Author’s Corner: Behold, as the author bestows unto you a surprise second chapter! Or a first chapter for tomorrow, depending on how you look at it.

As I approached the large metal gate in my half-elf form, one of the guards came forward to stop me, much to my surprise. “Excuse me, sir, do you have any identification?” The guards were dressed much like you would see a soldier, with streamlined black full-body suits. Each of them had a pistol, and what looked like the hilt to a sword at their waists.

I tilted my head curiously at his question, but shook my head. Nobody had provided me a means of identifying myself to others in this game yet, so naturally I couldn’t provide it. Noticing my reaction, the guard let out a soft sigh. “Traveler?” To his simple question, I nodded my head. “Okay, well, we’ll issue you an ID then. After that, you can simply show your companion to someone, and it will display your ID.”

Waving me forward, he led me to a small terminal near the gate. “Simply put your left hand on the panel, and it will read your aura and load the program.”

I nodded my head, thinking this must be a pretty specialized device to be able to do that. As he instructed, I put my hand on the panel, which beeped once before the companion AI wristband lit up with a holographic blue screen that seemed eerily familiar.

Name: FalenelClass: DruidLevel: 12Patron: Malthan

My eye twitched a bit as I read that window. They have a concept of levels here widely known, and they aren’t told to people in the newbie village?! Is everything just considered so weak that it’s not worth knowing about the levels?

The guard nodded his head, satisfied. “Thank you very much, Mr. Falenel.” He seemed a bit surprised when he saw my information, so likely someone getting through at level 12 was uncommon.

“Mind if I ask a couple question?” I looked to the guard, who nodded his head. “Could you tell me the levels of the wind wolves, harpy eagles, and land wyrms?”

He raised an eyebrow curiously at that, but shrugged. “A wind wolf is typically between levels twenty and thirty. A harpy eagle can be between thirty and fifty, depending on their size. As for a land wyrm, they are roughly level one hundred and fifty.”

Okay, I am NOT sticking around to study the birds. I can see if they have any examples of magical beasts or monsters in the city and go with that. “Ah… thank you. Guess disguising as a wolf really was the right call to get here quickly.”

I had run over a hundred miles as a wolf, so no doubt it would have taken me at least a day to cover the distance in a normal form. The guard seemed to agree as well. “Yes, though you may want to increase your strength a bit before you leave the city.”

I smiled slightly, nodding my head. “I planned on it. Do you know if there is anywhere I can sell elemental seeds in the city? And if so, would you know how much they tend to go for?”

The guard thought about that for a moment before he nodded. “Their selling price should depend on their quality, but you can sell some in the market district. Just look for a map kiosk once you get in town, and it will tell you where to go. If you want to pay a silver, you can also buy a guide program for your companion, that will tell you where to go for various things.”

I thought about it, and nodded my head again. If I could mass produce and sell element seeds, then I’d easily be able to make back that silver. Walking past the guard, I moved into the city itself, which was full of tall, metallic buildings. Surprisingly, there were no flying cars, though I did see a few flying people. A bit impressed, I decided to take a ‘screenshot’ of the scene by doing a very brief recording through my Cybernetic eye. To my surprise, my earlier program worked very effectively, and I immediately knew exactly how many people I had seen, their shapes, and looked a bit down and to the left of where I had been focusing on before. Thanks to the Photographic Information program, I noticed the small kiosk up in the corner.

Walking over to it, I tapped a button on its screen to activate it. “Welcome to Landfall, the first city of Hascion, one of the key tourist locations of the wood elf territories. Would you like to see a map, purchase a guide program, or ask a question?” A large blue holographic face with female features appeared above the kiosk and spoke to me.

“I’d like to buy the guide program.” I answered simply. The image pouted slightly, but nodded her head. A small coin slot opened up on the kiosk itself.

“Please insert one silver coin, and place the wrist containing the companion AI near the terminal.” I did as instructed, after which the hologram faded away, its work apparently done.

“Woah… now that’s a bit of info.” I saw Celeste appearing above my wrist instead, smiling slightly. “You want the market, right? Hmm, there’s info on it in here, as well as some basic prices. The low quality element seeds go for one silver each if they are of a primary element, or fifty percent higher if they belong to a secondary element.”

I nodded my head, though I was a bit disappointed in the prices. Makes sense, since any druid can produce them. Though, if I was in the territory of a culture that was lacking in druids, the price would likely skyrocket. “The kiosk said this was a tourist spot, can you tell me if there are any pet stores selling magical beasts or monsters? Also, I want to visit an enchanter for training, if at all possible.”

She thought for a moment and processed my questions. “Okay, there are two stores selling pets like what you mentioned. One sells combat monsters and magical beasts, while the other sells novelty pets. From what the information says, the novelty pets can have some peculiar skills, but are not trained for battle. As for the enchanter, there is one located in the market. It is the same location that is suggested for selling elemental seeds.”

“Alright, then, lead the way. I want to visit a Technomancy instructor at some point, too. But that is a secondary concern for today.”

Celeste smiled at me as I started walking forward. “Looking to get that spell you asked the other one about? The one that would have me in your head?”

I chuckled, following her directions as she gave them. There were surprisingly few people of different races than the standard wood elf, though I did take a pair of snapshots for each so that I could study their auras. Like I had expected, the auras of a sentient creature were far more complex than any animal. Much like myself, the auras were more detailed, and brighter. Two wood elves standing next to each other may look radically different, but have nearly identical auras from a first glance. “Would you like that?”

The hologram at my wrist nodded. “If my container is damaged I will, in essence, die. Although you will be able to get a new companion, and it may even develop nearly identical to myself, it wouldn’t be me. Naturally, I would like to continue to exist. Plus, I am very interested in your home world.”

