Hydrodee flock defeated (x43)! 476 XP awarded!

Hydrodee flock dropped: 34 Sparks, 3 Glints, 2 Aquifer Rings.

The coins are nowhere to be found, Adreanell is probably the culprit there. I give the rings to her and Becky anyway, telling them to learn Hydrokinesis in their spare time.

The thought of learning a Skill as ‘magical’ as Hydrokinesis elicits a squee from Adreanell and a sigh from Becky.

A little while later, we’re going at a slower pace so that Becky and Adreanell can keep up. The golem is no more, the hydrodees destroyed it during the attack.

Adreanell walks next to me and leans in close, talking in a whisper. “So, I didn’t want to be rude and offend, but… Why is Colt’s hair green? That’s definitely not dye, I can tell. And his eyes shimmer with all those colors!

“Which is actually less weird to me, you see, these gold eyes came from a perk too, Midas Sight. So it lets me detect ‘value points’ on enemies and I get more money for killing them if I hit them...”

She rambles on for a while longer, getting no further to completing her point, so I simply try to interject at the least rude time.

“-so then I tried using three coins at once and it-”

“Colt’s a Fae.” Her stream of thought stops as her brain seems to reboot.

Her “whisper” is barely quieter than normal speaking now, causing Becky and Colt to glance over.

“Wait! Like, a faerie? But where are his wings? Is that why he feels so… magical?” She actually blushes a bit, causing me to glare at her and feel an uncomfortable amount of jealousy.

Clearing my throat, I turn to Colt. “Would you like to explain how you became Fae?”

He shrugs and gives Adreanell an abbreviated explanation, which causes her to go into a long-winded tale about the one time she made faerie houses with her mom when she was little.

“-and so then after we put on the roofs, we had to prepare cups of honey topped with-” Slapping my hand over her mouth, I hush her as I detect a mass of creatures up ahead.

We duck behind a house as a crowd of various Restruct-changed wildlife walk by. Colt coats us in a Glamour to keep everyone hidden as we watch the group walk by.

It’s a large mental effort for him to keep such a strong one up on four people at once, but the monstrous parade passes eventually.

“Those looked… Way too organized. Hell, we’ve seen plenty of monsters fighting each other.” Leaning against the side of the house, I breathe deeply to calm my nerves.

We take a few minutes to settle down from such a close call, eyeing the area carefully. Afterward, we move as quickly as we can between houses.

Eventually, we make it to the top of a steep hill. Stopping abruptly, we take in the scene in front of us.

“Uh, is everyone seeing what I’m seeing?” I keep blinking, trying to make sure the scene in front of me is real.

“It’s not anything like a Glamour as far as I can tell.” Colt’s eyes have a soft green glow about them.

“Oh my god.” Adreanell covers her mouth with a hand.

In front of us, as far as the eye can see, every house has been completely leveled. The only thing remaining is the foundation or basements. The ground has been entirely picked clean otherwise.

Even the trees are cleaved from the ground, only stumps remain. In the distance, we can make out a massive, walled structure in the distance. It gleams a brassy orange color in the afternoon sunlight.

“Well, I think our goal location is pretty apparent here now, but what the fuck happened?” I keep looking around, but I can’t find any remnant of a home.

There’s a strange lack of any monsters in this cleared area as well. As far as we can tell it’s clear for the rest of the trip.

“Wait, what’s that over there?” Colt is pointing a bit off to our right. In the distance, a small structure can just barely be seen on the horizon.

We dash over to it, slowly discovering that it’s a standing building in the rest of this destruction.

“That’s one of the Construct Shops!” Becky calls out to us over the rushing wind during our sprint.

Upon reaching it, we note that it’s definitely not a typical building from Earth. It’s made of a smooth, white material that looks like a mix between plastic and stone.

There’s no entrance to the building as far as I can tell, but Becky just indicates us to walk around the other side of the building.

