34 Suns

--- Jon ---

“Mm, how’s this look?” He asked, offering the makeshift auto-reel to his Ma.

“Looks alright, you got it set up to the remote trigger?” His Ma checked, looking the piece over.

“Yep.” He nodded, raising a little remote.

“Fire when ready.” His Ma told him pointing the reel away from herself.

Clicking the remote there was a faint hiss before the line shot out of the reel a few feet away.

“And retract.” His ma continued.

A second click saw the reel slowly retracting the line.

“Mm, it works but it looks like you’re wasting just a little too much of the compressed air in the firing mechanism.” His Ma concluded. “It’s not a major problem right now, but we’re going to have to work on this if we want to make enough of these for the haunted house.”

“Darn, I thought I had it there.” He frowned, taking the reel back before popping open its casing with a screwdriver as his ma got back to work on her own set of reels.

“Eh, you’ll get the hang of it eventually. Just takes a bit of practice.” His Ma assured him. “At the very least you’ve got the trigger mechanism working, so when we’re done with these I can show you how to sync all of them to a single transponder.”

“Ooh, that sounds fun!” He grinned, thinking about the possibilities. “Are we setting up a full monitor room this year or is the station letting us use their security room?”

“We’ll be setting our own up so we can get more cameras, and better scare my co-workers.” His Ma told him, setting another finished reel to the side.

He blinked before tilting his head slightly. “I thought we were trying to scare everyone though?”

“Oh, we are.” His Ma smirked. “I just want to see my boss’s face when he realizes I have better station surveillance than him.”

“Ah,” He nodded in understanding. “You want him to update the obsolete station security.”

“Sure, let’s go with that.”

Scene Consequences

-Thanks to Ma’s training gained 2XP to Trapmaking.

--Currently: Lv. 8 (15/18)

---

Tranquilizers were a useful tool in a number of situations. From knocking humans unconscious without the risk of brain damage, to making sure a bunch of young campers slept through the raging storm dragon, or perhaps even (hypothetically) teaching someone’s friends how to fight while drugged.

Which is why he was currently following the instructions he’d written into his notebook about a tranquilizer formula he’d developed back in Blackwell, using some of the town’s local flora as a base element.

(‘Mash damp flowers into a paste at the bottom of the cup.’ Check. ‘Pouring in boiling water.’ Check. ‘And lastly stir in anima tea for balance.’) He read in his own handwriting, before smirking at his final note. (‘Just like making Ma’s coffee by hand.’)

It wasn’t something he did often but he’d been curious about it once, and tried a few different ways of making coffee by hand. And while he himself wasn’t the biggest coffee drinker, he found he had a preference for french pressed, given how much control he could have over the brewing process and flavor vs his Ma’s coffee maker.

(Honestly, the sheer amount of overlap between cooking and making potions is probably why I picked it up so much faster than the other arts DeSade and Miss Edna tried to teach me.)

Scene Consequences

-Crafted (Potions Level * 1.5 =) 9 Doses of Tranquilizer.

--Tranquilizer will be applied to normal arrows when needed. (Note: Tranquilizer will not be applied to Trick Arrows.)

-Gained 1XP to Potions

--Currently: Lv. 6 (10/14)

---

“So, how exactly is this supposed to work?” Ying asked, going over the Contract that he’d made relatively straightforward in its ‘rule’. “Do I just sign this, or?”

“You need to sign it, with either your blood or your true name.” He explained, watching her with just a touch of nerves. “From there I give it a bit of magic and the Contract goes into effect.”

“Hmm… My true name?” Ying repeated curiously.

“Eh, that part has me a bit fuzzy.” He admitted, going over his notes. “A true name is any name you identify as your own, but the Contract gains more power the more you consider the name yours. The Contract is supposed to trigger some form of self-identity check to make sure you’re using a name connected to you rather than a false name. In which case the Contract would reject it and burn the name off.”

Closing his notebook he gave her a shrug. “As far as I can tell you just need to sign your full name, and it’ll work as intended.”

“I see…” Ying said, staring off in thought for a moment before signing the Contract and rolling it up. “Now what?”

“Now I see if I can trigger it.” He sighed, accepting the Contract before pulling the cool-warmth of his magic out of the amulet around his neck and pushing it into the Contract.

