Chapter 28. Threads of Magic

“That’s debatable,” Dread said.

I started to prepare my next vambrace, but something had been bothering me. “Dread, back in River Junction, the Tannery had all of these old sewing machines and tools that ran on magic to help them out. None of them worked, anymore, except for the ones that could be hand-cranked. But why don’t you have any equipment around here? Mana regenerates in Feygrove. Why not take advantage?”

She paused and looked at me over her magnifying glasses. “You don’t get Expertise points when you use machines,” she said.

That took me aback, but I guess it made sense. If a machine did the work, then a machine got the credit. Every point gained was 1% increased speed and a 2% chance to discover a pattern. Maybe this was why Dread’s hands worked faster than humanly possible. Maybe this was why I didn’t see any advanced equipment on the racks of that Tannery.

I got into my work after that, improving with every vambrace that I made. I began by using up the four Low-Quality Light Leather pieces that I had, making three more vambraces. I’d give one set each to Henry, Cassandra, and Rowan. I would send the one Medium-quality set I had made to Sofia via in-game mail. She could sell them on the auction house. I could have used it myself, but it made more sense to sell it. I needed the money. Even though I used high-quality leather for one vambrace, it still ended up being a Medium-quality piece. And some of my Medium-quality Leather ended up in a Low-quality Vambrace. As it turned out, every level of the process had opportunities for me to make mistakes, and I wasn’t guaranteed a high-quality craft just because I had used high-quality materials.

As I practiced, I gained Expertise, but I gained actual understanding as well. There was a feel to the process. The angle that I cleaned the edges with a beveler mattered. The way that I cut along the outline of the pieces mattered. The amount of time that I left the leather in the boiling water mattered. But I liked the work. Unlike working in the sewing factory, it felt like I was working for myself. And the thought of which recipe I might discover next drove me. If I had more leather, I would have worked all night.

You created Low-Quality Vambrace x 6.

‎You created Medium-Quality Vambraces x 2.

‎Your Expertise in Leatherworking increased from 32 to 44.

Unfortunately, I didn’t discover any more recipes.

At 5 p.m., Janica entered the shop the way that Janica does. With volume. “Where you at, Warren?” she hollered, the door opening so hard that it slammed against the wall.

Dread and I looked at each other. “I don’t know her,” I said.

“Young lady,” Dread scolded, approaching Janica in a huff.

I sensed a lecture coming on, but then Dread began inspecting Janica’s armor, gripping the sides of her pauldrons.

“Hey,” Janica said, retreating. “Nobody said you could touch that.”

“This is nice work,” Dread said. “Very nice work. Lizardskin, right? Who made this?”

#x200e Janica’s disposition changed in a flash. She closed her eyes. Her nose went slightly upward. “Lapis Gunstable Wingfeather made it for me, himself. He’s my first cousin.”

Gunstable. What was with these middle names?

“Oh, I know Lapis,” Dread frowned, then walked back to her bench, no longer interested. “He’s a fool.”

“How dare you,” Janica replied. “I—”

I cut her off. “Janica. Can we not get in a fight with this nice lady who’s very kindly helping me equip our party?”

She sighed. “Fine. And yes, I suppose you’re right. He is a bit of a fool.”

“And pompous,” Dread added.

Janica scoffed.

“Okay, okay,” I said. “Janica, what’s going on? How’s everyone doing?”

#x200e “Fine,” she said, still glaring at Dread. “Henry got his Potionmancer Job unlocked and the girls are done with their training. We’re going to Ilrune’s house for dinner.”

Dread looked up, then shook her head and continued pounding holes in a leather vest.

“Okay cool,” I said. I turned to Dread. “Thanks, Dread. Do you mind if I stop by tomorrow?”

This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.

“I’ll think about it,” she said. “And let you know later.”

“Later?”

She looked at me. “At dinner.”

“Are you joining us at dinner?”

