Chapter 012

Preparing For The Expedition

Ren found himself sitting nervously in what looked like a large corporate office, across from him was a large oak desk and behind it a rather regal chair that was currently empty. When Ren had been stopped at the gates he showed the letter from Donan and was led into this room then told to wait. With nothing better to do he opened his stat window to get a look at his latest updates.

Status[quart=Name,level]Ren,1[/quart][quart=Gender,Class]Male,Artificer[/quart][quart=Race,Fame/Infamy]Elfling,100 (Neutral)[/quart]TitleDonan’s Apprentice[quart=Health,Mana]435,165[/quart][quart=Strength,Dexerity]65,50[/quart][quart=Vitality,Agility]43,45[/quart][quart=Endurance,Intelligence]44,17[/quart][quart=Luck,Wisdom]17,16[/quart]

Except for his wisdom, intelligence and luck the rest of his stats had increased by about 5 points each, it wasn’t really a huge gain and was to be expected since he’d been doing work that didn’t push him past his limits but it was still an excellent gain none the less, his stats alone put him on equal to about a level 43 character, though that was only in terms of the amount of extra stats he’d gained, he had no doubt that most players would also grind in various ways to gain additional points outside of levelling.

He still found his lack of wisdom and intelligence troubling, he felt his mana pool was severely lacking for the skills he had on hand to use. Closing the window he then opened up his smithing skill list.

Smithing Level 1 (Intermediate 6%)

Smithing Sub-Skills

Hammering Level 6 (Intermediate 42%)

Smelting Level 3 (Intermediate 46%)

Blade Forging Level 1 (Intermediate 23%)

Sharpening Level 1 (Intermediate 53%)

Polishing Level 1 (Intermediate 63%)

All his smithing skills were at intermediate from his smithing blitz at Donan’s forge, though he was sure there was still more sub skills for him to unlock. As he closed the window the door to the office opened and in walked a well dressed man with short hair and a neatly trimmed beard that took a seat behind the desk before Ren. A letter in his hand which he sat on the desk.

“So Ren is it?” The man looked Ren over curiously.

“Yes sir.” Ren nodded.

The man just nodded. “I’m Eric the lord of Aurora.” He picked the letter up once more and looked it over. “I’m surprised Donan finally took on an apprentice, you must have really impressed him.” Ren blushed lightly at his words. “However, It would be foolish of me to just take his word, I hope you don’t mind if I request a small test of you to show your skill, I can’t risk sending someone with my men that ends up being unable to maintain their equipment.”

“Of course sir, if I don’t meet your standards then by all means tell me so, I would hate to be the cause of any troubles during such an important event.”

Eric smiled softly at Ren’s words. “I’m glad you understand.” He stood up and headed over to a small side desk where a long box sat, opening it he pulled out what looked like an extremely old and not to mention rusty sword. “This is an old treasure sword, it has no practical use as such, it was used in old knighting ceremonies and the like, as you can see its almost crumbling to pieces even as I hold it.” He held the old ornate sword out to Ren. “I want you to try fixing it for me.”

Ren gulped as he took the old sword from Eric and looked it over, as Eric had said flakes of rust were falling off the sword even as he held it, it would likely shatter with just a light tap. Standing up he placed the sword on the desk and took out his smithing hammer, touching it to the sword lightly before calling out. “Repair!”

The blade was enveloped in a glow, the rust seemed to melt away from the blade as the bright sheen of steel became visible, the chipped edges filled in along the blade and the cracks rejoined, Eric watched with wide eyes as Ren turned back to him and held up the now pristine ceremonial sword that just a moment ago would have fallen apart if you sneezed on it.

Eric picked up the blade and looked it over carefully, inspecting every detail of the sword but he could find not a single fault with the repair. “Truly you travellers are amazing people.” He set the sword back into its box gently and turned to face Ren. “Ren, I have personally witnessed your skill and would be very grateful if you would use it to aid my men for the duration of the expedition.” He held his hand out to Ren.

Ren smiled brightly up at Eric and shook the offered hand. “I’ll do everything in my power to not disappoint you sir.”

New Quest!

You’re now part of the expedition heading into a newly discovered dungeon, your job is to maintain the equipment of your fellows, no fighting is required on your behalf as your role is that of support.

Difficulty – B

Rewards

???

Expedition Record

Contribution points – 0

Weapons Repaired – 0

Armor Repaired - 0

Aurora solders dead due to equipment failure – 0

Ren blinked at the two windows but before he could look them over properly Eric continued. “Glad to hear it Ren, come this way.” Eric led Ren out of the office and down along the halls to a section of the keep that looked like a barracks, entering a room Ren saw rows of solders sparing against one another, a man in heavy armor marched up and down the rows of men shouting over the clashing of steel.

