image [https://64.media.tumblr.com/19073a72c19c4ed2d43aef2054a4fbee/988a5d00da108e35-20/s640x960/fd9fc2294c3dcede4ceb4717b29e74e758c54617.pnj]
Spellcards are more complicated than they’d seemed just two minutes ago.
Skill Points:
Skill Points are gained in battles with monsters and approved duels between people. No unauthorized duels will yield any Skill Points. Skill Points can be used to purchase new skills!
“So I can’t buy any cards until AFTER I defeat a fucking monster?” I hissed at the menu.
Then a ping! And Another Codex card opened.
Coins:
Coins are the currency of the new world. All your assets in digital and physical money has been liquidated and turned into Coins. You can purchase equipment, supplies and anything else you could regularly buy with money, with Coins. But you cannot purchase skills unless you have Skill Points.
So Skill points weren't currency. They were like XP being put into different categories. Coin was currency. But that likely also meant...
“Show me the… Coin balance?” I asked, pre-emptively cringing. It would probably say Zero. And then what?
5025 Coins
Yeah, that was the balance in my bank account. I remembered specifically because I’d just checked it yesterday. It said it liquidated assets, but I was pretty sure it was going to pull one of those 'you have to complete a quest to get it' tricks that games sometimes did to make you feel like you 'earned' the starter equipment. Thank god I was wrong.
“Coin… Store-?” I halted and listened hard. There was a sound of bone crunching and chewing. They’d killed whoever they were after on the lower floors and were now enjoying their meal. They’d stay away if it stayed quiet up here. But I needed to quickly find some method of protecting us. They'd killed one person earlier, but also another, I think. I barely heard it. But I was sure SOMEONE else got killed on the much lower floors.
The ‘Coin Shop’ opened.
There were filter tabs for weaponry, armor, supplies…
I looked through them all and found basically nothing worth the coins to spend on the lower, cheaper tiers. I needed at least a Brass ‘Stylus’ and Watercolor Paper Cards.
But I couldn’t afford that AND the magic ink, plus the other stuff I might need.
As soon as I thought about it, it all bundled, too. The entire set of stuff that would last a long time and actually afford protection was three-thousand, one-hundred and seventy-three Coin.
I only had five thousand Coin. That’d leave me like eighteen-hundred Coin.
The food area was actually pretty well-priced. Things cost what they took to make and people were registering their goods as soon as they figured out the system, apparently, because people kept popping up with new items on the front page.
Eggs were actually Cheaper and Milk, too. Not by a whole lot, but…
The Codex Pinged again.
Prices:
This is a Fixed Capitalist System. The item costs what it took to make it and the hours spent doing so. For food, the cost is what the person bought in terms of feed, fertilizer and any medical concerns for livestock as well as other small expenses. There is a certain percentage of profit that will remain fixed. And the prices will go up if it’s a rare object as well as down if it’s more commonplace.
So things only cost what they cost, I thought with some surprise. And as I looked through the catalog…
I still couldn’t risk spending three thousand Coin-
A notice appeared on the Shop page.
Sell your things!
This shop will buy anything you own and give you back whatever it costs in Coin. We use the matter to create objects of the same material. We can refurbish your old, broken sofa into a brand new one, quite easily! Anything you own at all, will be acceptable for sale.
I hit the x and started grabbing things from around the apartment, taking it over to my Familiar… and…
The first thing he eats is a Book. And it gives me ten Coin. The rest of the books are the same, as long as they’re fiction. Informational books are only five coin.
“What do you do with the books, just sell them as-is?” I asked Phobos.
No response.
It did say it could ‘recycle’ them or whatever.
“Alright, since I’ve seen how it works… buy the Starter Set I had my eye on,” I said with great internal pain.
THREE-THOUSAND Coin for an outfit, a fancy pen and some fancy cardstock…
Well, at least I got three decks of the cards for a bargain because I was buying in bulk. The cards had some kind of tougher black backing that seemed to just be for decoration... or maybe make it so you didn't poke through them, considering it WAS watercolor paper, after all...
Wait, I blinked once at the menu. That’s what happens to your books and stuff. I’m sure someone gives their sketchbooks and it becomes the watercolor cards. And if you give a book, it gets repurposed into one of those informational books for magic stuff!
It all made some kind of logical sense, and it was drawing me in, but I shook it off. I could figure everything out later, because right now I needed some way to protect myself and Sophia.
“...equip Starter Set?” I asked in a hesitant tone, because… well, it felt ridiculous. Why didn’t I just think it-?
I looked down at myself and saw the set already on my body. It's black and witchy. Gothy. Whatever. The Stylus was Brassy and bright, sitting on the counter in front of me with the three decks of cards.
