“Hey, wait. Colt, before we get started. I think I might be…” Opening up my status, I note I’m close to the 500 Strength milestone. “Yup, I only need four points in Strength to hit the milestone. Let me just do that quick.”

A mental command later, the four points apply.

For reaching your third stat milestone in Strength, you have gained 10% Physical Penetration!

“Oh. Huh, it gives physical penetration.” I show Colt the message.

“How does that even work?”

“Fuck if I know. It’s free damage though, I’ll take it. Maybe I pierce physical shields better too? I don’t know.”

“You wouldn’t happen to be hoarding stat points again, would you, Lucas?” Colt raises an eyebrow at me.

“I only have 21 unspent! With level-ups giving me so much, it just feels better to wait. That way I have the points for situations like this where I just need to top off a stat. If I’m in a tough spot, it kind of gives me some leeway too. Like what if I’m up against something and I’m out of MP? I could put 21 points in Attunement and have like…” I take a moment to do the mental math. “315 more MP to work with. Not to mention the small regen boost.”

Colt considers this for a moment. “Huh. Never thought about it that way. I guess there are some benefits to hoarding them. Just make sure you go for the milestones when you can.”

“Yeah, I’ve been debating if I’ll use points to hit the Charisma milestone. I really wanna try out some of the features you’ve told me about.”

“Please do. Becky hit 150 Charisma after the dungeon and she’s been messaging me all the time. Mostly just emoticons and food requests too.” He groans.

“Hey, take it as a compliment. She loves your cooking.”

“Fair. And we at least have some long-range communication now. I know there were some people trying to make a magic cellphone with enchanting and magic metals, but that seems like more of a long-term goal.”

“Mhm. Anyway, I have an enchantment to make. You wanna help or do you have stuff to do?”

“Magic practice with Pasivier. I’m only a level away from whatever’s after Adept Mage.”

“Oh, nice. Alright, I’m gonna do some tests. Maybe we can make a third-floor dojo for the house or something once I’m done with this.”

“That’d be cool. See you later.”

We kiss and Colt heads off to find Pasivier. I head into my forge to begin work. Looking over the schematics and comparing them to what Ilmarinen told me, it’s going to be tough.

Just the runic setup alone is a large sprawl of glyphs to account for various kinds of forces that will be shielded. It’s apparently more mana efficient to cover individual force types rather than use a more generalized protection rune.

Getting to work, I find that these runes truly are a tier above anything I’ve been doing. They not only have surface symbols, but also a more complex internal structure necessary to inscribe under the rune itself.

Several hours of trial and error pass on slabs of stone I create with Geomancy.

“God fucking shit motherfucker.” Another square of stone smashes into the wall of my forge, breaking into pieces after I heave the failed enchantment. Surface-level runes are easy to erase, but these ones go deeper into the material so I can’t easily reuse the same slab.

Besides, breaking them is more cathartic for my frustrations.

“Everything okay in here?” Colt steps into the room with a glass of light blue juice.

“Yeah, just… frustrated. I thought I was pretty good at enchanting by now, then it just steps everything up a notch in complexity. These runes aren’t just drawings on the surface, I have to visualize the internal structure of them too. Like, on a micro-scale.” I pinch the bridge of my nose in exhaustion.

“Oh. That’s kinda like the magic principles Pasivier has been teaching me. You have Runic Matrix, right? It’s just in your Aetheric Supremacy Perk. The runes get just as complex for spells too. Turns out, all the runes we’re working with currently are the base-level complexity ones. They can get a lot done, but they don’t have a lot of nuance and they’re really inefficient in terms of mana cost.”

“That explains why all these Perks for targeting particular force types are so annoying… I’m getting a headache from all of this.”

“Well, try this then.” He hands me the glass of juice. “Pasivier had somewhere to be so I’ve been practicing products for my cafe when it’s ready.”

Deciding to not ruin the surprise, I take a sip rather than Inspect it. It has a lightly sweet flavor reminiscent of raspberries. Instantly, I feel my body lighten and small clouds begin to emit from my body and orbit me.

“Huh. That’s weird. Clouds?”

“Yup. Cloudberries. They are, as expected, cloud-shaped berries. They have lightweight and cloud traits.”

“I’ll have to isolate some aspect crystals from them later, I could see a lightweight weapon being really useful.”

“I already made a healing cloud potion. You open the bottle and it sprays out a cloud of healing mist. Cuts the effectiveness down, but definitely good for healing a group.” Colt shrugs.

“Huh. That gives me a lot of ideas for potions in general. Where’d you find the berries, anyway?”

