Isabelle laid on the ground, hacking as she cleared her airways and shook herself off from the disturbing experience of hearing a strange lady’s voice echoing through her head.
“Isabelle? What happened?” asked Tahsi. “Would you like some bread?”
“Sure, Tahsi,” said Isabelle. She took a piece of bread and took a chomp.
[+5 hp]
“Thanks, Tahsi,” said Isabelle.
[+3 hp]
“Thanks for taking some of my bread,” said Tahsi. “I know I’m always eating it, but I can summon so much of it up per day that I’ve got a near endless supply. You don’t even want to see my inventory. It’s literally 90% bread.”
[+2 hp]
Isabelle chuckled. “I don’t doubt that, Tahsi. I don’t doubt that.”
[+1 hp]
[hp full]
Just in time to finish off the bread chunk, too. Isabelle was relieved to be done chewing it, her cheeks were sore and her esophagus felt like it’d been scratched by the stale, gluten-filled food.
“Um, mind if I ask what the fuck happened to you a second ago, Isabelle?” said Sir Jingles.
“The Overlord,” said Isabelle. “Or at least some lady that works for him. She got in my head somehow and started threatening me. Took a bit of my hp, too.”
“Do you still want to complete the quest and save Frimri from the Overlord?” asked Tahsi. His eyes looked hopeful, almost like some sort of lizardy puppy dog.
“Yes,” said Isabelle. “Fuck yes. Nobody messes with my head.” Isabelle once again felt overwhelming nausea.
[-1 hp]
Except the Overlord.
[-2 hp]
Isabelle shuddered as the voice echoed in her mind’s ear and the nausea slowly subsided.
“Oh my gods, did it happen again, Isabelle?” said Tahsi. “You don’t want some bread, do you?”
Isabelle wanted to say no, but she also didn’t know how rough this fight was going to be. Then again, didn’t she have something she wanted to do before she charged into battle against the Overlord? It wasn’t like Isabelle was procrastinating or anything, she just wanted to make sure she was really prepared.
“I may need some bread later,” said Isabelle, “But let me see how much hp I regen on my own. I want to learn that last spell from the tome, and then I want you and Jingles to each learn a spell from it yourselves so that you can help pull some weight in this fight. Besides, I’ve got some enchanting to do before we rush into battle.”
“Enchanting?” asked Tahsi.
“Yea, it should be pretty cool,” said Isabelle. “But first, let me learn this spell.”
[Spell Tome of Minor Confusing Magic equipped]
[Would you like to learn a spell?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Please select a spell]
Shit, what was the spell she wanted to learn again? Isabelle thought ‘Get Spells List.’
[Spells: Lesser Confuse, Self Mirage, Minor Illusion]
Ah, yes. Isabelle thought, ‘Choose Spell Minor Illusion.’
[Learn Spell: Minor Illusion?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Learning Spell Minor Illusion]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[Spell Minor Illusion Learned]
[You’ve already learned a spell today. Unequip ‘Spell Tome of Minor Confusing Magic’?]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Spell Tome of Minor Confusing Magic unequipped]
“Great, now I’ve learned all the spells I wanted to,” said Isabelle. “Tahsi, it’s your turn. Take this spell tome and learn ‘self mirage,’ okay?”
“Sure thing, Isabelle,” said Tahsi. “Though I have to admit, the idea of turning myself into a mirage is quite scary.”
“Don’t worry, Tahsi, it’ll be fine,” said Isabelle. She opened her inventory.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 217.5/232
Item
Traits
Spell Tome of Minor Confusing Magic
+5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Isabelle focused on the spell tome and then focused on Tahsi.
[Give ‘Spell Tome of Minor Confusing Magic’ to ‘Tahsi’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Spell Tome of Minor Confusing Magic removed from inventory]
“Thanks, Isabelle,” said Tahsi. “I’m learning the spell now.”
Isabelle noticed that, to the outside observer, Tahsi was opening the tome and studying its contents intensely. Did she look like that whenever she learned a spell?