“Shit, I only have one deck thing,” I muttered as I put the Deck of cards on top of the pile into the special open pouch on my belt it obviously was supposed to go into. Then I put my other two decks into a small ziploc and thankfully, it counted as one stacked item, just like the boxes.
The decks had these strings around them. I untied the one in the pouch and pulled out a handful of cards.
Phobos was still waiting when I looked up. He was much more well-behaved than a real cat.
“What do you eat?” I asked.
He meowed and the menu opened again. Two codex entries.
Feeding Your Familiar!
Quick-Use Items!
Feeding him could wait till later, so I opened ‘Quick-Use Items’ first.
Quick-Use Items:
You can register five items in total for ‘quick-use’. All you have to do is give the slot for the item a name and that item will appear in a linked pouch or pocket when you say its name. Pouch or pocket must be big enough to contain any one of the items.
If you spot this narrative on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
I looked and there WAS an inner pocket in my jacket… robe… thing. It was pretty big. Big enough for the cards to appear in a stack, even. So I told it to connect it-
And it glowed for a moment. The inside of the pocket turned murky blood red and then... faded. I guessed that was my indication that it'd synced or whatever.
“Okay, now how do I make the ‘spell’ part of the spellcards?” I asked, gripping the edge of the counter and wishing it would just open a tutorial section for how to do it and stop beating around the bush with all these steps! They should've already equipped me with equipment and taught me to use it to begin with! That's how it works in the games it's aping!
The Set had come with a free amount of ink. Not a lot, but enough to make around ten simple spellcards, it said. So at least I didn't have to buy more just yet.
I was only going to make five for now. If I could.
The ‘Skill Shop’ opened then and… well…
Brenna and Vara. 'To burn' and 'to Protect'. It wasn’t fireball and barrier-- it was more like something to throw an open flame at someone and the other was… well, apparently the weakest type of barrier there was. Those were the two ‘starter’ spells I had. And I couldn’t pay Coin to upgrade like I had with my starter set.
I immediately went to write Vara and Brenna on one card each.
And something… overtook me. It wasn’t just the word itself that had to be inscribed. A symbol had to be written in the center of the card as well. And it looked like… a gout of flame. The second card had a grid of sorts for its illustration. And... it wasn't the word in English. If I had to stake a guess on it, it was like... Runes?
image [https://64.media.tumblr.com/fd09c191702f9bea7cca8ce4394062b0/5b81ebbdb20d2042-6c/s1280x1920/9ad8fbc3beeaf61fc6b388c7dd24ecdea6885c50.jpg]image [https://64.media.tumblr.com/a815b33f4990084c9c4aa390fd25ecd6/5b81ebbdb20d2042-d0/s400x600/5158ae4f15df40a0c9e4257a6077c261b9bb1b7d.jpg]
When I finally came out of it, I shook my head and blinked. The world tilted slightly and I gripped the counter harder as a wave of exhaustion just... swept over me. But not for long. It soon settled into a low-level tiredness... like I'd just spent two hours doing something not arduous, but intense. My muscles were tight.
“Fuck,” I put the Stylus down. “So that means it costs some kind of energy to make them. Just like casting them? So it’s… it’s a stored spell, not something like a medium.” And I did need to know that. Mediums were used as fuel for spells. But a stored spell is like a scroll. You use the scroll instead of your own mana, because the spell's mana and whatever ingredients are stored in the scroll...
Phobos meowed at me to get me to look up and opened the menu to the Skill Shop again. It said I had two free skills to choose and one extra from upgrading my Starter Set.
“It never said you get extra skills from spending money…” I was so irritated that my skin was hot and starting to itch. I hate that sensation. Frustration is so uncomfortable for me.
“I got them!” Sophia came hustling in with three toys in her arms. One was the Tablet we used to do her letters and numbers on. Just a cheap learning toy. The other two were a Modified Barbie that she called Mesa, dressed in something similar to Scandinavian peasant wear and the Unicorn I’d gotten for her on her fourth birthday. It was supposed to move around and neigh, but the batteries had gone out. She didn’t seem to care.
“I have to bring Mesa and Sir Pokey!” she said. “Mesa is Valykree’s girlfriend and Sir Pokey is her loyal steed.”
I kept forgetting the Unicorn's name because it was so silly I kept thinking 'no, that can't be it'.
“Yes, I remember. Go put them in the last box and then put them in your pocket inventory. Just think about it going in there, you don’t have to make it fit your pocket,” I said. “And try to be quiet. Monsters are outside, we don’t want them coming in, do we?”
No reason to frighten her too much.
“Shhh!” she said and put a finger over her lips before rushing off to the bedroom. She didn’t seem to understand that running was loud.
Of course she doesn’t, she’s six.