“Oh, the Construct Shop is selling a bunch of seeds since the upgrade, we have a bunch of new plants in the garden now. I used Fae Blessing, so the effect on these berries is pretty weak until they grow more naturally, but they still taste the same.” He gestures to the cup in my hand.

I take another sip, appreciating the taste. It brings me back to fruit juices pre-Construct, which is strangely nostalgic now. Staring at my pile of failed enchantment rubble, I sigh.

“Hey, how about you come back to this later? It’s late anyway, sleep for an hour or two and I’m sure you’ll feel better.” Colt smiles at me, pulling me close.

I rest my head on his chest, enjoying the tingle of Wild Magick on my skin through his shirt. “Yeah, sleep would be nice.”

“Uh, Lucas?”

“Yeah?”

“...You’re getting clouds in my eyes.” There’s a hint of humor in his voice.

Glancing up at him, the clouds rotating around me softly collide into his body. Upon contact, they disperse and leave a small patch of condensation. “Oh, sorry. Come to think of it, how do I end this? I don’t wanna soak our bed.”

“The effect is pretty weak and you only took a few sips anyway, let’s just head up.”

“Sounds good.” I hand the glass back to Colt and he stores it away in his Personal Pantry.

We move on to the bedroom and Colt proves to be right. The clouds cease and I feel weight return to my body. It’s a good thing too, walking with such little bodyweight and high Strength is strangely tough.

I’m not particularly tired yet, so it takes a bit to fall asleep but I eventually do. My personal morning comes around. It’s just barely dawn but that’s all the sleep my body needs anymore.

Rolling over in bed, I regard Colt. “Hey, Colt. You know what I realized?”

“What?” He looks at me sleepily, eyes still half-closed.

“I’m just falling back into old patterns. I get back to Portland and the first thing I do is set up some huge project to help everyone else. My trial was about learning to just focus on myself sometimes. I think the school can wait a day or two for a Protection enchantment, I’m gonna take a personal day.”

Colt rubs an eye and stretches. “That sounds like a good idea. What’s your plan?”

“Well, first I’m gonna find Karie. I haven’t been able to see her much since I got back. Do you know where she might be?”

“Either in her tower or in the city somewhere building a house.”

“Ah. I was curious what her tower is like so I figured I’d check it out. Then I think I’ll make a new chain for Argo. It’s been a while since I made something for my own equipment.”

“The Construct Shop upgraded, you gonna look for new materials? I think there’s a new neutrite tier.”

“Really? Now that’s an attractive option. I think I’ll stop by there then.” Finally building up the willpower, I clamber out of bed. “Today’s a me day though, I’m gonna take a shower rather than just Clean myself. Self-care and all that.”

“Fair enough, I’ll make some breakfast, you didn’t really eat anything yesterday.”

“Thanks.” I smile at him, peck him on the lips, and head into the bathroom to shower. The delightfully hot water relaxes me as it falls from the waterfall opening. Soon, I feel considerably cleaner and mellowed out. The frustrations of yesterday’s enchanting excursion are long forgotten.

Colt has a beautifully prepared breakfast on the table when I get out of the shower, so I dig in quickly. “Hey, Colt. What do you think I should do with all these curse-enchanted slabs of stone?”

“I could take them off your hands if you would like.”

Nearly jumping out of my skin, I turn around to see Pasivier standing behind me. “Goddamnit, Pasivier. I could have choked. Don’t scare me like that!”

He has an all-too-pleased smile on his face. “Apologies, young Lucas. However, I believe I can properly dispose of those slabs for you.”

“That’s a highly suspicious way of saying it, you don’t have any nefarious plans, do you?” I raise an eyebrow at him, regarding him critically.

“Lucas, I know far more advanced curses than what you found, I’m sure. I just happened to be stopping by for Colt and overheard your question. If you want to figure out another way to dispose of them I can simply just-”

“Alright, alright. Here.” The floodgates open and piles of curse-enchanted stone spill out onto the floor next to Pasivier. He leaps to the side, wary of touching the enchantments.

“Careful, Lucas! Those enchantments could have redundancies in them.” Pasivier eyes the pile warily.

“Well, you gonna take them or not?”

He sneers. “Of course.” With a wave of his hand, purple and yellow light settles over the stones and they disappear into what I assume is Pasivier’s storage Perk.

“...So you know curses?”

“I know many magicks, Lucas. But yes, curses are a tool within my arsenal. You must be careful with curses, however. They are known to… backfire.” He grimaces.

“I’m not sure curses are really my style, anyway. Oh, right. Weapons too.” I dump out all the cursed yeti weapons. There are three without curse enchantments in my hold still, but the remainder all have something on them somewhere.

