Name

Kandis Hammond

Profession: Phantasmal Artificer

Level

4

[Unspent Ability Points]

88

Age

24

[Unspent Skill Points]

1

Abilities

[Unspent Development Points]

9

[Strength]

3

[Unspent Spell Levels]

0

[Agility]

3

[Unspent Rune Levels

3

[Finesse]

3

[HP]

180/180

[Soul]

3

[Stamina]

360/360

[Intelligence]

4

[Mana]

480/480

[Charisma]

9

Skills

[Body Dev.]

2

[WM: Dagger]

3 (4)

[Stamina Dev.]

4

[Deceive]

2 (4)

[Perception]

2

[Charm]

3 (4)

[Identify]

4

[Conversation]

3 (4)

[Scribe]

2

[Dodge]

3

[Calculate]

4

[Jump]

1

[Mana Sense]

2

[Climb]

2

[Mana Dev.]

3 (4)

[Run]

3

[Illusion Magic]

3 (6)

[Stealth]

3

[Creativity]

2

[Memorise]

2

[Disguise]

2

[Bargain]

2

[Intrigue]

2

[Advanced Mathematics]

2

[Persuasion]

3

[Sing]

2

[Teach]

2

[Intimidate]

1

Enchanting

1

[Research]

2

Unlocked Skills

[WM: Axe] [Thrown] [Hunt] [Gather]

Traits

[World Walker]

Level prerequisites for Professions are overridden. +1 bonus to all stats

[Gift of Tongues]

All languages are understood.

[Female]

+1 bonus to Charisma

[Silent Casting]

Allows you to cast spells without a chant

[Subtle Casting]

Allows you to cast spells without gestures

[Disease Resistance]

You are more resistant to disease of all types.(Upgradeable)

Spells

Mana

[Static Image]

Creates an unmoving image of a single object not more than 1 cubic metre in volume. (upkeep 1/hour)

5

[Light]

Creates a light that can be moved, brightened, or dimmed. (upkeep 1/hour)

5

[Unseen Sound]

Creates a sound from a source you designate. (upkeep 1/hour)

5

[Simple Invisibility]

People and Creatures are unable to see you. (upkeep 3/hour)

15

[Disguise]

Modify your appearance and clothing as required (upkeep 3/hour)

15

[Conceal Mana]

Hides a casters mana from others (upkeep 2/hour)

10

[Greater Invisibility]

Invisible to all senses, can be cast on others (upkeep 6/hour)

30

[Improved Blind]

Blocks sight, sound and smell from reaching one target (upkeep 4/hour)

20

Runes

[Cool], [Heat], [Effect: Touch], [Constant Effect], [Accept Energy], [Sense (Temperature)], [Trigger]

On the bench in front of me was a small flat disk of ordinary steel, a mana scribe, and three types of powdered gemstone. That should be all I require to craft my first Enchantment. I took up the scribe and started filling it with diamond powder. The scribe was something like a fountain pen, except with diamond dust instead of ink. The other difference was that the tip was made of a mana crystal with a hole drilled through it for the dust to flow.

Under the influence of my [Enchanting] skill, the dust was currently held in place, as I hadn’t started crafting yet. As I brought the tool down to the plate, I felt that change, as my will forced the dust, infused by my mana, into the silversteel. I etched the [Constant Effect] rune, and I felt something intangible stir at the edges of my skill. There was nothing I could identify though, so I finished the rune, and started cleaning out the tool.

Which took longer than etching the rune! I had to empty the chamber, and then charge the tool in the air to clean out every last particle of diamond. I made a mental note that multiple scribes would be a good investment.

When I started carving my second rune - [Target (Touch)], in tourmaline - I felt the intangible stirrings take a more perceptible form. I had the option, which I took, to link this rune to the previous one. I could also define the target of the rune more precisely than just ‘touch’. I wanted the rune to affect anyone who held or wore the amulet, so that was how I defined it as.

Finally, after another long cleaning process, I started on my third rune. Again, I felt the opportunity to more clearly define the spell. I wanted the user to be cooled to a comfortable temperature, perhaps around 25 degrees Celsius. My skill seemed to understand that, or at least it set a temperature. It felt like I had the option of setting any temperature above freezing. I’m not sure of the utility of cooling an object to 400 degrees, but it seemed possible with this rune. Finally, I also linked it to the other runes. I linked it to the second rune first, and then completed the circle to the first rune. As soon as I did, I felt a surge of mana go into the amulet.

