Chapter 3 The Clutch Sisters

Elysia trotted out of the exchange center, then took a right down the narrow street. As usual, Ione followed close behind, though she eyed the nearby Chrotile as if they were delicious treats. Not realizing the kitten’s desires, many Chrotile smiled down at her as they passed.

While walking down the scaly street, Elysia eyed the colorful array of people and buildings, but one thing was missing. Why wasn’t there any cars? Maybe Urus banned them. Fortunately, the crystal exchange wasn’t too far from Umbra.

Other than curious glances, everyone left her alone as she traveled down the street leading to the pier. She reached her destination a couple of minutes later. As she entered Umbra, the first thing that drew her attention was the mess from their unexpected flying session. As much as she wanted to shove the clean up on her crew, she didn’t want to show a messy boat to the crafters. Still, she’d rather clean than deal with a shopping addict like Eva. She thought her sister was bad with shopping, but Eva was on another level. How bad was her credit card debt? Somehow, she doubted she could resist credit cards. Fortunately for her, the system probably wiped out everyone’s debt, or maybe it didn’t, and that was the reason she joined me. All the more reason to keep everything of value locked away.

To distract herself from the potentially horrifying thoughts, Elysia got to work cleaning up Umbra. She started with the kitchen, closing cabinets and drawers as she filled them back up with their limited unpacked supplies. Good thing she didn’t open up the crates of supplies Eva ordered yet, or the mess would’ve been much worse.

Done with the kitchen, she entered the control room, wincing at the scattered clothes. She hoped her clothes were clean. Her nose scrunched as she threw Eva’s clothes into a pile before stuffing the pile in the suitcase rolled into a corner.

Elysia surveyed the control room with her hands on her hips. Good enough. If she wanted her clothes organized, she could do it herself.

Done with above deck, Elysia descended the stairs to reorganize her closet by stacking the pile of bags containing clothes in a corner again. As she finished, she heard a knocking above deck through her open bedroom door, prompting her to leave her bedroom.

She ascended the stairs to find two thin blue scaled Chrotile standing patiently on the rear deck outside the door to the cabin.

With a friendly smile, she opened the door. “Hello. Are you here about possibly making me gear and enchantments?”

The slightly lighter blue Chrotile on the right spoke first. “Yes, we are young elemental. This one is called Daesk and my clutch sister goes by Drask.”

Elysia nodded her head. “Nice to meet you two. I’m Elysia.” Before speaking further, Elysia glanced over her shoulder before announcing, “wait here. I’ll bring the materials up.”

Elysia retreated downstairs and opened her safe. Then she grabbed the still intact bundle of scales and spikes from the serpent she killed under Port Alberni. As she ascended the stairs, her eyes landed on the backpack housing her crystals resting on the couch in the living room where she left it as she cleaned.

Instead of bringing the materials outside, Elysia set them on the coffee table in front of the couch before unbundling it, self-conscious about her pants bag. She left the pile of scales and spikes on the table as she hid the pants bag in the bathroom.

With her collection displayed, Elysia opened the door then waved the duo inside. “The materials I want to use are on the table. I also have three skill crystals, including a high-grade poison spit skill crystal.”

The duo dipped their heads in respect to Elysia before entering. Elysia stepped back as the duo approached the table to inspect the materials.

Drask, the darker blue clutch sister, commented, “not bad, high quality attuned serpent scales.” She picked up a palm sized scale for a closer look. A flash of warmth filled the air before she spoke again. “High magical resistance, too. These will do nicely if you wish to have armor made with them.”

While Drask inspected the scales, Daesk picked up a spike. “Not bad as is. These could make a spear or short sword, but I think they could use some sharpening and treatment to bring out their potential.”

After finishing their inspections, the duo turned to Elysia with Daesk asking, “what would you like commissioned with these materials?”

Elysia paused for a moment to collect her thoughts before responding, “Recently I’ve had issues with my lightning melting most of the weapons I’ve tried to channel through. Will these materials make weapons strong enough to handle my lightning?”

Daesk took the question. “We would need to take measurements, but I think it should. Dungeon materials are extra resilient to magic. However, if you’re struggling with channeling your lightning through weapons. I would suggest improving your control. Am I right in assuming you recently evolved your class?”

Elysia scowled as her pride spiked but she nodded her head in the affirmative, prompting Drask to suggest, “I heard you know Thrazk. I would suggest asking if his prodigy clutch sister would give a lesson. She’s a dual fire lightning elementalist.”

Despite her pride fighting her, Elysia said, “Yeah, Thrazk offered to introduce me to her, so maybe I’ll take him up on it.”

“That would be for the best.” Drask paused before asking, “What type of weapon would you like?”

Elysia fell silent in thought at the question. What did she want? Did she really want a spear? She only made one out of necessity. Though the reach really helped. If she had to fight in tight spaces, a spear would be a liability, though.

Undecided, Elysia asked, “what do you think would be best for a lighting elemental? I would like to prioritize mobility. I’ve used spears, staves and throwing knives, but it was more out of necessity than desire as I had to ration my lightning and spears were easy to make.”

Both sisters measured her with their eyes before they began talking amongst themselves. “She’s too scrawny for a heavy weapon, so a two-handed axe or hammer is out.”

“It would be best for her to use something that synergizes with her lightning, so no wooden weapons unless we add a metal conductive core.” Said the lighter scaled sister.

“The materials would work well for a spear or sword, but a sword requires a lot of training to use effectively.” Added Drask.

Daesk turned to Elysia. “Do you have experience with wielding a sword?”