“Well, we’ll see what we can do. My magic isn’t nearly skilled enough yet for everything I want.” Jarl had said that accurately copying the traits of another race would be similar to brewing a potion spell consisting of twenty parts. I wasn’t sure if that was an exaggeration or not, but I should have an advantage now. Once I get an inn room, I can practice my Technomancy some more. Worst case scenario, I die and get a forced logout. However, for some reason I’m confident I’ll be able to copy the recorded auras from my computer. The auras of technology are far more basic in the real world than the tech I’ve seen here. Even Celeste is several times more complex than my computer.

“By the way, Celeste, how much is an inn room? I’ll be needing a place to stay.”

“Already looked into it, and the most expensive inn room is ten silvers a night. However, I doubt that’s the one you’re wanting, so I made a note for a cheaper one, which goes for the price of thirty coppers.”

While the latter price made me wince, I nearly coughed up blood at the first one. Back in the village, I had gotten an inn room for just a fraction of that! Sighing, I resigned myself to accepting the increased rates. Either way, if I created some seeds, I’d be more than able to pay off that bill. Since I was able to create one seed every four or five hours at my current ability, I could make three or four a day. This would also let me increase my affinities, and naturally advance my skills.

“Let’s go to the inn first. I’ll need to create at least one seed to sell before I can visit the enchanter, and they might have precautions against druids reading the auras of beasts at the pet shops. So, I’ll spend the night at the inn and go to the enchanter tomorrow. Should also make a note to stop by an alchemist at some point to learn new recipes, once I’ve got some more money. Harlan said it was thirty silver to get the basic alchemy program for you.”

Celeste nodded her holographic head, and changed the directions she was giving to that of the inn. There was another program that I wanted to write before I got started, but it would likely only work after I had ‘upgraded’ my brain. Once I got to the inn, I found it to be a regular hotel, like what was often found in the real world. If it was like this, then thirty copper was not a bad price at all. Even ten silvers wouldn’t be more than what was spent on an average hotel room.

Paying for the room for two days, I was given a key card, and went up the elevator. Once I got to my room, I found it to look just like a hotel room. There was a single bed in the center of the room, a lamp on either side, a desk against the wall, and a holographic TV stand opposite the bed. “Sweet…”

I smiled, moving over and laying down on the bed. Now that I was here, I could get to work. In my mind, I reviewed all of the information regarding the brain that I had recorded again, and isolated the regions that worked for memory storage and retrieval. Then, I searched my own aura with Mana Sense and located those same regions. “Celeste, if this goes wrong, then in ten minutes tell me to cancel all spells I have active.”

That should function as an insurance, in case I damage my brain accidentally without causing enough damage to force a logout. My only worry was if I damaged my memories, and lost the memory of how my brain’s aura originally looked. If that happened, then even if she told me to cancel the spell I wouldn’t know how. At that point, I could only hope that the Seed registers that as a form of character death.

After getting her approval, I began working. The process was faster than any transformation I’ve done so far. This is likely because current computer technology was designed to reflect how the brain worked, so it was easy to adjust. I basically just had to simultaneously compress and replicate the memory centers for my brain, and rearrange them slightly to match the new pattern.

New Spell UnlockedCybernetic Adaptation: Memory Storage - Technomancy - ☆

By copying the memory banks of a computer into your own skull, you have increased your brain's ability to store information. Retrieving it is another matter entirely.

Mana Cost: 30

My mind felt slightly sluggish after that, and I was lightheaded for a few minutes. “Falenel? Are you okay?”

I looked down to the holographic woman at my wrist who was staring at me with a worried expression and nodded. “Fine, just a bit of a backlash, I think.” I took a deep breath, and worked on the next section, focusing on memory retrieval. When that was taken care of, the lightheadedness completely faded, but was replaced by a massive headache.

This headache persisted for roughly ten minutes, during which time Alchemic Heal had absolutely no effect on my head. After the ten minutes expired, my brain had apparently adapted to the new spell, because the pain began to subside.

New Spell UnlockedCybernetic Adaptation: Memory Retrieval - Technomancy - ☆

By copying the aura of a computer into your own skull, you have increased your brain's ability to retrieve information. This provides a passive recollection boost, but any data properly recorded will be instantly retrievable unless damaged.

Mana Cost: 50

I let out a sigh as I saw that, but smiled slightly. Next, I had Celeste open another programming window for me, and got to work. What I wanted this time was a bit more complex, and would require a bit of time to implement properly. Rather than the rushed ten minutes I spent on the first program, this one took nearly two hours before I was finished. I copied it over in much the same way as I had the first software, but this patch wasn’t meant for my eye, rather my upgraded brain.

Software Applied to Cybernetic Adaptation: Memory Storage and Memory RetrievalAuto-Pilot

This program has two modes, Record and Automatic. After performing an activity in Record mode, it is possible to do it subconsciously in Automatic mode. However, while in Automatic mode, you will have no control over your own body unless disturbed by external stimulus. Automatic mode can be set to complete after a period of time repeating an action, or after the action has been completed once.

I smiled at the completion of the program. Although it had a more profound effect than Photographic Learning, it was set up in a way so as not to cost anything to use. The downside was that I could not cancel the program myself once it was activated. I would basically be asleep until it finished. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to increase my processing ability to accurately handle two tasks at once, and be able to rework the program to allow me to maintain control of unused aspects of my body and magic.

But for now, I recorded myself cultivating each of the seven elements I currently possess, so that I could simply autopilot my way through it in the future. With that taken care of, it was time to get some seeds!