“Remember that in this space, you are kind of like a god, as long as you know what you are doing. Not only is your soulspace good for learning and for building yourself and your magic, but it is also a good place to safely build spells. There are limits, of course, especially since nothing in here is physical and it will not react the way physical things should, so you couldn’t do something like… Alchemy in here until you learn to simulate physical laws enough and bring objects in or out, but that could be decades from now,” she started again. “I like the term you came up with, soulspace. Very descriptive and succinct. Some wizards get grandiose or call it simple and generic things that can get confused, like their chamber of eternity, or simply the realm.”

“Let’s start with something simple, a floor. Floating is natural for me, but you are used to having an up and a down, and magically, it helps to be as much like the real world as possible. So try to imagine that you have some kind of floor. Don’t worry about gravity for right now, creating physical laws takes more effort, and we will get to that in a moment.”

I nodded and imagined a floor. In this case, I imagined a little waste park that had been near my house growing up. With Mnemosyne’s coaching, I imagined the tall grass that filled the field in the summertime, golden stalks tipping over near the worn footpath where people like me, kids that practiced scouting skills near their house or just wanted to wander around outside, headed down to a nearby creek. I imagined the smell of the suntouched grass and the dirt of the path, the sound of wind rustling through the grass and the nearby chirping and bubbling of what we referred to as a ‘crick’, the play of shadows from the dappled light cutting through the sparse trees, and the feel of the grass against my bare feet and the warm sun on my head and back.

I opened my eyes to see that Mnemosyne looking somewhat gobsmacked. The park, just as I remembered it, was set off to one side of my soulspace, centered on us. There was no real sun or sky, but a fifty foot chunk of park looked like it had been transplanted here, and I could feel the nonexistent sun on my skin even though the rest of my soul space was still drifting rainbow mist with the weird tangle at the center.

“Your imagination is very… umm… complete,” she said, and I noticed that we seemed to have some sort of gravity since we were both standing in the field’s cleared area of crossed paths and I could indeed feel the grass under my bare feet. I was clothed like I remembered the last time I had been here, a pair of ripped jeans and a Rush Tee-shirt, but I was still the adult version of myself. I remembered gravity holding me down here, so I guess it just naturally included it.

I shrugged a little, “My whole life I have spent learning to filter and recognize things other people take for granted, so I am a little hyper perceptive. I am just glad it worked.” I knew that I was in my soulspace still, and that knowledge was obvious in the way the sky and surroundings were still undefined, but keeping different experiences clearly defined was sort of what I did.

She still looked somewhat surprised as she looked around. “This is so clear and present. That should make things both easier and harder. Imagining changing reality, the way it should work and feel should be easy for you, you have an enormous will, but it might be difficult to define something you haven’t experienced.” She brushed her hand against the tall grass head near her, and almost as if arguing with her conclusion, a grasshopper, disturbed, flew from the grass and landed nearby. Why? Because I remembered this place having grasshoppers that flew constantly out from underfoot, and I thought it would be cute. She jumped a little and then glared at me. “Or maybe not.” And I flopped down on the grass, several more grasshoppers floating away as I spread my legs and grabbed a piece of grass to nibble. This was fun.

“So what next, Mnemosyne?” I asked her, tilting my head as the remembered flavor of dried summer grass filled my mouth intentionally as I nibbled on the base of the stalk, the bushy seed head of the grass a few inches away.

She smiled again and seemed to grow slightly more solid, and less translucent. “Thank you for the name. I like it. It’s almost musical.” She adjusted her glasses a little and then took them off, tucking them into her shirt pocket. Down boy. “Since we are going to figure out a way to deal with your attributes later, I think the next part is to set up your skills. The things you have learned to do can be defined if you’d like. Because there are essence levels in everything, most people learn to identify, even if they are not magically inclined. It is technically a spell, but since they are getting essence rather than spending it, even those who have no talent for handling spells can generally learn to do it. The bands just give it to everyone, but it is fairly easy to learn without one.”

“Is that the thing where I saw the blue sparkles that came from Cassie and then returned to her?” I asked her, rolling the grass stalk in my mouth.

“Not exactly,” Mnemosyne responded, shaking her head. “That was what is known as an active identify. It is used by the bands to get band-specific information, that it can use for other things like personal identification, messaging, and stuff that only bands do like classes and level. Most people consider it rude to do it without permission since it can give information that they don’t want to be shared or can make them vulnerable. If one banded knows another banded’s class and level, they could create strategies to defeat them based on known weaknesses.”

“No, this is considered more passive. Since everything is based on essence, you can sort of get a read off of the essence involved, its taint level, stigma, and even the amount of skill invested into it, and a general idea of its value, if you know it. If you learn crafter signatures, it can even give you an idea of who crafted it or if it was done in their style by someone else, like a forgery or student. That all takes higher skill with using the ability though, and you have never used it before.”

