A Sky Full of Tropes [Reincarnated Psychic Child LitRPG]

"Hey, Milo," Basalt says while we're eating in the common area. "I ran across coffee in Gleam. Any chance you could source me regular shipments of the stuff? I can give you a quest for it, too."

"I have yet to figure out how to bypass the block on my quest log, but I will trust you if you say that it's there," Milo says. "You ran across some in Gleam? I'll see what I can do. What are you offering? Grapes?"

"Rank progression," Basalt says.

Milo's eyes widen. "You can do that?"

"Yep. And the best part of it is? The cost to generate the quest is more than canceled out by the goods. Grubwick won't give you quests, but Hebron can."

"That is a fantastic exploit," Milo says. "You get stuff, and people get bonus experience."

"I'm still trying to work out all the things I can do," Basalt says. "But we can essentially convert any resource into anything that's been unlocked. Perfect matter recycling and replication. The trick is going to be unlocking things. Like building a forge."

Milo nods. "Hmm. I wonder if I can get Grubwick to give a quest to build us a forge."

"Go ask Copper," Basalt suggests. "See if he's game for teaching goblins metalworking. And if Grubwick gives you guff, just poke it in the nose and tell it to behave. It's a machine, not a god."

"I will… try that," Milo says.

The day before the scheduled contest, I head out to the spot we'd picked for it with Basalt and Anise. We set up a few spots where I will be able to use Invocation (Sunbeam) and test that they're usable as "windows". That restriction is an odd one, but rooted in the fact that my mind will never be able to accept that a sun can be inside a room or a cave.

And then the day of the contest arrives, and there's more people attending than I had anticipated. A rickety vendor stand has been set up and three goblins are selling concessions. Orcs use the same dungeon currency that everyone else uses, and are quick to learn the word "beer" to add to the "popcorn" that Anise taught them before.

An old orc woman, not the girl's mom this time, is taking a position as the announcer. The girl's mom, the [Ritualistic Boneshaper], is here as well, but has taken a position on the sidelines to cheer her daughter on.

"The [Primordial Child] of Brenig and the [Resonant Child] of Corwen are here to engage in a contest of Invocation skill," announces the old orc woman. "They have each spent the past month crafting a focus item and will demonstrate its use before the audience. Brenig child, show the audience what you have created and describe its uses."

The orc girl steps up, holding an ornate staff carved from a large piece of twisted cave wood. A giant salamander skull has been affixed to the top, and the misshapen shaft has been carved to resemble a snake coiled around the wood. Dangling from the top beneath the oblong skull, a dried mushroom and piece of centipede carapace have been tied with sinew.

"I've made this staff," says the orc girl. "The snake lets me heal and poison, the skull lets me curse and burn, the bug bit lets me make a shield, and the mushroom lets me make stuff rot."

"Corwen child, show the audience what you have created and describe its uses," says the [Ethical Witch].

"I made this necklace," I say, touching it on my chest. "The caduceus lets me communicate, the ankh lets me heal, the sun lets me bring light, the snake lets me poison, and the feathers let me make things weigh less."

"As we are already communicating clearly despite lacking a common language, I must give you immediate points for that one," the old orc says. "You will now take turns demonstrating each of your skills, starting with the [Primordial Child] as the [Resonant Child] began his demonstration already. Let us leave [Symbol of Healing] and [Serpent's Bite] for last, since you both have those skills and we can test them one-to-one."

"Invocation (Skull Curse)," the girl says.

The orc girl doesn't have [Feather Light]. Not a lot of things with feathers live a kilometer below the surface. And I don't have [Skull Curse]. There's a lot of other skills I want to pick up that cursing things hasn't been a priority.

She hits one of the orcs with a temporary debuff curse and he reports on its effects. The [Ethical Witch] nods matter-of-factly, then turns to me to test my next skill.

"Invocation (Feather Light)," I say.

This one would be harder to demonstrate if the orc woman didn't use Search (Measurement) to find out what I changed the weight of a rock to. Here I was thinking it would be hard to measure without a scale, forgetting momentarily that we all have one in our heads.

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"My next skill is Invocation (Dragonfire)," the orc girl says.

"[Dragonfire]?" I repeat. "Salamanders aren't dragons."

"They're associated with fire, which is enough for a weak resonance with the skill," the old orc says.

"But the ones that live in the Fire Nest are spicy salamanders," I say. "They spit capsaicin, not actual fire. Ugh, why am I expecting magic to make sense?"

The old orc ignores my complaints. The orc girl places a small piece of wood on the stone ground and waves her staff at it. The skull's eyes glow red for a brief moment. Without kindling or match, vivid red flames flicker over the bent stick, reducing it to ash as the audience watches.

"[Resonant Child], please demonstrate your next skill," says the old orc.

"Invocation (Sunbeam)," I say.

I look to the holes in the ceiling and pick the closest one to channel the skill into through the bronze sun icon. A dramatic beam of radiant sunlight lands straight in my face, making me blink and look away quickly. It would probably be a dramatic spotlight effect if I hadn't been looking right at it and dazzled myself.

