“It still doesn’t feel right; it’s like the forms from my style are just fancy, sometimes inefficient versions of standard sword fighting moves.” Morgan wiped the sweat from his forehead and stretched, shaking out his wrists in frustration; Issa had parried all of his attacks and, using her Haste ability, given him a few good thwacks with her wooden practice sword.

“I agree; they don’t seem exactly spectacular. Do they consume a lot of Energy?” Issa stretched while she spoke, pulling one leg up behind her and rotating her hip. Morgan was dumbstruck on two fronts - one, she looked incredibly sexy in her tight-fitting practice outfit, and two, what the fuck did she mean about his styles consuming Energy?

“Uh, what do you mean?”

“When you perform the forms from your style, are you infusing Energy into the movements?” She stopped stretching and looked at him quizzically.

“No. Goddamn it, I always feel like I’m playing catch up. Is that how all martial styles work?”

“I don’t know about all of them. Think about it, though, if you have a combat style with forms designed to utilize a person’s full potential, and it was developed by master swordsmen who used Energy…” she trailed off, seeing that Morgan was connecting the dots.

“Of course, they would use Energy. Dammit. So, when I learned the style, any idea why I didn’t learn that simple fact?”

“I don’t know! I don’t have a special style. Maybe it was expected that you’d have a master to guide you?”

“Right, well, do you have any idea how one should go about infusing Energy into a form?” Morgan hefted the large wooden practice sword he’d gotten from one of the artisans in the craft hall. He’d made it to look like Morgan’s sword and even put a minor enchantment on it to make it harder than regular wood. After a couple of hours of practice, the wood was still almost unmarred.

“You remember when Swent attacked you, and you thought he was coming on one side, but he struck you on another? That wasn’t a spell or anything - that was him using a special style. Before I knew what an idiot he was, I used to practice with him. He talked about channeling Energy into the movement. I remember him saying how hard it was at first but that it became second nature. I bet, with your high affinity, it will come easily.”

“Huh, alright, let me see here,” Morgan said, thinking about his forms. He turned away from Issa, down the length of his dueling hall, and concentrated on his The Crane Flutters its Wings form. He very slowly, very intentionally brought his blade into the first movement while trying to channel Energy into his arms and then into his sword. When he felt the Energy flow along his pathways and out of his hands, he launched into the form, swinging the sword, stepping forward, and trying to push Energy into it the whole time. He felt something happening, but he could tell it wasn’t quite right. Still, his sword moved more quickly through the air, even the wooden blade making a snapping hissing sound as it moved through the motions. Issa clapped from behind him.

“That looked different! I think you’re on the right path!” she called.

Morgan checked his Energy stat: 1310/1320. He had used some Energy, but not much. “It felt different, but it felt off, somehow. Like my arms were moving ahead of my body, out of sync.”

“When you learned the form, did you learn just to move your arms, or did you learn to use your whole body? Don’t just send Energy into your arms!” That was a good point, Morgan conceded silently. He readied himself again. This time he sent a surge of Energy not only to his arms and into the sword but also through the pathways in his lower extremities. Energy thrumming in his body, he performed the Crane Flutters its Wings. He moved forward in a blur, the strikes of his sword snapping down in a diagonal slash and up and around to reset before slashing the other way. The wooden sword shrieked through the air, and Morgan swore he could see a wave of Energy rippling off it as it arced through the four powerful slashes.

He found himself ten feet from where he began the attack, and when Morgan looked back over his shoulder, he saw Issa standing quietly with wide eyes. “Don’t practice that one on me!” she said when they made eye contact. Morgan smiled and rechecked his Energy stat: 1213/1320. So, accounting for some passive regeneration, the attack used around a hundred Energy.

“That would have sure made my last couple of fights easier!”

“It’s my pleasure to instruct you, novice.” Issa laughed and hurried toward him. Morgan laughed too, leaning over to kiss her when she got close enough.

“You’re a great teacher. Now, let me see if I can try this with my other forms.” Issa nodded and moved to the side, sitting on one of the wooden benches to watch.

Morgan started with The Crane Forages. This time, when he held the sword low, his center of gravity low, and his feet carefully walking forward, he infused all of his movements with Energy, and the form clicked for him. He practically glided over the ground, his steps as light as feathers and his movement smooth, like water rippling over a polished stone. He felt the potential Energy in his blade, ready to snap up and parry or snap forward in a lightning thrust. This form was meant for hunting a quarry, and now that he had felt it with Energy, Morgan understood it much more thoroughly. He found that while he performed that form, moving around, and poised to strike, he consumed around five Energy per second. As he gained in power, he knew that drain would be trivial, but for now, he would have to be careful not to overuse it.

The Crane Advances and The Crane Defends the Nest were both guard positions. The former, a high guard with an advancing movement component, the latter, a close guard that allowed for movement in any direction. Morgan was stunned to find that when he channeled Energy into these forms, he not only moved more smoothly, but an actual shield of Energy extended around his sword blade. When he had Issa try to strike him, he found it trivial to block her attacks because the surface area of his parries was much greater. Even if he missed her strike with his blade, the extended Energy shield knocked her sword aside. The Crane Advances was the cheaper of the two, probably because it wasn’t meant as an active defense, but more of a preparatory one - it consumed ten Energy a second, roughly. The Crane Defends the Nest, though immensely effective at blocking even a flurry of Issa’s Hasted attacks, was costly - in just five seconds of defending, he burned through over a hundred Energy.