You have crafted an Amulet of Cooling, Quality: Mediocre. You earned 15 XP

It worked! And I got XP! Picking up the amulet, I did feel a cooling sensation. Since it wasn’t magical steel, it would decay in about a week. Probably wouldn’t get a chance to use it before it did. But a Mediocre enchantment would decay anyway, so it wasn’t worth wasting magical metal until I got my skill up.

I took another look at my stocks of gem dust and figured that I had enough for 3 more attempts. Since my first priority was raising my skill, I should work on that before anything else. But I didn’t really need three decaying amulets… thinking about it, I decided to take a break and do a bit of shopping.

Once again, I sat down to enchant. This time I set the temperature to three degrees, and the [Target (touch)] to the contents of the container the amulet was attached to.

You have crafted a Cooling Element, Quality: Mediocre. You earned 15 XP

[Enchanting] Level 2 acquired through use

For gaining a skill level you have been awarded 1 XP

Interesting that the name changed. I hadn’t thought about the name, but it matched my intent. When I picked up the plate, it didn’t feel cool to the touch, indicating that my desired target was working. I then glued the plate to the bottom of my freshly purchased water jug, filled it, and awaited results.

It worked! It took a little while to cool, but now I had cold fresh water for about a week until the plate decayed. For my next trick, I used a small barrel. Designed to hold liquids, I thought it the most likely to resist warping from the cold. In the future, I might look at getting a fridge carved out of stone, but this was temporary prototype anyway.

You have crafted a Cooling Element, Quality: Average. You earned 45 XP

Improvements already! It would be interesting to see how much longer this one lasted than the others, but hopefully it would be an academic question. I was already good enough to avoid Mediocre enchantments, by the time these ones gave out, I should be crafting Good, or even Great ones.

What next? Now that was thinking about kitchen equipment, I wanted to make myself a hotplate. It occurred to me that I hadn’t actually cooked myself a meal since I arrived in this world. There was probably a skill to be had. Problem was, the [Heat] rune required ruby dust and I didn’t have any of that. I had rubies though, so that wasn’t an insurmountable obstacle.

If I was going to buy rubies though, I’d want to buy other gems… but which ones? My so-called-help system didn’t tell me the gems required until I had acquired the actual rune. My [Enchanting] skill had gone up, so I should think about buying other runes. Before that though, I should look in the shops and see what other runes I can copy. Shopping then, for runes and books.

Anchorbury didn’t have a resident Enchanter, at least not one that anyone knew about. It was a bit of a sore point from the people I asked, apparently Anchorbury was big enough a city to rate having an Enchanter, but was being shunned unfairly. Even so, they did have a few enchanted items for sale, some of which they let me examine.

[Identification]: - Rune [Sharpness] - Quality: Good

[Identification]: - Rune [Target (Self)] - Quality: Good

[Identification]: - Rune [Trigger] - Quality: Good

[Identification]: - Rune [Generate (Fire)] - Quality: Good

[Identification]: - Rune [Target (Cone Projection)] - Quality: Good

[Identification]: - Rune [Undead Bane] - Quality: Great

[Undead Bane] was quite popular, given the nature of the local dungeon. I asked the shopkeeper about it, and he said that it doubled the damage to that type of creature. So biased against daggers again. Still… if I was going to stay here a while, it would be a nice spell to enchant my dagger with. I could sell it when I left, as I wouldn’t get as good a price anywhere else.

I felt a pang at the thought of selling that dagger, though. It had been custom created for me by Rhis. Well, I didn’t have to sell it, or enchant it with [Undead Bane], for that matter.

On to books. No Enchanters in the city meant no books geared towards Enchanting, it seemed. And books that could be used to learn magic were rare as hens teeth it seemed. There were some spell books, but until I learned a magic skill, they were useless to me. A few vendors promised to keep an eye for anything, and one offered to send to the capital for something. The cost was eye-watering, but I could afford it. I gave him the 10 gold as a deposit.