“Keep your back straight! Lift your shield higher, keep it that low and you’ll get an arrow in the eye soldier. You! It’s a sword not a bouquet of flowers, strike firm and swift, the only thing limp in this room should be what’s between your legs!”

Eric stepped up behind the shouting man and let out a small cough before speaking. “How are the men shaping up captain?” The man turned around and immediately when he saw Eric he gave a salute.

“Sir! There a sorry bunch but I’ll have them whipped into shape in no time.” The man cast a small glance to Ren before looking back to Eric. “To what do I owe the pleasure of your visit today milord?”

“I came to introduce the one that will be maintaining your gear during the expedition.” Eric motioned to Ren who smiled and gave a light nod.

“Hello sir, I’m Ren, it’s nice to meet you.”

The captain looked at Ren curiously then back to Eric. “Sir… is this some joke?”

Ren frowned at the remark but Eric replied swiftly. “It is not captain, he is Donan’s apprentice and I’ve assessed his skill myself, he is the one you will be taking with you and you will give him the respect deserving of someone that you will be relying on heavily.”

The captain didn’t look completely pleased but he straightened up at Eric’s words and saluted. “Yes sir!”

Eric chuckled. “Don’t worry, once you see what he can do you’ll understand.” He patted the captain’s shoulder before turning and heading off with Ren in tow. Leaving the captain somewhat baffled.

Eric escorted Ren to the main gates of the keep. “Now that we have you Ren we can finally start this expedition, it will take a few days once I put out the call to get preparations ready, get yourself ready in the mean time and come back in three days, we’ll be ready to leave then.” At his words a small timer window opened before Ren showing a countdown of how much time he had to prepare for the quest.

“I’ll return when it’s time to leave then sir.” Ren smiled and gave a light bow before leaving the keep and heading back to the artisan district, he had three days to pick up a few more skills he wanted for the trip. His first stop was to finally visit Issac the enchanter. Issac’s workshop looked almost like an antique store, the shelves were littered with items from simple jewellery to old furniture and clothes.

Issac was spotted leaning over his desk, his hands hovering over a small silver amulet, his hands glowed lightly as he seemed to be enchanting it so Ren stood still and waited quietly until he was finished before letting out a light cough to get his attention. Issac turned around at the cough to see Ren. “Ah it’s Ren yes? It’s been some time since we bumped into one another, what brings you to my workshop today?”

Ren smiled and bowed his head to Issac lightly. “Yes it’s been a while, I wanted to visit sooner but I got carried away with other things. I came here hoping I might learn a little about enchanting from you.”

Issac chuckled. “So you’ve gotten tired of smacking metal around then?”

Ren shook his head. “No sir, I’ve actually been invited by Lord Eric to join an expedition where he would like me to maintain the armor and weapons of his men, we don’t know what kind of dangers will lurk where we are going so I was hoping I could learn at least the basics of enchanting before I leave, that way I can enhance equipment of Eric’s soldiers a little more.”

Issac nodded to his words. “I see, It’s admirable that you wish to go that step further then what’s been asked of you, I’m sure Eric will be thrilled. But… I’m afraid as you are you to lacking in knowledge to learn from me.” Issac turned to his desk and began to write out a note.

“As an enchanter we don’t use magic like mages do but we rely on understanding how the elements a mage uses works, what we do is a magic but its permanent unlike when a mage simply flings a fireball at someone, simply understanding that ‘fire burns’ isn’t enough, you try to enchant a ring with only that much knowledge of fire at your disposal and you’ll make a ring that sets the person who wears it on fire.” He chuckles and turns back around holding a letter out to Ren.

“Take this to the library, it should get you free membership to the library, there’s also a list of several books I want you to read, if you can gain knowledge in at least the four base elements I’ll show you how to enchant items.” Ren nodded and took the letter.

“Thank you sir, I’ll learn about the four base elements as quickly as I can.” He smiled and waved before darting out of the workshop and down the street, thankfully he’d passed the library once before during his exploration of the city so it only took a short run to get there.

Before entering the large library Ren took a moment to straighten his clothes and catch his breath then pushed the large door open and slipped inside, inside the library was quite the sight, bookshelves that reached all the way to the roof at least two stories high, Ren slowly shuffled into the library, his head stuck looking straight up in awe of the towers of books until he bumped into a desk and fell back with a grunt.