“There is a Draconic word for it, but you have only forged a few associative links so far. It is kind of the basis for forming more links, though, so I suggest you try and use it even though it might hurt a little at first. Without it, doing everything else we need to do is almost impossible. Oh, let me give you more information this time after I tell you, so don’t go off half-cocked like you did with accepting me, okay?

I nodded, I had recovered fairly well from the earlier headaches, so I could recover from this, especially if it was normal. “No using it yet, got it.”

She continued, “The word in your language is ‘Observe’. It uses a hint of illusion to display, in your mind, the idea of what you are observing, in a known language. Because you can visualize things, that proves you have enough illusion magic to display it in your own perceptions, although some people cannot actually visualize like that, they would need to use something like that Dwarf’s identify.”

I was familiar with the concept of Aphantasia, the inability to visualize. Sometimes it was the result of some kind of break in the brain due to damage or surgery, but it was also occasionally something people were born with, like colorblindness. Since I didn’t have Aphantasia, apparently [observe] would be able to visualize labels or something telling me about stuff.

I nodded to Mnemosyne “I can handle a little pain, especially if it’s less than before. I guess I am ready to try it?” She nodded to me and folded her hands across her middle as if she were waiting for a student to answer a question in class.

I thought of the word ‘observe’ in English and what it would be in kobold, and when I received the answer I spoke out loud, [observe]. Ouch! I was flooded with concepts, but they were just unfamiliar, not nearly as painful as before. I realized that [observe] was not even remotely a spell, that relied on your own ability to visualize to create the link, and simply...accepted what the world was trying to tell you.

It was a little like the beginning of a migraine, where you started seeing watery visual hallucinations and the beginnings of an edge of pain, but after a few moments, the watery image stabilized. I guess I couldn’t observe things here in my soul space, since they were all my mind’s creations, but I still got the imaginary impression of a box with words in English inside of it.

Congratulations! You have unlocked the [Observe] skill. You are now a poor novice with this skill.

“Poor Novice?” I asked Mnemosyne curiously. To which she nodded, “Yes. I figured numbers would probably be best for measurable things, like how long you can sprint or hold your breath, but you expressed an interest in keeping it more organic for other things, and subjective. I kind of agree so skills are going to be ranked based on your control and talent. Control can be measured as poor, mediocre, fair, good, great, and superb for each level, and the levels of talent are novice, apprentice, journeyman, adept, expert, master, and grandmaster. Some things don’t have real limits, which is why they have to be measured in numbers that can keep going forever, but skills and stuff really do have a ‘best’, which is where grandmaster comes in. grandmaster doesn’t have control ranks, if you ever get there you have reached the very top, but looking at the skill clusters you are not anywhere near it, so that’s fine.”

Mnemosyne looked a bit excited as she added, “So, the reason it hurt a little bit is that not only did you build an associative memory where one had never existed before, but you also opened your first channel! Well, second really, since you already had one opened to your soulspace or zone, which is why the entire time we have been here only about ten minutes have passed in the outside world, but that was a gift, and gifts have their own channels.”

Okay, channels. Another concept I was going to have to learn and get used to. She continued, “but now that you have opened up your channel, I should be able to give you updates outside of the zone. Like I could have told you that what you faced was a bunch of goblins, and you might have been able to observe them or the stuff you got. Now that you have [observe], I can even tell you how badly you are hurt, or if you activate a gift or evolution you don’t know about.” She pointed towards one of the globs of color.

“For example, the reason you are healing quickly is that you have a minor regeneration evolution, which is probably why the body you are in was able to survive being tossed down into the sewers. Normally Bane wolf bites cause nasty infections, and it might have happened if he had gotten deeper, but the shallow scratches were not enough and you are healing them quickly. You still want to take care of it if you get a real wound, though. Minor regeneration helps you heal fast, but it only heals you more quickly, it won’t fix messy wounds or regrow things you get cut off.”

She spoke quickly, “Now that you have [observe], we can identify your skills, lump them together based on what has the most associative links, and build skill groups so we can enhance them if they can be enhanced. That’s one of the most useful tricks behind essence. Anyone that can build talent groups can use essence to get better results out of those groups, even if they can never associate magic like a spellcaster. An experienced swordsman, for instance, could enhance their sword skills and be able to use them to do things like cut through armor more easily, or create devastating blows, special moves, or even defenses that are incredibly difficult to break.”

Well, that explains why magicians of various sorts do not completely dominate this world on every level. A warrior that could destroy a fortification with a single blow of his ax would be very powerful, and maybe the secret techniques so beloved of hong kong movies and xianxia tales like Dim Mak, wirefighting, and rhino hide were very much possible!

As if reading my thoughts, Mnemosyne continued, “that’s one of the things that keeps the world in balance. Even non-mages can use essence enhancements or gifts, but then, so can monsters, although if they are not intelligent they just grow rather than being assigned. Monsters and animals tend to have set paths for advancement, they grow up, get stronger and faster, etcetera, but sometimes weird magical influences can change those paths, creating new beasts with new abilities and gifts never seen before. That’s why adventurers are so important since a howlbear that can knock down fortifications with just its voice could make short work of a city wall or something. The really dangerous monsters have to be curtailed or they could cause enormous mischief.”