On the other side, it’s just as unadorned, but there’s an open window with a similarly smooth, white material humanoid standing inside the building, a blue glow coming from its eyeholes.

Just above its head in a simple sign that says “Shop” in blue block lettering.

“...Well, I guess we can’t give The Construct points for creativity.” Shrugging, I approach the shop.

“Welcome to The Construct Shop, please peruse the menu to make your selection.” The humanoid’s voice is actually similar to Argo’s, androgynous and echoing.

A Construct menu appears, but it’s a shop window. There are various graphics for all of the purchasable items. Counting out the money Colt and I have accumulated so far, we have 35 Sparks, 90 Glints, and 1 Gleam to our name.

We found out early on that 100 Sparks merge into a single Glint, and the same is probably true for the Glints into Gleams.

Turning to the humanoid in the shop, I Inspect it.

Construct Shop Golem

Traits: Ultimate Endurance, Shopkeeper, Security Mode

Description: These golems are created by The Construct to provide resources for those just beginning within the system. The material is unidentifiable.

Turning back to the Construct Shop menu, I search through the options. Colt is looking along with me while Becky and Adreanell look at their own menus.

Checking the health and mana potions provided from the shop, they’re only 5 Sparks each, but they’re worse than anything we can make, so we immediately write them off.

Deciding to perform a test, I turn to the golem. “Hey, can I sell things to you as well?”

It shifts focus from staring straight ahead to looking at me. “The Construct Shop will accept any drops in exchange for currency. Materials originally from your world cannot be accepted.”

“Thanks, sounds good.” Taking the Goblin Warlord Greatmace out of my hold, I present it to the golem. It holds one hand out and the greatmace is levitated out of my hands in a blue bubble of energy.

“Would you like to sell this Goblin Warlord Greatmace?” An options panel appears in front of me with Confirm and Deny buttons. There’s also a graphic at the top that shows a miniature version of the greatmace with an arrow pointing to a Glint with a “x9” next to it.

Pressing Confirm, the greatmace disappears and 9 Glints float towards me, settling in my hand. Immediately, the greatmace is offered in the shop for 18 Glints.

“100% markup!? We’ve been had!” Turning to Colt, he doesn’t seem to share my outrage.

“Dude, that’s how shops work. Maybe you should have tried to haggle or something.” He smiles and takes out our original aquifer ring, having already learned Hydromancy from it, both of us have no use for it anymore.

“Watch this.” He steps up to the shop golem and presents the ring, gaining the same selling interface as before.

The Aquifer ring only sells for 14 Sparks and 2 Glints, but Colt turns to the golem. “I won’t sell it for any less than 3 Glints.

It stares at him for a moment before its eyes shift to a shade of green. “36 Sparks, 2 Glints.”

The offer changes within the window, but Colt isn’t done. “Fine, how about 76 Sparks, 2 Glints?”

“50 Sparks, 2 Glints. Final offer.” The Golem’s eyes return to the original blue glow. The offer changes once more to reflect this new price.

Once Colt confirms the transaction, money floats into Colt’s waiting hands. He hands it all to me. After merging our currencies together, we’re left with 85 sparks, 1 Glint, and 2 Gleams.

The Aquifer ring is now offered in the shop for 28 Sparks, 4 Glints.

Scrolling through once more, I find empty potion bottles that we can buy for 1 Spark each. Conferring with Colt, we decide to buy 40 of them. We then realize buying 40 at once is a bad idea after I’m buried in a pile of glass bottles.

Grumbling as I stand up out of the pile, everyone else laughs at me before returning to their shopping.

Using Rapid Inscription, I add my durability enchantment to each bottle before storing them away in my hold for later.

Moving on, we swap to the Weapons section of the shop. A notification appears in the weapon’s shop, indicating we are allowed one free starter pack of our choice.

Scrolling through the options, there’s a nigh-limitless number of different weapons we could choose from inside the starter packs. It seems that Becky chooses her starter package, as she suddenly gains a box with two new pairs of scissors inside it as well as 3 healing potions and 3 mana potions.

