Will sat in his dining room with all of the resources he had gathered over the last while laid out on the table in front of him. He had double and triple checked the quantities, but was now stumped. For whatever reason the ethergate page in his interface didn’t seem to have any way to trigger the upgrade. It made Will want to call tech support, but he didn’t have any more of the necessary potions to produce soul energy.

Finally, Will just stopped and closed his eyes, focusing on the ethergate and the upgrade really hard. Finally, he felt a notification pop up.

Upgrade requirements met. Would you like to commence upgrading with provided materials?

Yes/No

Will immediately chose yes to his great relief, and all of the materials disappeared. Will immediately lost all sensation, going completely insensate except for a feeling of rushing movement. Suddenly, he was before a giant globe with a ring around it. Around the globe and ring was a net of lines and dots that encompassed both. Pulses of energy swept through the array in a rhythmic pattern. Suddenly, the array fell apart, the lines disappearing as the dots reorganized themselves. Twenty new dots joined the group and they all reorganized into a pattern of circles joined with star patterns between them. New lines joined each dot to the ones nearby as everything settled into its new place.

Will woke up, sprawled on the floor next to his table. Drool had made a puddle on the floor next to him, and from the angle of the light coming in through the windows it had been hours. He dragged himself back into his seat as he tried to process what had happened. First he examined his Ethergate. He could feel the power of the new construct, and had to say that right off the bat, he was quite satisfied. The problem was that mana was now only one of the things that the gate produced. Stamina was produced, as was health, though all three slid off his already full mana pool. But he could also feel other energies coming out of the gate that he didn’t recognize. These energies slid into the space Will knew his soul to be, and completely disappeared. Will could tell that there was some resemblance to experience, but this energy was more in a way Will could not describe. For now, he would trust that Dr Lynvera had his best interests in mind.

Because now, despite the Ethergate giving off nearly what it had before the incident with the Somnite pillar, the mana was only a fraction of it. He regenerated mana faster than he did an hour previously, but it wasn’t anywhere near being able to fill his mana instantly. He went from filling his mana in a few hours to filling it in a bit over an hour. A great increase, but nothing like before.

Still, Will wouldn’t complain. Little he did had the power to drain his mana pool anyway. They wouldn’t either, until he got more training in enchanting. Plus, now he could help the villagers become a bit more useful. On that note, Will left the castle and went down to the village to find Arnold. Arnold was with the other farmers tending to the new shoots of a plant Will didn’t recognize. When he saw Will approach he waved and left the work to the other men.

“Hello Will, how have you been?”

“Well enough. How are the crops coming?” Will asked.

“Well enough. We will have a decent harvest in a few months time, and it will help through winter. Problem is the youngest have already started to show signs of scurvy.” Arnold gave Will a pointed look. “We scavenge the forest as far as we dare, and the occasional mushroom or wild tuber helps a lot, but it isn’t enough.” Will was ashamed for not even thinking of scavenging the forest. But those that went out were in danger of a monster attack, and him going alone wouldn’t bring back enough either.

“I think I have a solution. I was told it would work, but it is time to actually try it.” Will said.

“Going to try to awaken a concept again? Very well, but let's get this done quickly. There is work to be done.” Will nodded, and they went a ways from the farmers where they sat back to back and started meditating. Will immediately sensed the other man’s sparse spirit map, next to his it seemed sad and withered. Will focused on the Ethergate, directing the energies toward Arnold’s spirit map. The energies were gobbled up by the spaces where the nodes should have been. After several long minutes, a new node coalesced, and Arnold jumped up.

Will jumped up too to see the man’s eyes were wide and he was grinning like an idiot. The man, in his forties at least, them proceeded to do a series of backflips, cartwheels and handstands that had Will gaping. He stopped before will, out of breath.

“It has been years since I was able to do that!” He then proceeded to do another backflip. “I feel years younger!”

“Woah, stop!” Will yelled as soon as he got himself under control. “You currently have a bit more stamina than your usual max, that is all that is happening. If you go too hard, you are going to feel it tomorrow.”

Arnold visibly deflated.

“When we are actually done with the process rather than just hitting the first success, we can get you a concept that will really help you.” Will said. “Then you will get the agility for real.”

That perked Arnold right back up and after a short conversation they sat back down and continued. It took them a full eight hours to reopen every node. By the time they were done, both men were exhausted. Despite that, both knew what a win this had been. This was at least part of why most people had such low concept affinity. Will was ready to bet that most people, even those with concepts, had a few nodes empty. It would seriously impair their ability to use their concepts even when they were able to gain one.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to the original site for the genuine story.

Will bid Arnold a good night and watched the man strut off to bed. But it was not time for him to go to bed. He still had work to do.

He headed out into the night, making his way toward Stinburough. It was early in the morning by the time he was within sight of the city, but he did not move to enter. Instead he moved down the road. He was relying heavily on his stats to allow him to move quickly, because he needed to get far enough from the city that people would have chosen to camp for the night rather than press on.

Will ran for several hours before he found what he was looking for. He was aware that he would have found it sooner and easier with Koma. But Koma was stronger than Will, at least when Will used his suppression bracelet. Koma would probably allow him to slaughter anyone he came across, but that simply felt wrong to Will.