I did find some useful books on more mundane topics. Geography, History, Heraldry. I checked, and confirmed that if I read it and didn’t need it anymore, I could sell it back for a reasonable fraction of the cost. [Memorise] couldn’t be a very common skill here. One book that I made sure to buy was Thoughts of the God-Chosen. It was a collection of writings of previous worldwalkers, and was sure to have some good advice.

I ended up taking 3 books home with me. I could have bought more, but I wasn’t sure how long it would take me to read them. I was pondering whether I should get some ruby powder now, or wait until I knew what other gems I needed, when I heard a familiar voice cry out.

“You! Woman!”

I turned to see Aubert Duvost running towards me. Ugh. He hasn’t even learned my name. How am I going to deal with this. The first thing that came to mind was that whatever I pulled, I didn’t want witnesses, so I ducked into a nearby alley. Normally I wouldn’t consider this a good idea, but he wouldn’t be deterred by any commoner witnesses, while there were a lot of things that I didn’t want people talking about.

It would have been great if I could have used the alley to lose him, but he was right behind me as I entered. As soon as I’d broken line of sight with the main street, I turned and confronted him.

“What?” I said with irritation. He seemed somewhat put off, but he didn’t let it stop him.

“You lied to me! You weren’t going to meet my Father!” he accused.

I laughed. “Did you just work that out?” I asked. “Or did it take you this long to work up the courage to ask him about it?”

“I, it wasn’t…” he spluttered. “It took a while to find you!”

“Sure it did.” I said sarcastically. “And the first thing you did is rush into a blind alley after me.” As an accusation, it didn’t make much sense, but it kept him confused.

“What does that have to do with…” he trailed off. “If you think I have improper intentions-“

“Not you,” I interrupted, and pointed behind him. “Them.”

There was nothing there, but he was dumb enough to look. When he turned back there was nothing in front of him either, as I’d cast [Greater Invisibility] and taken few steps backwards.

“What! Where did you go?” he yelled, as if I was going to answer him. After a quick glance at where I might be hiding, he surprised me by jumping straight up two stories to the roof of the nearby building.

Oh yeah, people can do that. I guess it made more sense to check for stealthy jumping than invisibility. Too bad for him though. Maintaining my invisibility, I headed back home. Looks like I’m going to have to do something about him though.

You have learned the rune: [Sharpness]

You have learned the rune: [Target Self]

You have learned the rune: [Trigger]

You have learned the rune: [Generate (Fire)]

[Memorise] Level 3 acquired through use

For gaining a skill level you have been awarded 1 XP

You have learned the rune: [Target (Cone Projection)]

You have learned the rune: [Undead Bane]

Not a bad evenings work, even including a break for dinner. I’d continued my eavesdropping habit in the tavern, and yes, they were talking about his lordship running around town looking for a beautiful woman. It didn’t sound as if he was well liked though, so hopefully the townsfolk wouldn’t be helping him.

I started thinking about tomorrow. Should I work on my skill, or on my level? It was tempting to hole up and work on temporary home enchantments, but improving my level would improve my Enchanting total, and help with… everything else as well. Which meant…. ugh. Zombies.

Turns out, third floor was skeletons. I’d headed over to the dungeon early enough that they let me take the 3rd level slot on the same day. This time, I headed straight for the third level, killing only the zombies and ghouls that got in my way. Skeletons were still pretty easy, and much less gross than zombies. I killed a few, then waited for the next party to come through. Sure enough, they beat a path straight to the exit, letting me know where it was.

They also inadvertently showed me the traps that needed to be avoided or disarmed. At this level traps were more of an annoyance, but I didn’t have a good way to deal with them. I need a party…

I let them go on their way and stayed back to kill skeletons.

You have inflicted 54 damage!

You have inflicted 55 damage!

You have inflicted 54 damage!

You have inflicted 51 damage!

For killing a Skeleton, you have earned 30 XP

Damn things took too many hits. They did each contain a small mana crystal though. Most dungeon monsters did apparently, but at least with the skeletons it was just rattling around in the skull. I wasn’t going to go digging in the brains of a ghoul.

You have inflicted 57 damage!

You have inflicted 55 damage!

You have inflicted 54 damage!