There was a faint drain on his magic, before an even fainter connection formed between him, Ying, and the piece of paper in his hands. One notably less clear and less powerful than the ones that bound him to Pix and Wolf.

“I think that does it.” He frowned, staring at the Contract before turning to Ying with a touch of concern. “Feel any different?”

“I feel… something.” Ying told him opening and closing her hand, as electricity danced across the surface. “It’s different from my regular magic, but I can’t tell what it’s doing exactly.”

“Yeah, most of that Contract’s effects were pretty passive.” He admitted. “The fact that you can feel the magic at all though likely means that the Contract worked.”

“Perhaps, but we won’t actually know for sure until night fall.” Ying argued, clenching her fist.

“So you intend to trigger the curse on purpose?” He grimaced.

“Of course.” Ying nodded. “We won’t know the full extent of the Contract until we’ve tested its positives and negatives. Besides based on what you’ve said the curse side of things should be notably more obvious than the boon, given how it should hinder me in everything.”

“Doesn’t that mean you should avoid risking it?” He pointed out, not liking the idea of the Draconian teen purposely hobbling herself.

Ying gave him a smile. “I appreciate the concern but this is something we need to test, and it’s best we do so while the effects only last for a day, rather than something more permanent.”

“I guess…” He frowned, not really agreeing with the idea despite understanding the other teen’s reasoning.

“Don’t worry Jon.” Ying told him, smiling softly upon seeing his lingering concern. “I’ll be fine.”

Scene Consequences

-Used ‘Hunter’s Boon, Moon’s Curse’ Contract for 1MP.

-Gained 1XP to Contracting: Dealmaking

--Currently: Lv. 3 (2/8)

-Grown a bit closer to Ying.

---

Staring at his book, he couldn’t help but let his attention begin to waver due to both the late hour and general lack of progress at figuring out how to use the Concept of [Shadows].

“Ugh, this is starting to give me a headache.” He couldn’t help but groan as he pawed at his eyes.

Leaning back in his seat and rolling out the kinks developing in his neck and shoulders, his eyes eventually drifted out of his room and up to the moon sitting just at third quarter. And as he stared at the half visible moon something in his head clicked and he realized that, (the moon is covered in shadows.)

Jolting as inspiration struck he pulled out a few of DeSade’s books for developing his [Moon] affinity, and began searching for any connection his affinity could have to the Concept of [Shadows]. Figuring that even if it wasn’t necessarily a combative concept, he doubted that DeSade would pass up on something leading to ‘darker’ arts.

(Wait. Here we go.) He stopped at an image of a black moon.

It took him a bit to decipher the text’s contents, but eventually he was able to piece together the broad strokes of the Concept [New Moon]. A fusion of both his [Moon] affinity as well as the Concept of [Shadows] which when put together created a Concept revolving around concealing things in shadows and, in a more mystical direction, renewing the power of any spell effect it’s applied to.

What’s more as he continued to study the Concept, the various bits and pieces he’d failed to understand about [Shadows] suddenly snapped into place. Enough so that he was sure he could put the Concept into use even if it wouldn’t be empowered by his natural affinity in the same way [New Moon] was.

(Though if [New Moon] counts as a form of [Moon], then I suppose it could empower [Shadows].) It was an interesting side thought, though he felt that there was a deeper reason for why [New Moon] was considered its own concept distinct from [Moon], even if he wasn’t sure what that difference was exactly.

(Maybe I can figure it out if I knew a bit more about how Magic works.) He couldn’t fight the yawn that escaped him after that thought. (Ugh, what time is it?)

Checking his phone only to grimace as he saw that it was well past midnight. “Well, at least it’s a Friday…”

Scene Consequences

A/N: This is the kind of thing I wanted to see when I made studying Concepts a logic mini-game, since I honestly didn’t make it myself. And as such I’ve unlocked [New Moon] as a bonus Concept between Shadows and the Moon. (The relationship between [New Moon] and [Shadows] is similar to [Moonlight] and [Light])

-Magic Logic Bonus: New Concept: [New Moon] unlocked a tier below [Moon].

-New Concept: [Shadows] unlocked a tier below [New Moon].

-For learning 2 new Concepts gained 2XP to Occult.

--Currently: Lv. 6 (10/14)