“...These are still active.” Pasivier glares at me and with a flick of the wrist, the weapons disappear in purple and yellow light as well.

I just grin at him and finish my breakfast. “I have schematics for everything anyway, so I can reference it all if I need to.”

“Lucas, no curses in the house,” Colt calls out from the kitchen in a fake-nagging tone.

“Alright, mom.” I roll my eyes. “Wait, do we have to open the shop today?”

“Maybe? I put a closed sign up yesterday. You worry about your smithing stuff right now, we can handle the shop.” Colt steps out from the kitchen with a platter of food for Pasivier.

“You’re the best.” I smile at Colt and peck him on the lips. “I’m gonna head off to the shop now, be back later!” Taking the stairs quickly, I head out the front door.

‘Hm, I should say hi to Karie first.’ The tower is on the right side of our house when leaving, so I turn that way and walk up to it.

Staring up at it, I truly take in the tower for the first time. It’s made of wood and stone mostly with some kind of mortar holding the stones together. It towers about another story if not more over our house. “Hey, Karie! You up there?”

After some subtle shuffling, Karie’s head pops out of one of the windows. “Hello, Lucas! I am in a tower!”

“I can see that. Why don’t you come down and say hi?”

“No. You come up!” She chimes cheerily, similar to Argo.

Chuckling to myself, I nod to her. “Alright. Just uh… how do I get inside? I don’t see a door.”

“Extend your legs!” She tilts her head, confusion apparent.

“I can’t do that. Do you seriously enter your tower from that window?”

“Yes!”

“Well, alright. I’ll be right up.” With a small tug on my mana, I set several beacons with Chart Course between the tower and my house. Jumping from beacon to beacon, I push off the walls until eventually grabbing on to the window ledge and pulling myself up.

“Hello, Lucas!” Karie wraps her arms around me, chirping happily.

“Hi, Karie. It’s good to see you. You’ve been busy I can see. Good job on building so many houses, and the walls too.”

“Houses are fun!”

“Yes, houses are fun.” I chuckle again and look around the inside of the tower. On the floor is a set of miniature… towers. “Karie, did you build smaller towers inside your tower?”

“Yes. New invention. Tower towers!”

“Well, I think they’re great. I need to go to the store but I just wanted to stop and say hi. Are you going to help out with building more houses today?”

“Nope! Today is tower day. I want to reach the bright orb!”

“...Do you mean the sun?”

“Yes!”

I don’t have it in me to tell her how insurmountable that task is, so I just nod. “That sounds like a good idea. I’ll leave you to it. Have fun, Karie. I’m glad your English is getting better, by the way.”

“I will have much fun, Lucas! Goodbye!” She waves me off.

“Bye, Karie.” Jumping out of the window, I go for style and do the hero-pose landing. “Oh god, that’s harsh on the knees.” A quick use of Promethean later and I feel better once more.

Lightning Cloak snaps into place on my body and I Circuit Jump from place to place, running quickly to the Shop.

Once I arrive, I open up the Shop menu after greeting the Shop Golem. It has a bunch of new offers, such as weapons made of basic neutrite mixtures. ‘Hm. Gonna have to get more creative to stay competitive here.’

On that note, I swap to the Shop menu for metals and find what I was hoping for: tier 2 neutrite. After a bit of haggling, I buy some for ten Glints each. The description of the metal is identical, except that it can take on three aspects instead of two, which should give me a lot of creative license with new metals.

‘Huh. Looks like they offer more blueprints too. They’re certainly expensive… I’ll just invent my own weapons, thank you very much.’

I scan through a few more menus, finding expected advancements that all seem to be a tier up. The health and mana potions are unfortunately quite similar to the quality Colt and I make. ‘Damn, this upgrade might be bad for business. Guess we’re just gonna have to improve or have better offers.’

There’s more food on display now, but I’m positive Colt’s tastes better, I just have that much faith in him.

My mind starts to numb a bit as I scroll through the sheer number of new options in the Shop, so I close it for now. ‘I’ll come back another day and look more. I think I just want the metal for now. Colt already bought a bunch of plant seeds, I’ll have to check those out later.’

Skills active once more, I run home, enjoying the exhilaration of the high speeds I reach. Adreanell, Cassandra, and Becky are over now, restocking their respective portions of the shop, which were looking rather sparse before now.

“Hey everyone, I’ve gotta get to forging, do you mind running the shop with Colt today while I work on some stuff?”

“No problem here, my jewelry stand is nearby anyway so I can handle your area.” Adreanell smiles at me, a draconic, toothy grin. She seems to be adjusting well to her half-dragon state.

