The trip to the village where Simon the dwarf leatherworker lived was uncomfortable to say the least. Will was surprised to find that Simon, the bearded man he had spoken to, was a dwarf. He looked more or less like a human with an impressive beard. It turned out that the physical differences between the races were actually very minor when they had only the common blessing. It wasn’t until they got the higher blessings that dwarves became what you would imagine a dwarf to be. Same with elves, and pretty much every other race. Otherwise dwarves were humans with beards and elves tended to be humans with pointy ears.

It was all quite disappointing, and that disappointment amused Simon to no end. Will wouldn’t tell him he had the choice to become the epitome of an elf or dwarf. Also, Will had thought that nobility might cause an automatic racial upgrade, since the tiers of the races were named after noble ranks. That turned out not to be the case. Apparently some people were just built better than others. Fewer than two percent of people were born with the lord rank race, which was just above common. Less than one percent of those got the even higher baron rank race. People with king rank races were born so infrequently, that a particular race only produced one every few generations. And that was usually when strict breeding guidelines had been followed.

“Of course, we believe that there are two people alive now with the king rank race.” Simon said. Will had taken to riding with Simon, much to the chagrin of the other hunters.

“And who are they?” Will asked.

“The first is the human king of the Brythorne Isles.” Will remembered seeing Brythorne Isles. It was the island nation at the top of the narrow ocean. It was just a day or so trip by boat away from southern Frostfell. “His name is Arken Silverwraith, and he is a war hero of the highest caliber. He took the throne some twenty years ago and defeated the King of the Black Isles. It is said that the King of the Black Isles wanted to tear open the abyss and unleash horrors upon the world. And Arken Silverwraith stopped him.”

“Wow. That is quite something. A real life hero.” Simon didn’t seem to catch the lack of enthusiasm in Will’s voice.

“You should find a bard to sing you the whole tale. It is one for the ages. He has a daughter too, beautiful as the sunrise.”

“And she lives in a tower high above the world, right?” Will said snickering.

“I thought you said you hadn’t heard the story before.” Simon said reproachfully. “Her tower is supposed to be the most beautiful structure in the whole kingdom.” Will snorted.

“I haven't heard the story. Just ones like it.” Will said with a sigh. He wasn’t about to go telling the man the story of Rapunzel, even if it was just to pass the time. Will laid back on some boxes he had padded with his second fur coat. He propped his feet up on some other boxes. “You said there was another person who had the king tier blessing?”

“King Stoneforge of the Iron Druids!” Will could hear the pride in Simon’s voice. “He is a dwarf himself, and excels with every tool he touches. It is said that in the process of making some simple nails while training, he made a set of nails that gave a building a full tier upgrade! Just for using the nails!”

“Buildings have tiers too?” Will asked.

“I just told you about the most important man in the world, and you ask about buildings?” The outrage in Simon’s voice was obviously fake, and he proceeded to answer the question. “Yes, as a matter of fact buildings have tiers. Even though most buildings are entirely immobile, they are still considered items by the system you gods use.”

“But you don’t have the system, so why do you care about tiers?” Will asked. Apparently, it was very rare to have system access. Despite how it was done, Will realized he was very lucky that Dr. Lynvera had left the system implant for him.

“When everyone with real power has system access, everyone else has to speak in those terms.” Simon shrugged. “It’s not a terrible way to do it. Most people do just fine dealing in low tier items. Those few who deal in higher tier items can get things that provide limited system access for the purpose of identifying or crafting.”

Will was confused however. Wouldn’t it be better for everyone to have access to the system? It would make a lot of things easier. Look at him. He had grown quite powerful in a very short period of time due to the system. When he voiced his confusion, Simon just shrugged.

“I have no idea why the gods don’t hand it out to all who wish it. But maybe you will fix that one day!” Will gave a noncommittal grunt, and Simon laughed. “At the moment in order to get one you have to complete the Trial of the Gods. At least I thought you did.”

“Who's to say I didn’t?” Will asked.

“All the hunters who attacked you instead of recognising what you are. You have a certain aura about you, a certain gravity. But it is nothing like the aura you get from completing the Trial of the Gods. I have never before seen a god I could not immediately identify.”

“All that means is that you didn’t catch them.” Simon gave Will a small glare.

“I once caught a man trying to lift a woman’s purse. It was obvious he was magically stealthed, I was testing out a magical eyepiece to add to my tool collection. I knew the moment I spotted the man that he was a god. I think that he would have turned that off if he had the ability.”

“That doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Maybe higher tier gods could do it?”

“Are you a higher tier god?” Simon asked skeptically. Will chuckled in response.

“I suppose you have a point.” Will sighed. They went on like that for a few hours on the first day, but the talking grew old quick. Before long, Will had convinced Simon to teach him about the patterns they inked into the coats. Simon pulled out several diagrams, showing all of the basic structures that the coats used. It was a lot more technical that Will expected, sounding more like a physics class than magic.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Inking was an informal word. Usually it was simply referred to as material enchanting. Inking was simply the main method used with biological materials, whereas carvings and inlays were used for non biological materials. Wood was a bit of a gray spot, taking well to both inking and carving when they were done right. When they stopped for the evening, Simon brought out a cloth and made Will practice inking the formations. There were formations for mana gathering, as well as for mana storage, and then for dozens of other functions. Will practiced them all.

When Old Morris found out what they were doing, he usurped Simon’s place as Will’s teacher almost immediately. He tutted about the wolf tattoo, which would get in the way of the proper inker’s tattoos. Apparently he had a full set of tattoos across his entire body that allowed him to ink with both speed and precision. Will turned down the offer for the full set of tattoos himself. But he did memorize the pattern required. It was rather complex, but Will thought it might be very useful.