[Clarification: No. You will remember that your party remarked that you were staring off into space while you were learning all your spells. Tahsi only looks like he’s studying the tome because, even though he’s in your party, he’s also an NPC and thus interacts with the world in a slightly different way than you.]
Weird. But it made enough sense for Isabelle. Regardless, she had more important things to focus on at the moment, like enchanting the everloving fuck out of all of her weapons. She opened her inventory, concentrating on seeing things that could be enchanted.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 217.5/232
Item
Traits
Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted)
+18 damage, +11 str, +8 const, +5 stm, +11 carry weight
Scimitar (poisoned)
+1 poison, +8 damage, +2 dx
Stealth Drainer (enchanted)
+5 stealth, +10 damage, +1 carry weight
Black Steel Armor (yuan-ti)
+3 str, +2 damage, +1 const, +10 carry weight
Steel Mace
+10 damage, +1 str, +4 carry weight
Sleek Young Red Dragon Armor (human)
+3 fire resist, +7 hp, +12 str, +13 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Boots
+2 fire resist, +4 stm, +4 dx, +2 str, +7 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Gauntlets
+2 fire resist, +5 damage, +5 stm, +5 dx, +4 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Cloak
+5 fire resist, +3 char, +3 stm, +5 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Dagger x2
+2 fire damage, +5 damage, +3 stm, +1 dx, +2 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Glaive
+2 fire damage, +7 damage, +2 str, +6 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Bow
+3 fire damage, +2 damage, +3 dx, +3 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Helmet
+7 str, +5 char, +3 speechcraft, +3 carry weight
Hunter’s Crossbow of Chills (enchanted)
+3 frost damage, +7 damage, +2 dx, +4 carry weight
Arrows of Chills x27 (enchanted)
+2 frost damage, +1 damage
Necromancer Robes
+10 mana, +3 confuse, +3 enchant, +1 destroy, +4 carry weight
Poisoning Dagger x2
+1 poison, +6 damage, +1 sneak level, +1 carry weight
Steel Longsword
+5 str, +5 damage, +8 carry eight
Cloud Reach Guard Shield
+3 str, +3 const, +10 carry weight
Cloud Reach Guard Helmet (human)
+2 hp, +1 str, +4.5 carry weight
Cloud Reach Guard Armor (human)
+3 hp, +4 str, +8 carry weight
Noble Robes
+6 char, +2 carry weight
Noble Boots
+4 dx, +4 carry weight
Orcish Longbow
+5 damage, +1 dx, +1.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Holy fuck, that was a lot of options! Isabelle would really have to think about this. Or would she? Isabelle felt liable to go on an enchanting spree. Isabelle wondered if she could make that steel warhammer of electrocution... even more electric? Who knew. She focused on it and thought ‘Open Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted) Crafting Menu.’
Crafting
Item
Craftable
Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted)
Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted) (poisoned)
Hmm. Well, it was cool that Isabelle could poison it, but did that mean she couldn’t enchant it further? Isabelle figured now was the time to try it out, anyway. She focused on the warhammer and thought, ‘Cast Lesser Electrocution Enchant.’
[Error: Spell could not be cast]
[Error: You cannot enchant an item that has already been enchanted. You would have to first remove the enchantment that’s already on the item with an enchantment removal spell to enchant it again.]
Well, fuck. That ruled out, what, like half of the inventory items Isabelle had been looking at? What a bummer. Still, she needed to get all her weapons ready for battle, even if she would only use half of them. It just felt, among other thing, terribly irresponsible and stupid to rush in to a confrontation with the Overlord. Since Isabelle could poison the warhammer, she figured she ought to. So, Isabelle focused on ‘Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted) (poisoned).’
[Craft ‘Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted) (poisoned)’ out of items ‘Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted)’ and ‘Daggerbud Berries x1’? This cannot be undone.]
[Y/N]
Isabelle thought yes.
[‘Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted)’ taken from player Isabelle inventory]
[‘Daggerbud Berries x1’ taken from party member Tahsi inventory]
[Crafting ‘Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted) (poisoned)’]
[...]
[...]
[...]