Finally, Morgan practiced infusing Energy into The Crane Takes a Minnow. When he’d practiced the form without Energy, he’d taken it to be a rather tricky downward angled thrust meant to catch an opponent by surprise, striking at their lower extremities. When he infused his movements with Energy and performed the stutter step and lunge, his sword moved so quickly that he swore he heard it split the air. What’s more, even though his thrust ended with his blade angled to the side and the point a good foot from the ground, the floor of his dueling hall split as though the blade continued past the point of his sword. He looked at his status sheet and saw that he’d burned around fifty Energy with the attack. “Well, I sure feel better about my Fighting Crane Style now. Thank god I asked you to practice with me today.”

“The forms look much, much better, Morgan! Still, we should practice more until it’s second nature for you to use them. You want it to be like a reflex, not a conscious thought.” She whipped her wooden rapier around and continued, “At least that’s what my instructor told me when I was learning the rapier.”

They practiced for another hour or so, and then Issa said she needed a break; it was late in the evening, and they’d had a very long day. Morgan showed Issa where he’d been sleeping, and she insisted that he push a couch close to the one he liked so that they could sleep next to each other. “I wish I had cleared the fifth floor - Tiladia says there are some nice bedrooms on that level.”

“Well, we don’t really need a bedroom, do we? We’ve spent nights sleeping on stone floors and other nights under the stars. Some comfortable couches are nothing to complain about.” Issa sat on the edge of her couch and yawned.

“I wanted to head into the colony for some quick shopping; I want to see if there’s anything in there that can help with my dexterity deficit.”

“I’m sure your Contribution Store has attribute boosting items, but I bet they’re costly. Once your council gets things set up with the Urghat bounty, there might be a way for you to earn a bunch of points.” She yawned again and laid back. Morgan pulled a blanket up over her and kissed her softly. “Mmm, that’s sure to give me sweet dreams.”

“I’ll be back soon; in the meantime, Tiladia will let you know if there’s anything worth waking up for. Sleep well, love.” Morgan kissed her one more time on her warm, soft eyebrow resulting in more quiet, sleepy murmurs; then he walked out to the central hall.

“Are you heading out, Morgan?” Tiladia’s tinkling voice asked. Morgan saw her floating near the stairs and walked over.

“Yeah. Hey, Tiladia, I need to improve my dexterity, and I’m going to explore some options in town. I wish Vormendion hadn’t disabled his teleportation portals. Imagine what I could find in his other homes or the great libraries he had linked.” Tiladia had explained the portals to Morgan after his victory against the fourth guardian. They were still functional, but he needed their anchor stones which were in the reliquary on the eighth floor. Once he had the anchor stones, he could place them wherever he wanted and create a link to the portal in his tower. Vormendion broke all the links to his old portal destinations by returning the anchor stones to the tower.

“True, Lord Vormendion had one portal anchored in the city of Hazard’s End. It’s said that anything and everything could be found for sale there.”

“Well, that’s a story for another day. I want to head out before everyone’s asleep. Talk to you soon, Tiladia.” With that, Morgan turned and walked to the door.

“Wait! One moment, Morgan,” Tiladia called after him.

“Yes?” He stopped to turn to her.

“I was watching you practice with Issa for a while. I’ve reevaluated your combat prowess based on your apprehension of the process by which you imbue Energy into your sword forms. I think it’s highly likely that you would be able to best the fifth guardian.”

“Hmm. Well, that’s good news. Still, I want to see if I can improve a bit more before taking it on. Thanks, Tiladia.” Morgan walked out of the tower and strode over the grass to the road, following it to the Colony Stone hill. He felt good knowing that Tiladia thought he could defeat the fifth guardian now. She tended toward caution, so he must seem significantly stronger now that he could use those forms properly. He wanted to spend some time practicing them, though, until they felt more fluid and natural in the heat of combat.

Soon, he was climbing the steps leading to the stone, surprised by how many people were still out and about. He didn’t know what time it was, but it had to be several hours past sundown. He stepped to the stone and was surprised to have a prompt pop up before he could access the usual menus:

***Morgan Hall, do you wish to enter your name for possible election to the First Landing Ruling Council? Y/N***

Morgan wanted to select the “no” option, but in the last meeting, everyone present had agreed to run, just to try to ensure some continuity in policy. He selected the affirmative option and was rewarded with a message that he was one of forty-three candidates so far and that the election would be live in just about two and a half days. Then he spent nearly half an hour searching through various Contribution Store options and ended up somewhat unsatisfied. He found a rare, Energy-rich fruit that was described as “potentially increasing dexterity by up to five points,” but it cost 105,000 contribution points. To make a dent in his deficit, he’d need to be very rich, or he’d have to find another solution.