“Oof.” He looked to the desk to find a young girl with glasses leaning over it to look at him curiously.

“Are you ok?”

Ren quickly nodded and stood up, brushing himself off, the desk the girl was behind looked like the reception desk. “Yes I’m fine, sorry, it’s my first time here, all these books, it’s amazing.”

The girl giggled at his comment and nodded. “It’s not the biggest library around but were proud of it.”

Ren blinked. “Not the biggest? Really?” His eyes bulged at the prospect of there being a library bigger than this one.

The girl giggled again and nodded. “Yup, our’s can’t compare to some of the larger ones in the bigger cities.” She smiled to him. “Are you here to pick up something for your parents perhaps?”

Ren blinked again. “Huh? Ah… no…” He frowned slightly as she seemed to have taken him for being a child, not that he wasn’t used to it by now but it still weighed down on him each time. He pulled out the letter Issac gave him and handed it over to her.

The girl took the letter and read it over slowly before then looking back at Ren curiously until she finally noticed his pointed ears. “Oh my! I’m so sorry, I thought you were just a child we don’t get many elflings in this city.” Ren just smiled and waved it off. “As for what’s in this letter I don’t see any problem with giving you membership to the library, well… normally I would have to call the head librarian first but this is my apology for thinking you were just a kid.” She smiled to him before she set about getting a library card for him.

Within a few minutes she was holding out a small copper plate no bigger than a business card to him and a small pin. “This is your library card, it needs a drop of your blood to print your identification information on it.” Ren froze at the sight.

“I..i…isn’t there another way…I … I don’t like needles?” He eyed the pin nervously.

The girl looked at him curiously then looked at the pin. “Umm… sure… would a knife do instead?” Ren nodded and she rummaged under the counter for a moment before pulling out what looked to be a small fruit knife she likely used on breaks.

Ren let out a sigh and took the knife with a nod and used the tip to make a tiny cut to his finger then pressed it to the card, the card glowed for a moment as his details were etched into it magically.

Library Card Holder - Ren

Rank D

Books read – 0

Ren looked at the card curiously before looking back to the girl, before he could ask she began to explain. “That is your library i.d card, it keeps track of your rank, how many books you’ve read and weather your late on returning a book or not. The rank system determines what kind of books you can read, most books you won’t be allowed to leave with though. The reason there’s a ranking system is because some information is restricted, or the books are so old that special care needs to be made when reading them, so of course we aren’t going to trust someone new off the streets to look after such special books, you have to earn our trust.”

Ren nodded to her words. “I understand, how do I increase my rank?”

“In various ways, making sure books you read stay in good condition, returning them on time, the amount of books you’ve read, donating rare books you might find on your travels things like that.”

Ren nodded again. “Ok, with my current rank am I able to read the books Issac listed for me?”

The girl nodded. “Yup, there pretty common ones, he probably knew you weren’t a member so pointed you towards these ones, If you want to just take a seat over at one of the reading desks I’ll have someone fetch the books for you.”

Ren smiled. “Thank you miss.”

The girl giggled. “Just call me Rosie.”

“Ok, thank you Rosie.” He smiled and headed over to the desks that were set out, quite a few were already taken up by other players, most seemed to be mages likely reading to increase their intelligence or hoping to learn spells from the books, there were some other normal warrior looking players as well pouring through the books though they didn’t seem to be treating the books as delicately as the mage types.

After about ten minutes a young boy came along and set down a pile of books on Ren’s table. “Here’s your books sir, when you’re done reading just set them on the left side of the desk and someone will come pick them up.”

“Thank you.” Ren smiled and the boy headed off to collect books from other desks. Ren looked to the stack of books he had, there were four books in total each one seemed to be about a single element. Taking the first book from the pile that seemed to be about the earth elemental magic.

As he read, the book explained the element from various standpoints of magic, when earth magic was used as protection great walls could be called from the ground or a person’s skin could be made has hard as iron, when attacking spikes of earth could rupture from the ground to impale foes or stones be thrown at them, earth magic could also be used to heal the land or boost the growth of plants. In enchanting earth magic would boost the defence and durability of armor and weapons.

Thankfully the books weren’t too thick, probably about a hundred pages not including the sketches and various other drawings, as he finished reading the book about the earth element he got two new messages.

New Skills!

