted focus and his plans for the future, it had helped to dampen the trauma and stress he had been feeling. Enough that he was willing to reach out beyond his comfort zone. He wasn’t ready for physical intimacy yet, his body still not feeling completely his own and knowing that his mind would wander towards his capture and torture. That said, there were other ways to be intimate, at least as far as he was concerned.
“I’m doing better. Not back to normal yet, but better. And we are still friends. Friends and a bit extra,” he replied with what he hoped was an amused smile.
He must have hit the right facial expression as Britt beamed back at him before glancing at his bed and raising her eyebrows.
“Not yet,” he answered the unspoken question. “But maybe I could paint you?”
“I’d love that,” she gushed. “Umm…nude or clothed?”
“Whatever you want,” he answered as he moved towards his easel.
The moment Britt started undressing Nate sent a mental message to Frick, “Hey Frick, need you to bugger off for a bit.”
The answering cackle made him smile as he settled in to paint his kind-of girlfriend posed on his bed. Healing was going to take time, but he was getting there, and for now, that was enough.