[Crafting complete]
[‘Steel Warhammer of Electrocution (enchanted) (poisoned)’ added to inventory]
Excellent. But Isabelle had more work to do than that. She opened her inventory again, this time focusing on anything that could be enchanted but, crucially, was not yet enchanted.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 217.5/232
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Item
Traits
Scimitar (poisoned)
+1 poison, +8 damage, +2 dx
Black Steel Armor (yuan-ti)
+3 str, +2 damage, +1 const, +10 carry weight
Steel Mace
+10 damage, +1 str, +4 carry weight
Sleek Young Red Dragon Armor (human)
+3 fire resist, +7 hp, +12 str, +13 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Boots
+2 fire resist, +4 stm, +4 dx, +2 str, +7 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Gauntlets
+2 fire resist, +5 damage, +5 stm, +5 dx, +4 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Cloak
+5 fire resist, +3 char, +3 stm, +5 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Dagger x2
+2 fire damage, +5 damage, +3 stm, +1 dx, +2 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Glaive
+2 fire damage, +7 damage, +2 str, +6 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Bow
+3 fire damage, +2 damage, +3 dx, +3 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Helmet
+7 str, +5 char, +3 speechcraft, +3 carry weight
Necromancer Robes
+10 mana, +3 confuse, +3 enchant, +1 destroy, +4 carry weight
Poisoning Dagger x2
+1 poison, +6 damage, +1 sneak level, +1 carry weight
Steel Longsword
+5 str, +5 damage, +8 carry eight
Cloud Reach Guard Shield
+3 str, +3 const, +10 carry weight
Cloud Reach Guard Helmet (human)
+2 hp, +1 str, +4.5 carry weight
Cloud Reach Guard Armor (human)
+3 hp, +4 str, +8 carry weight
Noble Robes
+6 char, +2 carry weight
Noble Boots
+4 dx, +4 carry weight
Orcish Longbow
+5 damage, +1 dx, +1.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
That was... still a metric fuck ton of stuff. Great. Isabelle really did have options. However, the most tantalizing realization she had then was that she could, theoretically, enchant every single piece of her young red dragon armor with electrocution energy and then use that to power up herself to an extreme degree by dealing extra fire damage and extra electrocution damage on every single attack.
However, Isabelle also needed to cull her list a little and make sure she only focused on enchanting things she’d really use in the fight. Sure, she had time to enchant them, but she didn’t want to waste mana and energy enchanting things that wouldn’t work for her fighting style. Isabelle could rule out that black steel yuan-ti armor, even though it was cool it just wasn’t worth crafting it into black steel human armor on such short notice.
The Necromancer’s Robes were a bit of a stretch, especially considering Isabelle only used them when she wanted to cast magic. So, she figured she didn’t need to look at them when considering what all to enchant.
Next, all the Cloud Reach Guard Armor shit had to go. Isabelle wanted to dump it out of her inventory, honestly, or at least into Stelas’ head. She didn’t like dressing like a guard, even if the means by which she’d originally obtained the armor had been exceptionally clever.
Finally, the noble clothing she’d gotten from that poser of a prince that had regrettably escaped her captivity. Isabelle liked them for charisma boosting purposes, but they had no use in a fight against the Overlord unless he was just a completely mental narcissist who only regarded his ego and absolutely nothing else.
With all that settled, Isabelle looked at her inventory. Boy, did she have some work to do. The list of items was still absolutely humongous!
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 217.5/232
Item
Traits
Scimitar (poisoned)
+1 poison, +8 damage, +2 dx
Steel Mace
+10 damage, +1 str, +4 carry weight
Sleek Young Red Dragon Armor (human)
+3 fire resist, +7 hp, +12 str, +13 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Boots
+2 fire resist, +4 stm, +4 dx, +2 str, +7 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Gauntlets
+2 fire resist, +5 damage, +5 stm, +5 dx, +4 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Cloak
+5 fire resist, +3 char, +3 stm, +5 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Dagger x2
+2 fire damage, +5 damage, +3 stm, +1 dx, +2 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Glaive
+2 fire damage, +7 damage, +2 str, +6 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Bow
+3 fire damage, +2 damage, +3 dx, +3 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Helmet
+7 str, +5 char, +3 speechcraft, +3 carry weight
Poisoning Dagger x2
+1 poison, +6 damage, +1 sneak level, +1 carry weight
Steel Longsword
+5 str, +5 damage, +8 carry eight
Orcish Longbow
+5 damage, +1 dx, +1.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Wait a fucking second. Isabelle looked out to see that Frimri the young frost dragon was almost lowered out of sight by the Overlord’s dragon catching net. Did she really have time to go through and enchant all this stuff? The best way to know was to perform a check. So, Isabelle thought, ‘Check Frimri Capture Duration.’