I checked the Skill Shop for the last three skills I would need to pick.
All Skills on the lower tier were 150 Skill Points each. Those were the ones I could pick, so I couldn’t just get a free high-tier skill.
It was the same ranking system I was used to in RPG’s. JRPG’s most specifically. S to F with no E.
It also said I was F-Rank and would only qualify to go up if I did a lot of fighting. Though there was also another panel that said if I completed other types of ‘Quests’ my rank would go up in that category, instead of overall.
So, essentially the overarching rank is power. Physical or magical. The other ranks are for proficiency.
The skills I could choose were…
Styrkja: This spell provides a temporary buff that partially reduces incoming damage. This is the first tier, so the effect is only 20% of the final tier of this spell
Lýsa: Conjures a floating wisp of light that illuminates the surrounding area. This is the first tier, so the effect is only 20% of the final tier of this spell
Læsa: This spell allows the caster to magically lock a door, preventing unauthorized access.
Frysta: This spell encases enemies in frost, slowing them down and causing cold damage over time. This is the first tier, so the effect is only 20% of the final tier of this spell
Hrekja: A gust of magical wind bursts forth from the caster, forcefully driving back enemies in its path. This is the first tier, so the effect is only 20% of the final tier of this spell
Deyfa: Using arcane energy, this spell disrupts the target's internal balance, leaving them nauseous and disoriented. This is the first tier, so the effect is only 20% of the final tier of this spell
Fela: By weaving shadows around the target, this spell hides a person or object for a short period, making them blend seamlessly into the darkness. The effect creates the illusion that they are part of the surrounding shadows. This is the first tier, so the effect is only 20% of the final tier of this spell
Binda: This spell uses nearby materials or pure magical energy to entangle a target’s movements. This is the first tier, so the effect is only 20% of the final tier of this spell
Please, repeat that it's only 20% effective some more. I didn't get it the first time. I huffed internally and thought to myself that the only one that DIDN'T say it, was probably because magically locking a door would only keep it locked. It wouldn't prevent it from being busted down.
I picked the three that were the most useful as of this moment. I didn’t have any idea how to use Freezing attacks right now and it likely wouldn’t be powerful enough. And Magic locks were unnecessary and useless as of yet. Maybe once I'd gotten some more durable doors.
Illuminating the area with a wisp, Driving the enemy back with wind and then the binding one.
I could use two of the skills I had just then, if it worked the way it said it did in the Menu. So I decided to try it.
There was a rattling sound outside the apartment. Clackety swishing noises like claws on a floor… down under us. The floor below.
I went over and shut the door to the bedroom. “Stay here until I come get you, I’m experimenting with Magic.”
"I wanna try!" she said as I shut the door.
"We'll do that after I figure out how it works," I said as I looked for a spot to write the Sigils. It'd said I could inscribe them on anything, basically, but that my specialty was the cards. So... the effect might not be as good? "Don't do anything in the menu until I come to get you, alright. Play with Valykree."
There was a sullen response, but I didn't think I had to worry about it. Sophia was fairly obedient to authority figures on average. Never really did things 'just' to do the opposite of what she was told. I hoped that held true, just for today.
Vara, I wrote on the Door with my Stylus. And now that I was looking at it, it was… ornate. Brass but like it was poured into a mould? And the tip looked like a glass pen with the swirled end. Plus, there were grooves carved into it, for better grip...
An apartment bedroom door has runes inscribed on it and is glowing a soft red. [https://64.media.tumblr.com/5668d556e667516170e395a5e294ee45/5b81ebbdb20d2042-af/s400x600/36e21bb12d983c7c615215312a4455bbe58a808b.pnj]
The door began to glow red as soon as I finished the word. I guessed that was just the color of ‘my’ magic? I’d have to take stock later. Right now, I had to figure out what I could do, for how long and how effective it would be. So I couldn't worry about the details yet.
Cooperate with me, brain. I know it'll be a first, but be a pal here.
I walked over and got a knife from the knife block. A big unwieldy cleaver, as I wanted to see how long it would last and test its durability. I had no idea how these things worked, how to turn them on and off... or if I even could.
The clacking got louder. They were on this floor.
I inscribed Brenna into the Cleaver, right on the blade, on the bit farthest from the edge.
The Cleaver… started to heat up. I was SURE that would happen, but I was afraid it might burst into unquenchable flames. So I put it in the sink and waited. It kept heating up and heating up until the metal was orange. When I tapped the handle, it was way too hot to touch, but... then it stopped. And cooled. It wasn't super fast, but fast enough I could tell.
Do spells only last for short periods of time when inscribed on weapons and stuff? Is it because it melted the metal?