“No. To tell you the truth before the sys-“ Elysia caught herself before continuing. “Before the merge came, I had a safe life with no need for weapons. I lack experience with any weapon other than stabbing at creatures with a homemade spear or staff.”

Before Elysia could continue, the darker scaled sister asked, “So you are saying you don’t have a preference?”

“We could make a sword for cheaper, as one spike provides most of the materials needed.” Added the other sister.

“No, I don’t as long as it can handle my lightning and is effective as a weapon. I do like throwing knives too, but I have some I made from a nearby dungeon that are effective.”

“If I may ask, which dungeon?” inquired the lighter shade sister.

“Neah Bay. It’s maybe an hour east of here.”

“Would you be willing to show us the knives? We may improve them.”

Elysia shrugged her shoulders before retreating downstairs to fetch them from her closet. She returned a minute later with two of the crab daggers and handed one to each of the sisters to inspect.

After inspecting the dagger, the darker shade sister commented, “Crude but effective. The dungeon made wood shows signs of electrical burns, but the metallic tips appear undamaged.”

“What about adding the scales to the handle?” asked the lighter shade sister.

While nodding her head, the darker scaled sister added, “It would work, but for longevity I think replacing the handle with a stronger lightning resistant material would be best.”

“True.”

While the duo bounced ideas off each other, Elysia flopped on the couch. Ione joined her a moment later, curling up on her lap. On its own, Elysia’s hand gravitated toward Ione to pet her, earning her a content purr. What did she want? This would be so much easier if she had chosen the spear wielder path. She wondered if she could afford multiple types of weapons. That meant learning multiple weapons, though. Since she had lightning, she didn’t need to be too versatile with her weapons, at least she hoped.

After several minutes of conversing amongst themselves, Elysia jumped in. “How much would it cost to have several types of weapons made?”

The lighter scaled sister was the first to respond. “As a primary weapon that’s ill-advised unless you plan to become a weapon master. Without skills and years of practice, one can’t wield even one type of weapon at the level of an expert.”

“Yeah, you’re probably right. The only weapon skill I have is electrify, though I have proficiencies in spear and throwing knives.”

“At what level?” Inquired the darker scaled sister.

Elysia pulled up her status to check.

Status:

Name: Elysia Arashi

Race: Nascent Lightning Elemental Level 10.

Class: Path of Lightning Level 10.

Charge: 1225/1899.

Attributes:

Available Points: 95

Strength: 42

Dexterity: 42

Endurance: 42

Intelligence: 42

Perception: 42

Proficiencies:

Novice Spear Level 8.

Novice Throwing Knives Level 3.

Affinities:

Tier 2 level 1 Lightning

Resistances:

Death Resistance level 1

Water Resistance Level 1.

Poison Resistance Level 2.

Bonus

+70% Damage with Lightning.

+10% Damage to undead.

+10% Damage to Arthropod.

+15% Damage to Ladybugs.

Skills

Electrify Level 1.

Electrify Self Level 1.

Lightning Bolt Level 1.

Chain Lightning Level 1.

Smite Level 1.

Bonds

Sereia.

Umbra.

Ione.

Elysia’s eyes widened when they landed on her current charge, then her attribute points. Almost 2000 charge! Using 100 charge at once used to drain her. Now she could fling 19 lightning bolts. The Smite skill didn’t seem all that draining now. Though if she overcharged it, she could still drain herself, so she better be careful. Maybe she should take up the offer for elemental training. Why did the thought of asking someone else for help with her lighting feel wrong? Probably a weird quirk of her race.

What should she do with all these attribute points? She should probably ask someone before she distributed so many. The balanced layout seemed to work as the attribute scaling built on her strengths, but she could get more for each point if she dumped them into her higher scaled attributes. Though if she didn’t spend some on her strength, it could lead to problems down the road.

Elysia put off the thoughts of her increased stats for later. “Novice eight, for spear and novice three for throwing knives.”

The sisters stared at her for several seconds before Drask spoke. “You said you used a spear to save on lightning?”

While trying to keep herself from fidgeting, Elysia replied, “Yeah. I’m guessing novice eight is bad?”

“Depends on how long you spent, but yes, it is. Most of our clutches reach apprentice level before they leave the nest. However, that’s after expert instruction with our chosen weapon.”

Elysia winced before asking, “any chance I could learn from one of your instructors?”

The sisters glanced at each other before the lighter shade one responded, “I can’t say for certain, but maybe. Most of our combat instructors live with the crimson clan. Maybe try asking Thrazk. His clutch brother is an excellent instructor, plus Thrazk himself dabbles in teaching our young clutches when he has time.”

“How do I contact Thrazk?” Asked Elysia.

The ever nosy turtle made her presence known. “I’ve informed him of your arrival. I’m sure he’ll come visit eventually if nothing else to drag you to a dungeon.”

Seeing the telltale signs of their guardian speaking to someone, Drask announced, “we shall shelve the discussion on your weapon until an expert evaluates you.”

“That’s probably for the best. Like I said, I have next to no experience with weapons, but I can throw a mean lightning bolt.” Commented Elysia with a smile.

They acted like they didn’t hear the comment as Daesk asked, “Now what else would you like made?”

Elysia’s eyes landed on the pile of scales before answering. “I was thinking that the scales could make good armor. Most of the gear I use doesn’t survive a single dungeon.”

Both sisters nodded their head in agreement. “Agreed, elementally attuned scales make for excellent armor.”

Any further conversation stalled as a loud thud followed by the sound of heavy footsteps drew their attention toward the rear deck.