He found a temporary stop-gap, though - a potion that gave a short-term boost to dexterity that he could drink before battles. It only cost fifty points per potion, and it gave a ten-point boost to the attribute for up to five minutes. Morgan bought five of the potions, and then he walked down the hill to the artisan workshop where he’d gotten his practice sword earlier in the day. The structure was next to the smithy and at least twice its size. It was built in a manner to accommodate as many craftspeople as possible. Large, rolling barn-style doors opened on each of the four walls, and within there were several dozen workbenches. Other crafting paraphernalia was placed around the workshop, from stacks of wood to tool racks, to barrels filled with tanned hides and forged metal.

There were still ten or more people working on projects at this hour, and Morgan scanned their faces, hoping to see a familiar one. It seemed to be his lucky night because he spotted Boris Saltzki leaning over, looking through a monocle at a piece of shiny metal that he appeared to be engraving. He walked over to the workbench and cleared his throat, “Hey, Boris. How’s it going?”

“Huh? Oh, hey Morgan!” Boris sat up and set his monocle down next to a set of intricate engraving tools.

“Good to see you! I’ve heard you’re really taking to this Artificing business.”

“Yeah, I am! I’m already level thirteen. The System rewards Energy for innovation, and I’ve figured a lot of shit out. I was the first Artificer in the colony to get a class - Enchanter.”

“Oh? I thought Artificer was a class?”

“I think it can be, but it’s also a general term that refers to lots of different Energy-based crafts.” Boris shrugged.

“Well, I wish I could say I just stopped by to say hi, but I have an ulterior motive.” Morgan smiled, leaning one elbow on Boris’s workbench.

“Ah, yeah, I’m not surprised. Lots of stuff going on, eh? Well, let me have it. What do you need from me?” Boris smiled back at him, and Morgan noticed how his friend had changed for the first time. He had a thin beard covering most of his face, which was new, but Morgan could see that he looked healthier. His skin had a healthy glow, and his eyes were bright. He looked better than when they’d been back on Earth, that was certain. Back then, Boris had been undernourished, haggard, and ready to get the hell off the planet.

“You know, Boris, you’re looking good. I think this world agrees with you.”

“Oh, jeez, you don’t have to butter me up. Just spit it out!” He laughed, shrugging off the compliment.

“Alright, alright. Well, I have a problem. I have really high strength and agility, but my dexterity is low. I’m starting to struggle to control my movements in combat when I go all out. Is there any way to enchant items to boost an attribute?” Boris’s eyes lit up even more as Morgan spoke, and Morgan could see that he’d come to the right guy, even before he responded.

“Hell yes, there’s a way! I learned a rune enchantment for each of the attributes. Well, technically, the System gave me three of them when I got my class, but I figured out the others. That got me two levels, by the way! I can put a dexterity enchantment on any suitably strong material that will grant anywhere from one to five dexterity to the person wearing the item.”

“What’s a suitably strong material? Can I wear more than one? Do they stack?” Morgan couldn’t hide his excitement.

“Some materials can’t hold an enchantment, so they won’t work. Most metals can hold at least a weak enchantment. You can wear more than one, and they’ll stack, but there is a caveat - enchantments like this need a clear path to your Core, and if you have more than one using the same path, they will conflict. You could safely have one on each limb and your head or neck - as long as you have pathways to your Core in those areas. Do you have extensive pathways?”

“How big of an item does it have to be? Could jewelry work? Like rings and a necklace?”

“The smaller the item, the better the material needs to be.” Boris shrugged as he spoke, his fingers drumming on the workbench. “Don’t you have some armor I could enchant?”

“Oh, hey, I do. It already has some minor enchantments, though, for self-repair and resizing.”

“Let me see it - I have a skill that lets me analyze potential in materials.” Morgan nodded and pulled his vambraces, greaves, and breastplate out, setting them on the workbench. Boris picked up his monocle and slowly scanned over each item. “This is essentially a bronze alloy - not the best material in the world, and I’d recommend you try to upgrade soon, but I think I can work with it. The pieces are quite large, so the different enchantments have room. The self-repair enchantment takes up a lot of the material’s potential because it has to connect to every part of it, but I can pick a corner to bend the lines around to fit the dex rune in.”

“So with these five items, I could get up to twenty-five more dexterity?”

“Yeah, but I’m never that lucky in my enchantments. I’d bank on getting something more like ten or fifteen. Worst case, though, you’ll only get a five-point boost.”

“Well, can I get you to do it? I can pay….” Boris cut Morgan off, shaking his head.

“Nah, brother, we’re all working together right now. Let’s just say you owe me one. Plus, I’ll get some practice in! Leave these with me, and I’ll have it ready for you sometime tomorrow.”

“Alright, definitely; I owe ya. If I come across any cool enchanting items or information, I’ll bring it your way. Thanks, Boris!” Morgan clapped him on the shoulder, and Boris smiled, giving him a mock punch in the arm. Morgan walked out of the workshop and contemplated going by the tavern for a drink but then decided he should get some sleep. He turned back toward the north and the dark silhouette of his tower. He’d have to check in on Ykleedra and make sure she wasn’t hungry, and then he was going to crawl into his blankets and sleep for a solid ten hours.