She beamed, and said, “how about you leave your zone now and try using [observe] in the real world for a little while? I am going to look at your skill groups and gifts and talents and see how we can organize them, and when you get back we can get to work! You also look hungry, and creating illusionary food here won’t help your real body much.”

I had finally relaxed around her, and her presence didn’t bother me as much, once I understood her limitations. She wasn’t digging around in my mind like an invader or conqueror but genuinely seemed to want to help. I could tolerate her presence for the time being, which set my mind at ease. I wasn’t used to getting help from other people, but it was something I could live with, especially since it seemed like I would be doing all the work for myself and learning things on my own.

I slowly eased myself out of my soulspace, noting that [observe] allowed me to act as though I were in my normal zone while I was down there, which was good since I did not like the idea of leaving my body senseless and unprotected.

The first thing I noticed when I returned to the real world (heh!) was that Mnemosyne had been right. Very little time had passed. I still ached from my bite wound and was exhausted from swimming and abusing my zone, and everything was still soaked. I would have killed for a battery-operated hairdryer.

Well, mostly the Goblin’s clothes were ruined. To be fair, while it was a survival situation, I still didn’t trust them not to be infested, so I carefully slipped out of my new thorny nest and disposed of the clothing in the current.

The Yarn had huge potential, and while the hides were poorly tanned, they WERE tanned. They were far too thick to make comfortable clothing, but I coiled one of the hides up and dragged it into my makeshift shelter. The center of the thorn bushes was fairly spacious, several feet in each direction probably because it never got any light through the leafy brambles overhead, so I started work on a project using my knife.

Ironically enough, the best time to work on heavy leather is when it is soaking wet. It was going to be miserable to wear when I was done, but drying on my body should make it fit my build almost perfectly once the water was gone. Using a thorn, I scratched marks on the inside of the leather as I measured it around me, and used my badly-cured garment as a cape to sit upon while I worked.

Conceptually, Roman-style lorica looked terribly complicated. All those straps and segments, but in practice, especially when all you had was leather and string, it was the easiest armor in the world to make. It was flexible and moved with you, while at the same time providing layers of protection from almost any sort of strike. It could be adapted to almost any form since it was tied either at the sides or the front, but in my case, I went for front ties because I planned on putting one more plate of leather over the front and back.

She wanted me to [observe], so the first thing I did was [observe] the hide before I made the first cut. It was very large and would provide lots of scraps and leather straps as well as what I needed for clothing or armor. It would not be as pretty as a workshop garment, but it would look vastly more civilized than the raw leather chunks that a few of the Goblins had worn as armor.

Poorly tanned elk hide

This hide has been traditionally brain-tanned but was poorly crafted by a novice crafter. As a hide, its value is very low, but might be crafted into better quality gear.

Value: low, grade D

Weight: 15 lbs dry, 35 lbs wet.

Current status- soaked. If this hide is not tended correctly, it will lose much of its value unless treated.

The box popped into my head, and I was very pleased. Most of the information I was well aware of, which was probably why it had appeared.

It was a little on the thin side, but not too thin, which is why I planned on taking advantage of layering to get decent armor. Its weight was a welcome boon, though, because I knew how heavy it felt while I was lugging it, and that gave me a better appreciation for my strength. I was weak, yes, but for my size, I was considerably stronger than a child would have been, which was somewhat comforting. If I were lifting, I would set my ‘hard gains’ bench at about one hundred pounds lift right now, and perhaps one-fifty for leg press. Yes, it was super low, but not critical, and I felt like I could improve things over time.

The cutting was slow, and at one point I had to use a pebble and water to resharpen the knife, but the hardest part was cutting even thongs from the leather. Once the thongs were cut, and I was carefully trimming out the plates for the shoulders, belly, and eventual arm and calf guards, I had to soak the thongs again because they had dried too quickly.

The greaves were kind of interesting. I was using a strip skirt to protect and cover my short upper legs, but the calf-feet needed a special design I had never even heard of before, more like barding than leg guards. Because the foot bones and my actual forearms didn’t need any flexibility until you got to the wrists and elbows, I simply bent a whole piece of leather around them instead of trying anything fancy.

I used the knifepoint as an awl and found myself using thorns from the bush as punches to push the thongs and yarn through the holes as I worked for most of the night. I took a break to weave two baskets and another fish trap out of the reeds I had found, but eventually used long strips of the reeds to reinforce the wristguards and the leather surcoat I was making, and then used the yarn to cover up the green.

I was finished a little bit after dawn, having used [observe] hundreds of times while looking at the material. Mnemosyne had gleefully informed me of each time the skill increased, and I was getting better information.