Erramir looked at Val and saw in her face the same look of confusion and concern he was feeling about promising this. “Car, don’t get me wrong man, I’d love to promise that, but...” He grimaced apologetically. “Isn’t that something that would normally happen during a big fight? We don’t always have the luxury of sitting around after a boss fight, bud.”

Carson glowered at the response. “Probably, but I don’t see how that matters, I know you managed to let me sleep for a while and we only survived because of my spell weaving. If I didn’t burn channels to the point of physical collapse, we’d all be dead. I think that’s earns me the right to recover peacefully. Or if we have to move, at the very least, just don’t strap my body into this Ink-forsaken contraption! What is this even?”

Valerie saw Erramir’s confusion, they both knew Carson didn’t share their love of all things fast, she’d actually considered his being out cold while they rode the Vanden train to be a boon. It was a bit like giving your dog a sleeping pill before taking them on a plane, it made just made everyone’s life easier.

Val undid her own buckles and stood. She addressed Carson with understanding, “Car, we totally appreciate your spell slinging power and yeah, we’d be dead without your hurling giant flaming rocks like you did. So, with the caveat that things might a bit rough if we get attacked, I can promise to let you recover in peace. Even then, blockbot can probably carry you without too much fuss.”

She paused, allowing him to relax a bit. “But I don’t understand why. You hate high speed travel, especially high-speed travel like this, where it’s more like a rollercoaster ride. Wouldn’t you prefer to be knocked out for that?”

Oddly the question seemed to irritate him. Erramir agreed with Val but he’d also caught something in Carson’s outburst that stood out as a bit odd. He was also standing now, having followed Val’s example, and he walked over to his good friend. “I promise too bud. We will not screw with you.”

Carson exhaled with a nod. “Thanks, Err.” Then he looked blankly out one of the windows.

Erramir knew if he waited, Carson would probably explain more. He also knew Carson to behave like this only when he was interrupted during some epic raid run or when he was on the cusp of a beating a timed run or solo fight for the first time. In short his friend relished big opportunities, performed his best during them and when they stolen by someone else’s folly, he didn’t react well.

Erramir smiled knowingly and with narrowed gaze, bent his head to catch Carson’s attention. “This isn’t about your recovery though, is it? Something happened, something worth getting upset about. What was it, what happened bud?”

Carson’s remaining anger dissolved under the pressure of Erramir’s eager excitement and understanding. He exhaled a snorted laugh. “Dude.” He looked back, smiling now. “You know me so well.” He shook his head, looked away and then met Erramir’s scrutinizing eyes. “Yeah something happened all right.”

Carson proceeded to tell them about the library in detail while Erramir and Val listened with rapt attention. When he described how soft the leather chairs were for the fourth time, Val snipped, “­Get your head out of damned sofa and on the mission.”

To this Carson retorted that she should, “Spend more time on a sofa and less time up my ass.” Erramir stepped in and resettled them before their verbal sparring got ramped up.

When Carson got to explaining how his time in the library ended, they finally understood his irrational reaction to the train. Both friends knew that, should their positions have been reversed, they would have reacted in similar fashions. Although Erramir, for his part, thought he would have done a better job communicating his displeasure. While Val thought she probably would have used fewer fancy words and more glowering–perhaps even a bit of physical violence.

In either case, they empathized. To be violently jerked out of such an informational treasure trove, and right on the cusp of gathering critical information about the mechanics of developing a rare and powerful ability to boot? Yeah, that was frustrating, to say the least.

So, through understanding Carson’s plight, as well as the potential value of time in such a library, they agreed to take extreme measures to respect Carson’s time in recovery. Any knowledge he gained would make them all stronger. Additionally, they also agreed to work on a list of critical questions for Carson to look up should his future efforts at essence channel expansion earn him more time in the library.

After that, Val peeled away from the boys to speak with blockbot and figure out why they’d stopped. While she did, Erramir filled Carson in on what he’d missed.

Starting with the Settlement 9 Quest, and their new appointment as Und Varden, he covered everything. Rounding out with discovering the train, and using to reach the large Und Varden base, where they hoped to find its leader, or at least more data about the corruption afflicting the underground metroplex.

The mage listened intently with occasional simple requests to clarify some detail or another. Only when Erramir wrapped up did he start with more probing inquiries as he tried to expand his fundamental understanding of Kuora.

Carson was particularly interested in the Und Varden tattoo and asked to inspect Erramir’s. As he did, Erramir was entertained by a breath of facial fluctuations as focused interest, became wide-eyed surprise, became amused giddiness, and ended in bemused mystification as he pulled away, shaking his head. When he didn’t offer an explanation, Erramir immediately prodded him, “Well?”

In response, the mage shifted his attention between Erramir, and the tattoo serval times, all the while with just the left half his face scrunched in puzzled deliberation. Eventually he dropped the arm and his expression settled to the calm intensity that was typical. “That tattoo sounds like Christmas. Why does your tattoo sound like Christmas, Err?”

This was about the most ridiculous answer Erramir could imagine, and he was inclined to laugh it off. However, that response had been preemptively suppressed by the silent drama he’d witnessed during Carson’s inspection. He knew that his friend was not screwing with him in some twisted design on retribution for being yanked for the library.

That was how Erramir found himself looking between the rooted hammer sigil on his arm and Carson, his own face no doubt twisted in confusion. After only a few iterations of this head bobbing attention shifting, the irony was too humorous. He smiled, chuckled, and gave up trying to understand. “Alright bud I yield. What are you talking about? It’s a tattoo. It doesn’t sound like anything.”