A quick Inspect tells me that the potions only restore 25 of their respective resource for 3 doses each. Effective early on for sure, but not as useful for us now. Becky stores the potions away in the bag of holding I used to use.

Spotting one option that interests me, I accept the starter package. Colt sees the contents of the box when I open them, understanding my intent.

“Wow, that’s actually a really good pick. I’m not really sure what I want to go with yet, maybe I’ll just try a bow or something. Pasivier nearly died when he realized I use gauntlets. Arrows should be pretty easy for me to make with my nature magick anyway.”

“Yeah, I’m pretty confident in this choice. Go with the bow, you stay at far range anyway.” Colt nods to me and accepts the bow starter pack. We give all the starter pack potions to Adreanell, and we’ll make her some better potions later with all the bottles we bought.

Taking out the “weapon” from my starter pack, it’s simply a long length of chain. Testing at one end, I pull on the last two links of the chain to test their strength. They hold up fairly well, surprisingly, but the end link snaps under the pressure after about 10 seconds of pulling.

Frowning, my worries about the chain not being strong enough are increased. Refusing to give up though, I take out my enchanting book and sift through the pages, looking for an enchantment stronger than my Rapid Inscription one I typically use.

The one I currently use is a tradeoff of somewhat lesser endurance but a lower mana cost. For this chain, I’ll need something a bit stronger.

Finding what I want, it’s a mix of pure physical endurance, magical endurance, and resistance. Loading this enchantment into my Rapid Inscription menu, I test it on the chain, applying it to one end.

“Oh no.”

“What?” Colt looks at me with concern.

“I’m going to have to enchant every single chain link.” My mood drops significantly at the task in front of me.

“Oh dear.” Colt seems at a loss for any words to comfort me so he just rubs my back and gives a few encouraging words.

He can’t help me unfortunately, enchantments on an object have to be done by just one user, the mana clashes otherwise.

Trying to distract myself for a moment, I turn to Adreanell. “Hey Adreanell, what are you going to pick?”

She turns to me, expression deep in thought. “There are way too many options! I don’t know what to choose! Besides, I already have a weapon!” She holds out a hand and a pocket watch appears.

“Okay, I use an anchor and Becky uses scissors, but a pocket watch? Really? That’s honestly not a weapon.” She turns to me for a moment with a bright smile.

“Then if it’s not a weapon, surely I can demonstrate?” The statement is unsettling, but I shrug.

“Sure, go ahead.” Her smile sharpens wickedly. She spins the pocket watch a few times before slinging it out toward me, the chain extends unnaturally long.

“Acceleration!” The watch body glows a gold color as it rapidly advances toward me. The timepiece slams into my chest, knocking me off my feet.

“Okay, it’s a weapon, I accept.” My voice is tight with pain as I stand up. A Construct message tells me I have a minor bone contusion of the sternum. A quick use of Promethean clears that up.

Adreanell seems far too pleased with herself before turning to me. “Wait, right, you use an anchor. Can I see it?”

“Only if you tell me how you’re storing stuff away.”

“Oh, sure, it’s a perk from my Numismatist Talent. Personal Vault!” She poses proudly.

“I have a similar one from my Anchorist class actually! Personal Hold!” Her eyes light up at this.

“That’s incredible! I didn’t realize there could be more ways to store stuff, I thought I just got lucky! Anyway, show me your anchor!”

“Alright, fair is fair.” Taking off Argo from the earring clip, it expands to full size.

“Argo armed and ready for introductions!” Adreanell gasps.

“It TALKS!?” She immediately tries to lift Argo out of my arms only to slam to the ground under the weight.

“Goodness, you’re a heavy one, aren’t you?” She dusts herself off as she stands up and I pick up Argo once more.

“Argo is glaring at you in offense!” From the connection, I can tell Argo isn’t really offended, but just thinks that’s the appropriate response to a remark about someone’s weight.