When Will finally got a moment to himself, he started to summon the furniture he had gotten from the room with the repository. Most of what he got was useless junk as far as he could tell, but it piqued the interest of those nearby. It was in the top drawer of the third desk that Will found the crystal. It was purple, glowing faintly, and sat on a small pillow. Will picked it up.

“Hello?” a voice whispered into his mind. Will dropped the crystal back onto the pillow immediately and identified it.

Soul Crystal (Filled)

Soul Crystals are the tools of those in search of dark power and eternal life. They are used to trap a soul and keep it from moving to the afterlife. As the soul is a neverending font of mana, Soul Crystals are very effective power sources for long term magics.

This Soul Crystal is filled, containing the soul of Dr. Lindsey Lynvera.

Will stared at the text before he was interrupted.

“Hello?” The voice said. Will could now recognise it for what it was. It was the voice of Dr Lynvera, but it sounded like it was coming from multiple doors down a long hallway. “Please answer, I can feel you there. Please, it has been so long.”

“Hello, Dr Lynvera.”

“Have we met? Wait, you identified the crystal didn’t you? I suppose that is fair considering I just spoke into your mind.” The woman spoke fast, as though she had a time limit to get her words out.

“We haven’t met, but I saw you in a recording when I was summoned to this world.”

“You were summoned! Did you get the system implant I left for you? Of course you did, you wouldn’t have found me otherwise. This is wonderful… Wait.” She paused for a second. “Do you have a soul concept?” Will was completely nonplussed.

“No, I have a mental one.”

“Then you need to put me in your inventory right now. Soul Crystals might provide mana, but they need soul energy to keep the person inside aware. I have been inadvertently draining you since we started talking. You probably already feel it.” She was right, a deep, insidious sense of fatigue was coming over him. “Go get yourself a soul concept and talk to me again. You will be able to regenerate more than what I need then. I can help you a lot then, but you need to put me in your inventory.” Will blinked, finding himself on the ground with the crystal on the ground next to him. Sluggishly, he reached over and put the crystal in his inventory.

It felt like a pressure had been removed from that deep place within him that had hurt when he got the extra modules. He supposed that was his soul, given the clues, but he wanted confirmation. He had no way to examine that part of him, and no amount of meditation seemed to allow it. He was able to examine the network of stars, which were somewhere between his soul and his body. Aside from that, he had a soul shard apparently housing the soul of Dr Lynvera, the woman who had made the system and then brainraped him to give it to him. Will wanted to talk to the woman, but his lack of a soul concept seemed not to allow it.

The fatigue didn’t go away, and Will was unable to move much for several days. Old Morris didn’t take this as a good reason to stop learning, and so Will suffered with the man crouching over his sickbed for a full day before he could sit up to a table they set up in the back of the cart. His skill in enchanting grew in leaps and bounds over that time.

Skill: Inscription is now level 7

Will was excited to learn, as this was magic, and who didn’t want to learn magic? However, he didn’t want a life of making items for people. He got pulled into a new world. He wanted adventures, not stuffy workshops. And so his real breakthrough didn’t come when he was inscribing, but rather when he was examining the two stars within him.

Will realized that the stars were not alone inside him. There were actually hundreds of stars throughout his body, but the other two were far too bright to see the others without close examination. Even dimmer, were the lines that connected the stars to the stars around them. The cold star and the springtime star looked like stars mostly because they partially lit up the lines that connected them to the stars around them. It surprised Will to find that the two stars were not right next to each other. In fact, they were quite far apart from each other. As Will got a better sense of his inner constellation, he realized that the stars were confined to the shape of his body, but the sense of power that emanated from them extended quite a bit past his body. He could feel his regal bearing aura in that emanated power.

The springtime star was in Will’s chest, very near the center of mass, but the cold star was actually in his head. Will pulled a strand of mana from the springtime star and pulled it toward the cold star. He didn’t connect them as he didn’t want to freeze out the hunters, but he watched as the mana followed the paths, going through star after star. Each star was brought to life, and when Will let go of the mana, the stars stayed lit. That felt right. Like it was supposed to be that way. And so Will pulled the mana throughout his whole body, lighting up all the stars. An ache in his head he hadn’t noticed went away and he felt energized.

The energy throughout his body felt just as receptive to his mana control as the mana from the springtime star. He didn’t know why it all wanted to be spread around like that, but it felt right. It wasn’t until he pulled a line of mana off of the trail that he had an idea. He formed a simple strengthening rune out of the mana. It was difficult, and took several tries, but when he accomplished it, the results were far beyond what he expected. He could feel the power in the part of his bicep around the rune. He flexed his arm, and cried out when the area around the empowered part of his muscle felt like it was tearing.

He got rid of the strengthening rune, and the pain eased. It soon went away entirely as his quickened healing took over. A small bruise appeared on his arm but went away just as quickly as it appeared. This time, instead of making a single strengthening rune, Will laboriously built them all through his bicep and into the tendons and bone that the bicep was attached to. He kept the mana from saturating the runes too much, and felt a smooth and even saturation of power throughout his muscle. Will picked up a rock. He could tell that his bicep was much stronger than normal, even with his increased strength taken into account. He worked to form the enchantment throughout the rest of his arm, and was ecstatic to see his strength multiplied several times over. As a test he poked his arm with a knife, and the arm was more resistant as well.

Skill nucleation detected.

No known skill detected.

Stabilizing…

Stabilizing…

Congratulations! You have gained Skill: Spirit Inscription.