[...]
[Your wis+int check succeeded]
[Frimri Capture Duration: 15:00]
Woah! Fifteen whole minutes. Isabelle was feeling a little better about this. Maybe she could enchant all this stuff, after all.
Then again, didn’t Isabelle have a limited amount of mana?
[Clarification: Yes.]
Isabelle rolled her eyes. Leave it to the system to be a smart ass.
[Clarification: The system is neither ‘smart’ nor an ‘ass.’ The system is a system, designed to be used by you the player as a tool.]
Isabelle rolled her eyes again. Classic system. Really, she had just wanted the system to calculate how many enchantments she could cast before her mana was essentially drained. Especially considering that mana potions and time were, though not exactly sparse, still limited commodities of her and her party.
[Clarification: You can prompt the system to make such a calculation by thinking ‘Calculate Mana Cost Versus Item Enchant.’]
Isabelle rolled her eyes yet again. Her wis wasn’t 1 any more, she had already been planning to think that! She was beginning to feel like the system just liked making clarifications.
[Clarification: The system cannot ‘like’ or ‘dislike’ things.]
Isabelle forced herself not to roll her eyes, she didn’t want to waste the time or energy. Instead, she thought, ‘Calculate Mana Cost Versus Item Enchant.’
[...]
[Calculation complete]
[In theory, you can cast the spell ‘Lesser Electrocution Enchant’ 7 times before running out of mana to immediately cast it again. However, seeing as each casting and crafting menu session will take a little time, and you regen mana at 2 every 40 seconds, you can actually cast ‘Lesser Electrocution Enchant’ a total of 8 times before running out of mana to immediately cast it again.]
[Frimri Capture Duration: 13:58]
That made sense. So, Isabelle needed to choose eight items to enchant, and fast. Since she knew that her full suit of young red dragon armor made five items total, and she surely wanted to enchant all of that, Isabelle realized that she really had three items to decide on. She opened her inventory yet again, this time filtered to only look at the weapons.
Inventory: Isabelle
Carrying capacity: 217.5/232
Item
Traits
Scimitar (poisoned)
+1 poison, +8 damage, +2 dx
Steel Mace
+10 damage, +1 str, +4 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Dagger x2
+2 fire damage, +5 damage, +3 stm, +1 dx, +2 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Glaive
+2 fire damage, +7 damage, +2 str, +6 carry weight
Young Red Dragon Bow
+3 fire damage, +2 damage, +3 dx, +3 carry weight
Poisoning Dagger x2
+1 poison, +6 damage, +1 sneak level, +1 carry weight
Steel Longsword
+5 str, +5 damage, +8 carry eight
Orcish Longbow
+5 damage, +1 dx, +1.5 carry weight
Abbreviated list based on prior use. Focus to see more items…
Hmm. Isabelle had really used her glaive a lot, so she decided that the glaive was definitely worth using. That left two more weapons. Isabelle figured she’d enchant her young red dragon bow, the power bonus was just too good. That meant only one more item. Obviously, the orcish longbow was just out of the running. Isabelle figured she’d need to give that away to one of her party members at some point. The steel longsword needed a facelift, but the scimitar had better stats. She’d enchant that.
“Hey, Tahsi, can I ask you something?” said Isabelle. “Yea?” asked Tahsi.
“Do you want an orcish longbow?” asked Isabelle. “Sure, why not?” said Tahsi. “Do you want some bread?”
“Not right now,” said Isabelle. “Thanks though. “ Isabelle then focused on the orcish longbow, and focused on Tahsi.