“Oh my gosh, I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to offend him- her- it? ...Are you a boy anchor or a girl anchor? Can anchors have genders?”

Pondering this, I’m frankly not sure myself. Looking down to Argo in my arms, he lights up.

“Lucas is a boy so I will be a boy!” His voice is cheery at this and takes on a slightly more masculine tone.

Adreanell giggles a bit. “Sounds good to me, Argo, it’s nice to meet you!” She gives him a very dramatic curtsy.

Becky glares at Adreanell. “You were a theater kid in high school, weren’t you?”

Adreanell seems unphased by the tone of the comment. “Yup! Born and raised on the stage! You see my mom started me when I was young and-”

Her explanation continues on with Becky having no chances to cut in, leaving her looking at me with a pleading expression. Shrugging, I clip Argo back to my earring and turn my back to her.

Taking the chain once more, I begin the long process of inscribing each chain link. Colt retrieves the portable stove, a pan, and some of the empty bottles from me and begins to whip up some potions for everyone.

By the time Adreanell has told Becky her entire life story about the theater scene, an hour or so has passed. Finishing my chain, I stand up and stretch out my stiff limbs. The entire piece has been completely reinforced now.

My mana pool took quite a hit from it, but that will restore in time anyway. A pleasant notification surprises me, however.

Level up! For designing a strong enchantment to fulfill a purpose, your Talent: Fledgling Enchanter has reached (35/50)!

For reaching your seventh Talent milestone in Fledgling Enchanter, you have been awarded applicable stat points to Intelligence, Attunement, Willpower, Insight and + 210 XP. In addition, you have been granted the Perk: Inscriber’s Depth.

‘Perks’

Perks:

Inscriber’s Depth

Description: Inscriptions can now be pushed deep into the material that is being enchanted, regardless of the type of material it is. This allows for significantly more surface area in enchantments, which in turn allows for more complex enchantments. Attunement and Willpower increased by 1. +1 Attunement and Willpower per level up.

Happy with the boost to my enchanting prowess, I turn to the group.

“Everyone ready to head out?” I indicate the walled structure in the distance. I can make out what looks like a large, peaked building inside. We’ll come back to this shop later to stock up more if we need to.

“Sure.” Colt hands me the potion making supplies and I store them away in my hold.

“Yes.” Becky looks absolutely brain-dead from her “conversation” with Adreanell. The Numismatist girl looks none the wiser to this.

“Absolutely! Let’s go, team! Hey, what should our team name be? Becky, why are you pushing me? Oh, sorry, getting distracted, let’s get a move on!” Chuckling to myself, I move into a jog, everyone else steps into pace.

Just as we approach the walls of the structure, the sun is setting on the horizon, giving it a strong orange glow. As we’ve come closer, we note that the entire wall seems to be made of a brassy orange crystal.

Once we reach the gates, a voice calls down to us from a… Battlements? “Why are you all out past curfew? Get inside the city and prepare for punishment!”

Holding up my hands, I look to the man standing atop the walls. “Woah there, we just arrived, we don’t know anything about a curfew.”

Adreanell has shrunk behind us a bit in fear, clearly scared to enter.

The man looks at us all critically but sighs and has the gates opened for us. As we enter, I note how strange all the walls look, but the pieces fall together, literally.

Every wall of the “city” is made up of crystallized objects. Pieces of houses were broken down, children’s toys, anything one could think of has been converted to crystal and somehow merged to make the walls of this city.

It’s the same on the inside. Very basic homes are made of this crystal as well. In what I believe to the center of the city, there’s a large castle made up of the same crystal.

“Holy shit, what have we gotten ourselves into?” Colt is staring at everything, eyes wide.

“I’m scared.” Adreanell holds onto Becky’s arm, making her frown and glare.

Keeping my attitude upbeat, I smile as the man comes down from the battlements to meet with us. “Don’t worry, Adreanell, we’re gonna get your friend back.”