You have inflicted 53 damage!

For killing a Skeleton, you have earned 30 XP

You have gained a Level!

You have been awarded 125 Ability Points

You have been awarded 5 Development Points

You have been awarded 2 Skill Points.

Finally. I headed back. I was disappointed to learn that the dungeon shop would only give me 6 silver for my skeleton mana crystals. And they wouldn’t let me keep them. I would have argued about it, but I didn’t really need such small crystals. If I went down again, I’d make sure to conceal a few to keep.

After all that, I made more of a profit than I had from the first two levels. After the entry cost, I was up 88 silver, which was a decent amount. It wasn’t anything compared to Level 3 of Oakway though, and I resolved to congratulate Rhis on making a much better dungeon than whoever was responsible for this one.

* * *

Once I was home, it was time to spend Ability Points! After all those… days saving them I was looking forward to improvements. I brought up the Ability screen again.

Ability

Actual

Base

Cost

[Strength]

3

2

31

[Agility]

3

2

31

[Finesse]

3

2

31

[Soul]

3

2

31

[Intelligence]

4

3

49

[Charisma]

9

7

121

I had 213 points now, so I definitely had enough for another point of [Charisma]. I’m not sure why I wanted 10 [Charisma], but could I… Yes. I would still have enough points. I put one point in [Charisma], one in [Intelligence] and one in [Finesse] - it would help with both [Enchanting] and dagger work.

Now my screen looked like this.

Ability

Actual

Base

Cost

[Strength]

3

2

37

[Agility]

3

2

37

[Finesse]

4

3

58

[Soul]

3

2

37

[Intelligence]

5

4

79

[Charisma]

10

8

163

I didn’t get a special notification for [Charisma] 10, nor did it cut me off. I could buy more! I probably… wouldn’t though. Level 5 was a long way away.

It was also time to stop holding off on [Development Points]. There were just so many options to choose from, but I think that I’d narrowed it down to a few.

[Socialite] : +1 Bonus to all social skills (6 points)

[Wizard Born] : +1 Bonus to all magical skills (8 points)

[Extra Spells] : 15 more spell levels per Casting Skill Level (8 points)

[Precision Damage] : 50% extra damage if conditions are met (5 points)

[Combat Reflexes] : Increases speed of combat actions (8 points)

Once again, the help system was being super helpful. Social skills weren’t listed, but I could guess, and I had most of them. [Wizard Born] would only help with two, maybe three of my skills for now. But I definitely wanted to get more magical skills.

[Extra Spells] was also something I needed, as I still hadn’t gotten [Illusion Magic] 4. I’d done pretty well with the spells I had, but the only actual illusion spells I had were pretty basic. [Precision Damage] continued to tempt me - it wasn’t clear what ‘conditions’ needed to be met, but I was pretty sure that backstabbing someone while invisible would count. But, I kept reminding myself, I wasn’t an assassin.

[Combat Reflexes] was another one with a vague description, but faster in combat was always better, right?

After a certain amount of agonising, I decided to go with [Socialite] and [Extra Spells]. Focus on my strengths, I thought.

Of course, that meant I had to pick some more spells… OK, if I eliminate the ones I have, and the rest of the Invisibility ones, what have I got.

[Sourceless Scent]: Creates a scent from a source you designate.(5 points)

[Phantom Touch]: Causes target to feel a physical sensation as you designate. (5 points)

[Intangible Taste]: Causes target to taste the designated sensation. (5 points)

[Moving Image]: Creates an image of an object that can move and make sound (10 points)

[Display Image]: Defines an area no more than 4m cubed in which images can be displayed. (10 points)

[Phantom Pain]: Causes target to feel intense pain, causing 15 points Stamina loss (10 points)

[Displaced Self]: Moves image of the caster up to 3 metres in any direction. (10 points)

[Heavenly Indulgence]: Creates an illusory meal that can be eaten and tasted. (15 points)

[False Spellcasting]: Reproduces the effects of a spell that the caster is familiar with, as an illusion with sight and sound. (15 points)

[False Life]: Creates an image of a living thing that can move and act as directed. (15 points)

[Silence]: Can be cast on a target or area. Prevents sound from being made by the target or in the area. (15 points)