“Thanks, Adreanell. I’ll be in my forge if you need to consult me on anything.” Glancing around my weapons area, there aren’t a lot of options left anyway. “...You may not have much to sell anyway, guess I need to get to work. By the way, how much did Pasivier make while we were gone?”

“A lot, actually. After totaling it up, we have a little over 200 Gleams. Business might just be a bit slow while we restock though.” Cassandra shrugs. “How much do you have, anyway, Lucas?”

“You know, I haven’t checked in a while. Lemme just… one, two, three..” Totaling up everything from sales, monster drops, and purchases I’ve made, I finish counting. “138 Gleams, 58 Glints, and 13 Sparks.”

“Damn, your weapons sell for a lot, don’t they? We might want to consider buying a guild soon. I want to see what benefits there are. All of us just need to reach 150 Charisma soon so we can do that.”

“Yeah, I don’t have a lot of Perks giving me Charisma, I’m only at 116 in the stat. I have 21 free stat points I could dump into it, but I’ll wait until it’ll actually give me the milestone in case I need the points elsewhere.”

“Makes sense. Anyway, you get smithing. Set Argo to work too, we need more stock.” Cassandra waves me off, so I head into my forge.

I take Argo’s golem body out of my hold and put him into it.

“Argo armed and ready to forge!” He chirps happily, moving around in his body. He picks up the immoblite hammer I made him so that he could help me with forging. “What should I make, Lucas?”

“Hmmm. I’ll let you pick, just make it some of our general stock weapons.” I indicate to the piles of neutrite metals I have premade in stacks on the floor.

“I will make the best weapons, Lucas!” Argo squats down to search through the ingots for the one he wants.

“I’m sure you will, buddy.” I laugh and turn back to my own thoughts. Searching through a basket of pre-made aspect crystals, I have an idea on what to try. I grab three crystals: grasping, guidance, and levitation.

Placing them all in a crucible with a tier 2 neutrite ingot, I pour a bit of my blood over it and activate Hemometallic Substitution to improve the metal quality. My forge boots up quickly and melts the metal, which I pour into an enlarged ingot cast.

Metallic Overflow makes a larger ingot cast a requirement now. Once the ingot cools, I pick it up and observe it in the light.

It’s a purple ingot, but when the light catches it just right, there’s a sheen of yellow in it as well. ‘Inspect.’

Colubridite Ingot

Quality: Very High

Traits: Grasping, Guidance, Levitation

Description: Metal imbued with the aspects of Grasping, Guidance, and Levitation. The effects of this metal will vary based on what it is smithed into.

‘Hm. Interesting name.’ The idea behind this metal is that I’ll be able to use it whether it’s attached to Argo or not. I don’t have a lot of binding abilities that won’t leave me weaponless like Mooring, so it feels like a good tool to add to my arsenal when I have to go non-lethal.

The process for forging is fairly simple, I follow my blueprint from the last anchor chain I made and it quickly comes to shape. It helps that I’m much better at magically manipulating metal now, so smaller-scale stuff like this is easy.

Once the chain itself is made, I add some higher-complexity durability enchantments to keep it from breaking easily. These take me a while, Argo finishes several weapons during the process of my enchanting.

Finally, the weapon is complete and I Inspect it, allowing a name to generate rather than deciding one myself.

Serpentine Grasp

Quality: Very High

Traits: Grasping, Guidance, Highly Durable, Levitation

Description: This chain made of colubridite is capable of being controlled with one’s mind through the guidance aspect within. The metal itself is highly attuned towards grasping but follows commands on what to grasp through synergy with the guidance aspect. The levitation aspect allows this chain to float through the air and be commanded as such, highly increasing its utility. High complexity enchantments have been added to increase the durability of this chain significantly.

Level up! Due to creating your first tier 2 neutrite metal and creating an item that is synergistic with your main combat Talent, your Talent: Adept Blacksmith has reached (44/50)!

Level up! Due to designing a higher complexity durability enchantment, your Talent: Adept Enchanter has reached (25/50)!

For reaching your fifth Talent milestone in Adept Enchanter, you have been awarded applicable stat points to Intelligence, Attunement, Willpower, Insight, and + 150 XP. In addition, you have been awarded one Perk Point! Perk Points can only be spent on a Perk that came from the associated Talent.

Immediately, I put the Perk Point into Inscriber’s Elegance. I need every bit of help I can get for the problem that is the Protection enchantment.

“Hey, Argo. Check out this new chain I made. It should help us out a lot.”

He walks over, taking the chain in one hand and looking it over. “It’s amazing, Lucas!” It rises up out of his hand, floating in the air before coiling around me. “Oh my gosh, Lucas, I’m sorry! I was thinking about hugging you!”

“Wait. You can control the chain?”