Speed Reading Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

(Passive)

Time seems to slow down around you as you read, letting you read more in less time

Knowledge Of Earth Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

You’ve gained an understanding of the element of earth

This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the earth element

Earth affinity and resistance increased by 5%

With a grin Ren set the first book aside and picked up the next which was the book of fire, the details within were set out the same as the book on earth magic explaining how fire magic could be used to attack by throwing balls of flame at foes, it could also protect one from burns by enveloping the caster with their own flames which would also damage any foes that got to close, fire had no healing aspect unless it was used on being that was comprised of the fire element such as a summoned elemental or a fire based monster. In enchanting fire magic could add fire damage to weapons or fire resistance to armor.

New Skill!

Knowledge Of Fire Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

You’ve gained an understanding of the element of fire

This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the fire element

Fire affinity and resistance increased by 5%

Ren grinned as he finished the next book, his speed reading was increasing as well which meant he could get through each book quicker than the last, in the end it only took him half the day to get through all the books and attain the skills they had to give.

New Skill!

Knowledge Of Water Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

You’ve gained an understanding of the element of Water

This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the Water element

Water affinity and resistance increased by 5%

New Skill!

Knowledge Of Wind Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

You’ve gained an understanding of the element of Wind

This knowledge allows you to enchant items or cast spells more proficiently with the Wind element

Wind affinity and resistance increased by 5%

With a grin Ren collected the books that hadn’t been collected yet and took them back to the reception desk where Rosie sat, setting them down and smiling to her. “I’m done with these, do you happen to know if there are any other books like these?”

Rosie looked up as Ren spoke and smiled. “Mmmm, I think there’s about five other books on other elements that we have.”

Ren’s eyes shone at this. “Really? Could I read them please?”

Rosie giggled softly. “mmm, I think a couple of them are a rank above you… but…” She looked at the books he brought back then looked back to him. “You treated these ones well, plus you’re a cutie so I’ll have them all brought to you.” She grinned and winked at Ren, causing him to blush and scamper back to his desk, leaving Rosie at her desk giggling at his shy nature.

It didn’t take long for his next stack of books to arrive and he quickly looked them over to see what was written on the covers of each, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning and Arcane. As he read through them a couple turned out to be not what he was expecting, Light magic was essentially holy magic, Dark magic though was gravity type magic not the evil type, Ice and lightning were as expected and arcane was also known as void magic, basically it was raw magic without an element attached to it. He got the feeling there would have to be other magics still, after all none of the books he had seemed to touch on things like curses or necromancy, so he figured true dark magics were probably forbidden.

By the time he finished the last book it was into the early morning of the second day, on top of earning the basic knowledge skills for the other elements he received another popup.

Stat Gain!

Due to your hard work and diligence in learning everything you can about the elements you’ve gained.

+5% Resist to all elements

+5% Affinity to all elements

+20 INT

+10 WIS

Ren was ecstatic, he now had 10% resistance to all elemental damage and 10% affinity with all elements, on top of that the 20 INT and 10 WIS would give a good boost to his mana finally.

He took the books back to the desk to find Rosie was just entering the library to start her shift, seeing him at the desk left her stunned. “Ren did you spend the whole night here reading?”

Ren blinked and turned around to face her. “Is that bad?”

“Of course it is! I wont give you anymore books until you’ve gotten some rest and had something to eat.” She stomped her foot and pointed to the door.

Ren grinned sheepishly. “Sorry, I got carried away, but don’t worry I’m a traveller a day without sleep isn’t much to me.” He smiled headed to the door. “Thank you for letting me read the books, I learned a lot!” He grinned and waved before scampering out of the library to find something to eat, his hunger had hit rock bottom some time ago and was already slowly eating into his health. He didn’t mind to much since it would help raise his ‘staying power’ skill which had now reached level 7, it now reduced the health he lost by 17% when his stamina was empty, it seemed to increase by 1% each level.

He dashed back to Issac’s workshop now and burst through the door nearly giving Issac a heart attack. “By the! Ren don’t scare me like that!”

Ren came to a sudden halt and bowed his head as he apologised. “I’m sorry, I just finished reading the books you sent me for and wanted to come back as quickly as I could.”

Issac’s brow rose curiously. “Just finished now? You spent the whole day and night reading?” Ren nodded. “Did you learn about the four base elements?”

Ren nodded again. “Yes, I even read up on the five other ones, Light, Dark, Ice, Lightning and Arcane.”

Issac jumped up at that. “Wha! Seriousely!? That’s incredible. Come come, let’s get to work on some basic enchantments right away.”