[Conceal Object]: Causes an object to look like another object of no more than twice the size. (15 points)

[Dispel Image]: Destroys an existing illusion if caster’s effect level is higher than the target’s. (20 points)

[Improved False Spellcasting]: As [False Spellcasting], but can include smell, taste and physical sensation. (20 points)

[False Emissary]: Creates a false image of the caster that they can see and hear through. (20 points)

[Improved False Life]: As [False Life] but includes smell. (20 points)

[Privacy Ward]: Defines a volume no more than 27 cubic metres in size from which sight and sound cannot enter or leave. (20 points)

[Darkness]: Creates a volume of complete darkness no more than 27 cubic metres in size. (20 points)

[Illusory Room]: Creates a complex image no more than 27 cubic metres in size. (25 points)

[Phantom World]: Cast on a single target, generates an entire illusory sensorium. Only target can perceive vision. (30 points)

[Phantasmal Object]: Creates an illusory object not more than 1 cubic metre in volume. (15 points)

[Phantasmal Entity]: Creates an illusory creature or person that can move or act as the caster directs.(25 points)

[Phantasmal Emissary]: Creates an illusory version of the caster that can interact with others. (30 points)

[Phantasmal Structure]: Creates an illusory structure no more than (5*[Illusion Magic])^2 metres cubed. (40 points)

[Phantasmal Terrain]: Creates illusory structures or terrain within a limit defined when the spell is cast. (50 points)

I frowned. Were those Phantasmal spells there before? I hadn’t looked at the full list since the first day. Did they show up when I took the [Phantasmal Artificer] profession? It was right there in the name after all. And what did they do? [Phantasmal Object] created an ‘illusory object’, while [Moving Image] created an ‘image of an object’. Was there really a difference between them? It cost more, so it should be better… well the only way was to get it and see.

It looked like there were Phantasmal versions of most of the spells, so I should probably hold off on getting them until I knew what the difference was. That left.. [Silence], but I’d worked out [Greater Invisibility] worked for that. Actually [Improved Blind] should do the trick as well, at least for silencing spell-casting.

Fake spell casting didn’t really appeal, but [Phantom World] sounded useful. I could do something to Aubert with that. I decided to check out the [Phantasmal Object], and then see. If it wasn’t amazing, I’d get [Phantom World]

[Phantasmal Object]

Just as I’d expected, a copy of the ceramic jug I’d bought yesterday appeared on the bench. How is this different from an image? I wondered. Test the senses? I reached out and gave it a poke, to see if I felt it when my finger went through.

The jug fell over with a slight ‘dink’. Wait, what? I picked the jug up. [Moving Image] would let me move the image around, but this was real. Wasn’t it? I looked up the spell - it should have a little more information now that I’d bought it.

15 [Phantasmal Object]: Creates an illusory object not more than 1 cubic metre in volume. (upkeep 3/day)

So there was an upkeep, it was per day? I released the spell, and nothing happened. Confused, I realised that just relaxing the mana flow didn’t end the spell. I had to sever it before it would end. When I did, the jug disappeared.

So this spell would probably continue when I was asleep. I cast the spell again, creating a jug. I scooped some water out of the water barrel and drank it. How is this not real? I poured some of the water on the floor, then made the jug disappear. The remaining water in the jug fell to the floor, joining the small spill I’d deliberately left.

I made a dagger, and tried to scratch the bench with it. I couldn’t. Nor could I hurt myself with it. It dented the skin, but couldn’t penetrate it. I used a two handed grip and struck down on the bench with all my strength, but the dagger just disappeared.

This is crazy, I thought. Is this more useful than a normal illusion? I had to think so. If nothing else it was more convincing. I wondered if people could still see through the illusion. Given I was looking at a 240 effect total, I doubted I’d find someone who could test that.

Anyway, the question at hand was what spell I should with my remaining points. I had 30 left, which meant I could get [Phantasmal Entity], [Phantasmal Emissary], or [Phantom World]. I decided to stick with my original choice. The phantasmal spells were interesting, but they could wait for a little bit. I had to find a way to dissuade Aubert from harassing me, and that spell had more immediate combat potential.

Choice made, my thoughts turned to my Aubert problem. What I needed was allies…