“Well I would hope so,” she said. “Since you’re coming to my house for dinner. I can’t seem to shake you.”

“Are you… married to Ilrune?”

“Spirits no,” she said. “He’s my brother.”

***

“Janica,” Henry said, “Did you get any clues today as to why Feygrove is different from other places?”

Eight of us sat around a long table. The five of our party, Ilrune, Dread, and Ilrune’s husband, Aimon. We had finished a big meal which Aimon had cooked up. I had a new buff.

You are Well Fed.

Stamina, Health, and Mana regeneration increased by 10%.

“No,” she said. “Seems like a pretty normal place to me. People just sort of go about their lives.”

Henry turned to Aimon. “Aimon, do you have any idea why mana regenerates in Feygrove?”

He shook his head.

We were stuck.

“Where are you headed next?” Aimon asked.

“Lakemore,” Henry said.

Aimon looked at Ilrune, concern on his face, then back to Henry. “Why would you go to Lakemore? There’s nothing good there except old wounds. Trust me.”

Your Perceptive Attribute has been triggered.

I felt a rush of focus. Something was off in the way that Aimon had said trust me.

Janica jumped in, sharing too much as usual. “Because we need to get into Spectre Academy. We think there might be books down in there that will help us figure out why mana stopped working.”

Aimon’s eyebrows furrowed. “You can’t get in there. There’s no air. That’s why all those people died.”

“We’re going to plant a dungeon core,” Janica said. Her voice was so casual. Why was it that she told anybody anything? Didn’t she realize how much trouble that could get us into?

“Excuse me?” Dread said. She looked at Aimon, who was shocked. She looked at Ilrune, who was not shocked. “Il, you knew about this?”

“The kids told me about it when I met them,” he said.

I needed to bring the conversation back to Aimon before the moment passed. “Aimon, do you have a history with Lakeshore?”

He looked at Ilrune. His body oozed nervousness. He looked down at the table before he spoke. “I’m from there,” he said. “My whole family worked at the academy.” He turned to Ilrune. “I can’t believe you told them to go there. You and I are gonna talk later.”

I could tell Aimon was in a delicate state, but I needed to push a little bit more. There was something here. I didn’t like sharing things about myself, but it felt like we needed a breakthrough. I looked at Aimon. “I’m sorry, Aimon. I lost my parents when I was little.” I felt everyone’s eyes on me. Aimon looked up, staring at me intently. I pushed back tears, setting my jaw. “I still don’t really know what happened. And I have anger about it. A lot of anger. I’d do anything to know.”

Aimon nodded with me as I spoke, his own face a stoic shell.

“I don’t want to push this, but maybe I can help,” I said. “I heard there are ghosts there of the deceased. Maybe I could communicate with them and learn more for you.”

Ilrune cut in, nervous about what was happening. “One can’t just talk to spirits,” he said.

But Aimon’s eyes glinted at my words. Maybe he felt like I felt. Desperate.

Dread seemed upset. “You can commune with spirits? Is that some kind of a joke?”

The NPCs couldn’t see my nameplate and didn’t know that I was a Mystic.

Since entering Integration Online , I had yet to use any mana. I didn’t, truly, know how this would go. But these people looked at me angrily, as if I would lie about such a thing. I needed to do a little demonstration. I pulled open my Spell Book to the page that said ‘Rejuvenate 1’. Diagrams of human anatomy and notes filled the page, along with symbols of nature. Trees, and what looked like the graphic of a nebula made of flowing water.

Each person present responded in different ways to what I was doing. They scooted their chairs back or braced themselves, unaware of my intent.

I put my hand on the page and thought activate as Janica had taught me, but kept my focus on myself. I didn’t want to target someone without their permission.

Threads of magic, colored like clear blue water and highlighted in gold threads, left my hands and surrounded my person. A rush of coolness flooded me like I had just chugged a cold glass of liquid. The feeling trickled through me. When I looked at the others, it was clear that I had surprised them.