I tried again with another, smaller knife that was still a bit huge and unwieldy. I didn’t want to use any Knives I’d actually use.
The blade glowed red before I had to drop it. I felt more and more tired and fuzzy-headed as I practiced and I knew my limit was coming soon.
Using that freezing spell on the handle might’ve been useful, but I don’t have any Skill points. Apparently, you start with zero. And I picked my one extra skill already. It was NOT something I was willing to give up, either. Not a single one of them.
Well, at least I knew what kind of skill to get next.
The door burst open.
It happened so fast, I couldn’t even comprehend it in the instant the weird Hyena-thing burst through and slammed directly into the bedroom door which was straight across from the front door. But the bedroom door held, flashing red. The Hyena-thing went limp for a moment. Shaking its head. The barrier was disappearing. Stuttering and guttering like a candle.
What happened next was blurry for me. I just knew it couldn’t get in there to Sophia. I grabbed the knife I actually wanted to use, wrote a quick Brenna on the blade and then rushed over to stab downward into its unprotected neck from the side at an angle as hard as I possibly could. Hoping to just instantly kill it.
A knife with runes written on it, is glowing bright orange. [https://64.media.tumblr.com/793937508fe141a74c7d510c9c1918be/5b81ebbdb20d2042-d2/s540x810/476aa5be603d29e95005fa6df56914e5e7257cbb.pnj]
Of course, I couldn’t be that lucky.
The thing bucked and howled with a gurgle as its throat was occupied by a knife.
But even after it threw me across the room, I heard its screams get louder and saw as it thrashed and ran around, slamming into things, trying to dislodge the knife, but very stupidly pushing it further in instead.
So monsters are just animals, but… big and magical. The thought was lethargic. I lied there and watched it from where I was slumped by the 'window bed' I'd made for Sophia in the living area. I was upside down and my neck hurt something awful. I didn't want to move too fast in case I accidentally paralyzed myself.
It turned in my direction and started thrashing near me but... it leapt and slammed into the wall next to me instead of bodying me. When I looked, it had landed on my arm and I yanked it out from under it, with as much strength as I could get. I didn't want it knowing where a soft part of me was, that it could sink its teeth into... but I couldn't feel it. My arm tingled but it was mostly numb.
I realized in that same moment, that it was finally dead. Lying limp on the floor beside me, its flesh sizzling. Ugh. I could smell it.
Smells like food. That's terrible. Or is it? It's an animal, right?
“BLISSY! BLISSY WHAT WAS THAT!? IS THE MONSTER IN THERE!?”
She’ll keep screaming until she attracts another one.
So I shoved myself up and had to use the furniture and wall to get to the door and turn the knob. It opened easily. The barrier wasn’t a lock and it'd fallen anyway. Sophia just didn’t use knobs when I closed the door and told her to stay inside. She’d learned not to, from mom. No lock actually necessary.
She saw the Hyena thing and started shrieking, but I put my hand over her mouth and asked, “do you want Blissy to get hurt?”
Her crying was so loud. She shook her head under my hand.
“Then you have to stop making noise. Stop crying, stop stomping. Stop screaming.” She was still wailing under my hand. “I said, stop crying,” I hissed. It made me feel terrible, but between hurting her feelings a little and getting her killed…
She hiccuped but went somewhat silent. Just slightly ragged gasping breaths as I removed my hand. It was actually worrying how fast she got her noise making under control.
“Those things track sound and smells,” I told her. I didn’t know for sure, but they probably worked off the same basic principles as earth animals. “You have to choke down noise and move gingerly to get around them. Remember how you had to be quiet at home because dad got annoyed by noise? You have to do that until I tell you we’re in a safe place. And don’t worry about the door and the furniture, those things can be fixed. Okay?”
She sniffled and breathed deeply, soothing herself in the way she used to. I’d just gotten her feeling safe enough to be loud when she played and cried, damn it!
“Do you have your toys?” I asked.
She nodded silently.
“Okay. We’re going to fill up some of our empty containers with water. Fill up the bathtub, the sinks, everything. And then we’re going to leave, get in the car and go somewhere safe. What I need you to do is put all the stoppers in the sinks and bathtub, can you do that?”
She nodded and walked slowly into the bathroom right off the bedroom.
Even if we couldn’t use it, someone else might come by and see the water filling up the basins and be able to. And for right now, we needed to plan for the water to stop at some point.
For now, though… I need to make more spellcards and figure out what my limit is for this…
Ugh, I bent in half, just at the thought of doing more. My stomach churned and something in my skull throbbed. I wasn't sure it was my brain.
So that is my limit? I calculated. I did two spellcards, two etchings on a knife, then on a door, then another knife.
I’d be able to make six spellcards… a day? God I hope it recharges every day.