[Give ‘Orcish Longbow’ to ‘Tahsi’?]
Isabelle thought yes.
[Orcish Longbow removed from inventory]
“By the way, Tahsi, have you finished learning that spell I asked you to?” asked Isabelle.
“Oh, yes,” said Tahsi. “Now I can cast self mirage, though I’m still scared to. Probably a good spell to know, though, with the absurd amount of mana I have at my disposal.”
It took every ounce of Isabelle’s willpower not to fume as Tahsi mentioned his stats. “Okay,” said Isabelle. “Well, could you give the spell tome to Jingles so that he can learn the confusion spell?”
“Sure thing, Isabelle,” said Tahsi. He walked over to Sir Jingles, who was bent over and licking his own anus, and smiled. “Hey, Jingles. Isabelle wants you to learn the confusion spell out of this spell tome. So, here’s the tome. Also, here’s some bread.”
“Thanks,” said Sir Jingles, taking both. “Though, I don’t really want the bread, if we’re being fair.”
“Oh, take the bread, Jingles,” said Isabelle.
Sir Jingles hissed halfheartedly and took a bite of stale bread.
[Frimri Capture Duration: 13:25]
Beware the Overlord!
It was that lady’s voice again! Why did she have to keep interrupting Isabelle’s thoughts?
[-1 hp]
That was just rude.
[-2 hp]
“Ugh! Get out of my head!” Isabelle said.
Tahsi and Jingles stared at Isabelle with surprise.
“Sorry,” said Isabelle. “It’s that lady who has some association or whatever with the Overlord fucking around in my psyche again.”
Her party members nodded slowly.
Isabelle shook herself. She needed to go ahead and get this shit enchanted already! Isabelle wondered if she could knock it all out in one go.
[Clarification: To do a mass enchant, you’ll need to first think ‘Enable batch processing’. Then, you’ll need to think ‘Batch Process (action to take). For the action of enchanting items from a spell, the proper syntax would be ‘Enchant (items to enchant) by casting (spell to cast).’]
Interesting. Isabelle thought, ‘Enable Batch Processing.’
[Batch processing enabled]
[Achievment unlocked: enable batch processing]
Isabelle then thought, ‘Batch Process Enchant Sleek Young Red Dragon Armor (human), Young Red Dragon Boots, Young Red Dragon Gauntlets, Young Red Dragon Cloak, Young Red Dragon Glaive, Young Red Dragon Bow, Young Red Dragon Helmet, and Scimitar (poisoned) by Casting Lesser Electrocution Enchant.’
[...]
[Batch Process Started]
[...]
[Achievement unlocked: start a batch process]
[Achievement unlocked: cast an enchant spell]
[Enchant increased to level 1]
[Enchant increased to level 2]
[Enchant increased to level 3]
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
[Batch Process Completed]
[Sleek Young Red Dragon Armor (human) (enchanted) added to inventory]
[Young Red Dragon Boots (enchanted) added to inventory] [Young Red Dragon Gauntlets (enchanted) added to inventory] [Young Red Dragon Cloak (enchanted) added to inventory] [Young Red Dragon Glaive (enchanted) added to inventory] [Young Red Dragon Bow (enchanted) added to inventory] [Young Red Dragon Helmet (enchanted) added to inventory] [Scimitar (poisoned) (enchanted) added to inventory]
[Mana 0%]
Isabelle smiled. How satisfying. And she hadn’t even needed to open her crafting menu or anything! How convenient.
[Frimri Capture Duration: 12:33]
Shit. Isabelle and her party needed to start running towards that dragon before it was too late! Were the horses still alive? Isabelle thought ‘Come Here Horses.’
In a flash, Lugano, Stefano, and Doug rushed up to greet them.
“Where did these horses come from?” asked Isabelle. “And what’s more, where did they go?
“Nobody knows,” said Tahsi. “Nobody ever does. At least in Beaubinte, I mean.”
Isabelle thought that was quite bizarre, but she wasn’t about to argue. It was time to get going!
[Notice: You’re ready to level up]
Hmm. Maybe Isabelle would level up one last time, first. Just to be safe.