Due to your astounding diligence you’ve gained affinity with the artisan district NPCS

Ren grinned and stepped over to the table Issac beckoned him to. “First of all Enchanting is about imbuing an element into an item, this is done by way of runes or glyphs, a rune is a single letter in the ancient text.” Issac took a piece of paper and drew a rune on it. “Each rune does something different and takes power from a different element, a glyph however is a combination of two or more runes in a special interlocking pattern which combines the runes into another new enchantment.”

He drew another rune next to the one he’d already drawn and then drew a circle around them letting the edge of the circle just touch on the furthest edge of each rune. “This is just a basic example, some glyphs can consist of hundreds of runes, enchanting is still a widely unknown area of magic, even once you create a glyph it can then be used as you would a rune and attach more glyphs or runes to it, inscribing each rune or glyph though will cost mana and the amount of mana will differ with each rune and glyph depending on what it does.”

Issac then took out a small pocket size leather bound book and handed it to Ren. “This is your book of seals. Any runes or glyphs you learn or create will be inscribed into the pages of this book so you can refer to it when you need to. I took the liberty to pen a set of basic runes for each element and effect already, since you’ve gained the knowledge of the elements it should be easy for you to do a basic enchantment.” He set a small tarnished copper ring on the table. “Look through the book of seals and pick something you like to enchant this ring, if it’s successful you can keep the ring.”

Ren opened the small book and flicked through the pages until he found something he thought would be helpful to him, keeping the page open so he could envision the rune he wanted he placed his hand on the ring. “Enchant!” The ring glowed for a moment and he could see the rune he wanted etch itself into the metal of the ring before the glow faded.

Issac nodded approvingly. “Excellent, pick it up and try to identify the ring.”

Ren nodded and picked up the ring. “Identify!”

Tarnished Copper Ring

A simple copper ring that has been enchanted with a minor shielding magic

+2 DEF

Ren beamed at the result, it was only +2 defence but it meant he was on his way, he showed the ring to Issac who nodded.

“Nicely done, I am happy to name you my novice.”

New Title!

Issac’s Novice

When equipped the npc’s in the city of Aurora will recognise you as Issac’s novice

You may freely use Issac’s workshop

Issac will give you tips and tricks as you enchant in his workshop increasing your enchanting skill (and any related sub-skills) gain by20%

Aside from giving you the basic runes and a few pointers while you work here I’m afraid there’s little I can do to help you with enchanting, enchanters you see hold very closely to the rune and glyphs they create, we don’t like to share new enchantments we create this makes every enchanter unique as we each tend to branch off into different areas of study when it comes to enchanting, some might focus on ways of increasing the defence of armours, or others the damage of weapons, some will branch out into other areas, if the runes we’ve discovered or glyphs we’ve created become common place then we would lose trade, people will travel leagues to get a single enchantment from some master enchanters. If you wish to reach such heights you’ll have to work with the runes I’ve given you and find the rest yourself.”

Ren just smiled and nodded. “I’ll find something really amazing one day then!” He grinned and Issac chuckled.

“I look forward to hearing about a new master enchanter one day then.” He smiled and turned to his desk picking up a book and turning back to Ren. “I wouldn’t normally hand this over to just anyone but word about you has really gotten around in this district so take this, it will help you with learning new runes and glyphs.”

Ren picked up the book curiously.

Skill Book

This book contains several sub skills connected with enchanting, do you wish to learn them?

Y/N

“Yes!” Ren called out excitedly, the book glowed for a moment before vanishing and several windows appeared before Ren.

New Skills!

Read Rune Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

Allows you to read unknown runes and add them to your book of seals

Dismantle Glyph Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

Allows you to destroy a glyph with the chance of learning a rune from it

Absorb Enchantment Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

Allows you to remove an enchantment by absorbing it, refilling a portion of your mana in the process

Enchanted Eyes Level 1 (Beginner 0%)

Enchantments in the area will give off a slight glow

“Oh my god! Thank you so much Issac! This is amazing!” Ren pounced as Issac giving him a hug which caught him off guard completely.

“Gah! Hahahaaa, ok ok, you like it I get it now get off me.” Issac chuckled as he tried to push Ren off him. “You just make sure you do your best with this to help those soldiers ok?”

Ren let go finally and nodded before giving a salute. “Yes sir!” He grinned and Issac chuckled.

“Alright then, I’ve got some orders to finish now so if you don’t mind I need to get back to work.” He smiled and ruffled Ren’s hair before turning back to his desk.

With a nod Ren left the workshop and looked about before letting out a yawn. “I’ve got enough time to get some sleep before the expedition begins, I’ll have to login at least an hour early to grab some supplies though.” He nodded to himself as he made his mental notes then logged out to get some sleep.

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