What Will was about to do was wrong, he admitted that much to himself. But a certain sense of fairness made him leave Koma behind. They would at least have a chance.

A short train of carts had been pulled off the road where there was a small clearing. A single armored man stood in the middle, looking around with a crossbow in hand. Will could see another four men sleeping in close proximity. A carriage looked to be locked up tight nearby, and a servant was sleeping beneath. Will could see the two carts were full of grain, the kind that could be stored long term and hopefully replanted. He grimaced. He wouldn’t be surprised if these people had ended a family’s hopes of replanting the next year. Still, it was what Will was looking for, and better him than this prick.

Will watched the crossbowman from the shadows where he activated shadowmeld for the first time in forever. He waited for the man to turn away and made a quiet dash for the carts. Part of him hoped he could simply store the contents and get away with nobody the wiser, but that was a foolish hope. He reached into the first cart and his hand snagged a wire. The tinkling of a bell sounded out and the crossbowman immediately whirled on Will, spotting him instantly despite Will’s shadowmeld.

“Attack!” he yelled while firing a crossbow bolt at Will. “Get up you lazy arseholes, we are under attack!”

Will dodged the first bolt and dashed immediately toward the crossbowman. There was enough space to allow the man to set the crossbow and fire a second time. However, this time the crossbow became inexplicably heavy at the last moment, causing the bolt to miss. The man was barely able to draw his sword and parry Will’s oncoming thrust, which nevertheless managed to pierce the man’s arm. Meanwhile the other soldiers were jumping up around Will, and he had to spend a few precious moments stabbing the confused guards. Will took a slash in his side as he dispatched the second confused guard before all the guards got their bearings.

Will took several steps back, but the guards were not about to let him out of their encirclement. They all attacked at once from three different angles. Will parried one, as the other two stumbled, finding that one of their legs each had become far heavier than normal. It caused their strikes to go wide as Will fought the third guard. They exchanged blows repeatedly before Will managed to stab the man in the thigh, and cut out the side. The wound was on the inside of the leg, and the blood loss quickly made him too weak to continue.

Will spun back to the other two guards, quickly changing his weight enchantments to keep them off balance. Suddenly, one of the guards looked behind Will and grinned maliciously. Will instinctively lept away, rolling and coming to his feet as he watched a fireball scream through the space he had just been. The carriage door was open, and a man in an expensive nightgown was standing on the carriage step looking enraged. Another fireball was launched Will’s way as the two guards tried to box Will in, but Will’s weight trick was hard to deal with. They stopped trying to actually hurt him, going completely defensive as they maneuvered him into the perfect spot for the mage to take him down.

As the fireball launched, Will grabbed ahold of his Inferno of the Tumultuous Mind and pulled it forth as hard as he could. Heat filled his body, and thousands of details and ideas clamored for his attention, but he stayed in control as the fireball glanced off him harmlessly. The three men looked at him in shock as waves of heat exuded from his very being. It wasn’t much in the grand scheme of things. His concept was still being suppressed to not show most of its power. Will channeled the power of his concept into his sword, which exploded in a shower of light and sparks. Will stared at his weapon which was somehow still intact and now glowing an ominous red.

The two guards started to back away as the mage erected a shield of mana. Will stabbed and penetrated straight through one guard’s wooden shield, which immediately burst into flames. The man holding the shield was in no condition to fight the flames as his insides were cooked. Will withdrew his sword and whipped it around to cleave the head from the other guard as he turned to flee. He then turned to the mage who was arduously weaving some sort of water spell. A ball of churning water catapulted toward Will. In a moment he could sense a cold, able to counter the heat of his blade, but no matter. He slammed his Inferno of the Tumultuous mind back into its mental box and drew forth his Desolate Heart of the Frozen North, freezing the ball of water until it shattered into a fine powder.

The mage fell back into the carriage, trying to scramble away and through the other door, but it wasn’t enough. Will’s blade was the last thing he saw.

Will took stock after killing the combatants. He realized that he had inadvertently let the servant run away, but he didn’t have the heart to hunt him down. Instead he took stock of what he had managed to get. There was far less grain than what it had seemed at first. The bags were stacked around a series of small crates holding a variety of unrefined minerals. He assumed they were precious as nobody would be stupid enough to try to disguise something worthless as food. He did find a small stash of preserved vegetables, which would be a great boon for all of two days. The grain would last a group of their size a week. He added all of it to his inventory, and then looted the carriage.

There were some nice baubles. Jewelry and accessories meant for a man, and all of them enchanted with various effects. None of them were great for combat, but were perfect for someone dealing with people and paperwork. Will was just excited to have new enchantments to copy. The man left a veritable wardrobe behind, but there was little else. Will had partially been hoping for a spellbook, though he knew actually learning magic would be more involved than that. He then took the guard’s weapons and armor, finding a smattering of copper as well. Will went back to the carriage and found a small bag of silver. At which point he tore the entire carriage apart looking for anything hidden. Unfortunately he failed to find anything else.

The horses, though spooked, had been securely tied to a branch and had not run away. Several of them were older stock with the signs of hard labor. Obviously farm animals. But two were young and fresh, draft horses of high caliber. Will untied the other horses, taking their tack into his inventory, but then hopped aboard one of the nicer horses and proceeded to ride them back to the fortress.