Carson replied immediately with confidence. “Yeah it does. It sounds like jingle bells and Santa Claus. You should definitely be able to hear it. I can, and I just put my core essence near it.” His voice rose with mild disbelief. Carson appeared to realize the truth and cocked his head at the taller man. “Wait, have you tried to probe it with your core essence yet?”

“No. Why would I think to do that?” The response was halfhearted, Erramir already knew that he’d overlooked this simple step.

“I don’t know.” Carson cut a thin, disapproving smile with a heavy brow. “Because it’s on your body.”

“Unghh. I didn’t even think to do that.” Erramir almost rolled his eyes at himself, but he was reminded, once again, that Carson always seemed to intuit these kinds of things better than he could. With a nod and a smirk, he acknowledged his friend. “I knew there was a reason we kept you around.”

“Right. That and saving your ass from giant, killer steel balls.”

“And that too, I suppose. You do have a way with giant balls.” He smirked. Raising his tattooed arm slightly, Erramir closed his eyes, and extended his core energy into the tattoo. The result was just as Carson had described.

“Hahaha. I’ll be damned if you’re not right. It sounds like Christmas bells!” Opening his eyes with a smile he said, “Pretty cool actually. Any idea what it means?”

Carson grinned. “It is pretty cool right. But no. I have no idea what it means. I can tell that it’s some kind of earth essence, just not the normal kind that my core resonates with. If I had to guess, I’d say it’s a special Und Varden essence.”

Erramir was glad for the insight, although it really didn’t reveal anything important. He couldn’t think of any other related clues, they chocked it up as another piece in larger puzzle and moved on. Carson asked Erramir to explain, in detail, how the breathing technique that had allowed them to locate the train station, worked. Which he did while the mage nodded in consideration.

Right about then, Val’s muttering became more insistent in her communications with blockbot via Virginwood. With his friend caught up, Erramir turned his attention to her while Carson decided to check his own system notifications.

He had all the same notifications that Erramir had briefed him on, including the new quest as well as the Und Varden accomplishment. The experience rewards boosted him to level seven and the tattoo burned when it appeared, just as Erramir had warned him. He could touch it with his soul essence and the result was as expected, he had the sudden urge to build a snowman.

Before opening the next system notification, Carson checked his avatar’s attributes.

Carson Stix

Titles: Elementalist Prodigy

Avatar Attributes

Strength: 19 (+5)

Constitution: 30 (+5)

Agility: 25 (+5)

Twitch: 25 (+5)

Intellect: 45 (+10)

Willpower: 42 (+10)

Charisma: 13

Free Attribute Points: 28 *

Advanced Attributes

Presence: 1

(*Equilibrium bonus restriction: Free attribute points held in abeyance until level 10 or until alternate requirement met.)

For a lowly level seven, Carson thought his attributes were seriously impressive. He smiled at this. Then his smile slipped. He didn’t have any clear idea how they were actually impacting him. He knew what they should be doing. It was standard gamer knowledge after all. In general, intellect determined which spells you could learn as well as how powerful they were. While Strength dictated how hard you hit and Constitution your total health and endurance. Twitch was new, but Ink’s arrow metaphor provided a clear explanation of what it and agility governed.

For probably the tenth time, he made a concerted push of curiosity and attempted to pull up a combat log. Nothing. “Probably something I need to unlock.” He sighed. “I suppose it doesn’t matter yet.” A combat log would help him learn how attributes affected performance. But, with his free points locked up, there really weren’t any choices to make yet. If needed, he could just rely on usage-based points as a guide and put them in intellect, willpower and constitution. Easy enough.

Val had some ability to see monster health levels and estimate damage amounts. Hopefully by level ten, when his free points were available, he’d have unlocked something like she had and would understand the system in more detail. “I wonder if the library would have any books on attributes?” He mused and made a mental note to check if he got more time in the library. Carson moved on to his next notifications.

Spell Weave Created: Rain of Earthen Fury

Experience Gained: 1000

Spell Weave Learned: Rain of Earthen Fury

Elemental Energies: Earth (primary), Air, Fire, Water

Description: Form spikes of hardened earth that burn with elemental fire and rain them down upon your enemies. Spike size is determined by weave structure.

Weave class: Journeyman

Physical Damage:120 – 12,000

Fire Damage: 8 - 800/ second

Affinity Evolved – Essential Density – Trait gained: Conductor – During your party’s fight with Undavir the mining construct, your spell weave, Earthen Fury, required essential energy flow equal to 156% of your maximum channel capacity. Resultantly, Essential Density generated a 2.12x power multiplier to Earthen Fury damage. The resultant stress to your essential energy channels has forced them to adapt, reducing density and increasing flow capacity by 28%. Your conductance capacity has increased from 4.3 to 5.5.

Trait Progression: Conductor – Base conductance growth set to: Air, Water, Earth, Fire. The Earthen Fury weave has been used as a baseline to establish how your essential energy channels will grow. Your base Conductance growth is set to include all four elements.

He finished reading the messages and smiled while gently patting himself on the stomach. He definitely would have excluded fire essence, which he now knew was actually destructive, from that weave without being compelled by his gut to include it.

“You’ve got my ear now tummy. First digestion and now important life decisions, I hope you can handle the responsibility.”