"Pretty, I guess," the old orc says. "Does your light do anything special, or is it just light?"

"It's very special," I say. "And certain creatures like vampires are vulnerable to it."

"I see," she says. "[Primordial child], please demonstrate your next skill."

"Invocation (Carapace Barrier)," the orc girl says.

A forcefield shimmers into existence around one of the orc testers. The other slams his fist into the magical barrier repeatedly. It stops the first two punches and shatters upon the third. The girl beams toothily at her spell's performance.

The old orc looks to me. "Are you done now, or do you still have more tricks up your sleeve?"

"Oh, true, I suppose I could show you Invocation (Illusory Mask) too," I say.

"Go ahead."

I channel the skill through the small caduceus, imagining an interpretation of Hermes, the ancient Greek messenger god. (I don't know whether he existed or not, but it doesn't matter. As magic is based on ideas, even fictional things exist now anyway.) I can't tell how well I've succeeded. After a few moments, I withdraw the spell from the caduceus and move it to the griffin feathers instead. I don't keep it up long on that either.

The old orc nods once I'm done. "Another tool suitable for trickery rather than battle. You did not practice that very well before coming here. You were first a man, but your features and clothing kept changing. Then you were a monster, but you kept shifting from silver to gold."

I nod. "Yeah, I was afraid of that. I need more practice."

"Your next skill, [Primordial Child]," the old orc prompts.

"Invocation (Fungal Decay)."

Rather than aim it at one of the orcs this time, she targets a piece of popcorn. The smell isn't pleasant, but the stench doesn't last long before the former snack puff decays into dust.

The old orc looks at me critically. "You have a good variety of utility, but you seem to be lacking in offensive power."

"Oh, I almost forgot," I say. "I should also be able to do Invocation (Electric Current), because the chain is made of copper. I forgot to test it ahead of time, though."

"Very well. You may demonstrate on a volunteer, then."

A big Heroic orc cheerfully volunteers to be electrocuted. I didn't actually think to try this ahead of time and I'd gotten used to using it with a wand, but I see no reason why it should be necessary. I feel electricity surging through my body as I bring up the skill, but although my hair stands on end, it doesn't actually harm me much. I raise my hand and shoot a lightning bolt from my finger at my test orc.

"Ooh, that tickled a bit," the orc says with a fanged grin.

"Interesting," the old orc says. "It seems you are not completely without teeth after all. Very well. If that is all of your different skills, let us test the ones you have in common. We will do Invocation (Symbol of Healing) next."

A couple of Heroic-rank orcs volunteer to assist with this part by beating each other up to give us something to heal. They love to fight and are happy for any opportunity to do so, even with rules of "no injuries that can't be healed by a child".

Both me and the orc girl are able to heal the fighters back to full health, though she's faster with it. I'm guessing her skill level is much higher than mine. I haven't been slacking, but I don't live in an orc hold where people beat each other up every day for fun.

"You also both have Invocation (Serpent's Bite)," the old orc says. "I believe that is our final skill unless you're both still holding something out, so let's finish with that."

We both try to poison our orc target. They take this as a perfectly normal thing to be doing, so I shrug and go along with it. They're not in serious danger from a couple of children a rank lower than them. Once we're done, they report on the status effects they received.

"If there are no further skills to demonstrate, let us proceed to judging," the [Ethical Witch] says. "A panel of impartial judges comprised of orcs, goblins, dwarves, and humans has been selected. By which I mean everyone here is obviously biased toward our own candidates so I picked some members from both groups."

I wind up earning some points for style and versatility, but receive low scores for strength and accuracy. No one but Basalt is especially impressed with the sunlight. The orc girl's levels are higher than mine across the board, probably due to focusing more on fewer things. Invocation is the only thing she really does, while I've also been working on Wizardry and Necromancy.

If I really wanted to win the contest, I could have focused on grinding my skills up more like she did rather than flying off and having adventures. I've succeeded at my goal of throwing the contest without looking like I was throwing it.

The orc girl claps her hands together and hugs her mom. There's cheers and applause all around, and more beer gets sold as people take any excuse for a party.

"Your people don't seem to be upset at your loss," the [Ethical Witch] comments to me low, out of announcer voice. "I take it that Invocation isn't even your primary focus."

"You would be correct," I say. "Invocation is fun, but I've also been practicing Necromancy and I'm about to attend a prep school for Wizardry."

"What is a... prep school? Your communication skill got across the idea of a teaching place, but I am missing context."

"Yep, a teaching place," I say. "Instead of one master teaches one apprentice one subject, you get a bunch of teachers who each know different things, and the students learn from all of them."

The old orc makes a low rumbling sound in her throat. "It seems Tempest wishes us to expand beyond the caves and interact with other peoples. It has been many generations since we have had much dealings with anyone but the goblins and ogres. But the dwarves have returned, and times are changing."