An Unbound Soul

A few days after my birthday, I'd returned to the delvers' guild. This time I had some questions I needed to ask, so I stopped by reception.

"Hey Peter. Not content with being famous here in the guild, you wanted to make sure the entire town knows you?"

"No, not at all... I'd rather no-one knew me. Not much I can do about that now, though."

The receptionist was grinning at my discomfort. I wasn't familiar with this one, but he was certainly acting familiar with me. I couldn't deny that I really was pretty famous in the guild by this point...

"So, what can we help you with today, then?"

"Firstly, I wanted to ask about portal travel to the Emerald Nest. How does that work?"

"Hmm... I know you had special dispensation to enter the dungeon, and somehow that seems to have mutated over time into effectively making you a proper member of the guild, but I don't think we could get away with letting you use the portal on your own; you'd get in trouble at the other end, they'd send you back, then we'd get in trouble for letting you in. You'd need to be accompanied by a responsible adult. But if you bring a parent, you don't need to book in advance or anything, just pay up and step through anytime it's not otherwise in use."

Damn... I had enough money for myself, but not for two. "Is it still one gold per person each way?"

"Yup. Sorry, I know it's expensive, but it's not really supposed to be used for casual trips."

Drat. I really felt bad about not keeping my promise with Cluma. Heck, I'd go so far as to say I missed the little hugger. Stupid Camus... I definitely owed him a smack the next time I saw him. What else could I do? "Can I send a message through?"

"Yup, that's a service we offer. Write the message on a bit of paper, fold it up and make sure the delivery address is visible, then bring it here."

Damn again; I didn't know their address. Also, what sort of civilization had paper but not glass? "I don't suppose I can send it with just a name and an address of 'a new restaurant somewhere'."

The receptionist frowned. "No, I'm afraid we do need a full address."

Well, that was a complete failure. Looks like I need even more money, or maybe I could get their new address from the merchants' guild. Next question, then. "I don't have their new address at the moment, but thanks anyway. Next question; what's the rules with spectators at the tournament? My parents and my magic teacher wanted to watch me, so I wanted to check if they were allowed."

"Each participant can bring in two visitors, but only into sessions in which they're actually fighting."

Oh, awesome. The two person limit was a bit annoying given that I wanted three, but it was still better news than the portal. Sign-ups still hadn't closed, despite the competition starting in little over a week, so there wasn't a schedule yet. I'd have to hang around here until it was posted, then run home with a copy to let everyone know when my matches were.

That left me with a few days to kill. Hopefully, I'd be able to squeeze out another skill level or two before the tournament started, so I headed into the dungeon for a boss run. On floor five, I peered at the steel ingot. It wasn't silver, but now that I'd raised that question, I was wondering what would happen to any material if I tried to force mana into it? Experimenting in the boss room would be impolite, so I headed down the stairs, did a sweep for wolves in the vicinity, then exercised [Greater Mana Control] to attempt to move mana from the air into my ingot. The result was disappointing; the ingot acted as a barrier to the mana, and I couldn't push any inside. Maybe I needed to melt it first? Despite the lack of results, the attempt was good exercise for my mana control, to train how hard I could push. Could I move the ingot around if I pushed hard enough?

crack

ding

Skill [Greater Mana Control] advanced to level 5

Class [Body Mage] advanced to level 7

Whu? What did I just do? What went crack? I sounded like it came from the ingot, and indeed the ingot appeared to have slightly changed colour. Did I break it? What just happened? [Appraisal] to the rescue!

Mana Infused Steel Ingot (Rank 3)

It changed from 'steel' to 'mana infused steel' and increased in rank. It really changed into something else, and I not only got a skill level but even a class level out of it. Did I just do something ridiculous? Then maybe it would be worth trying with silver... I took a silver coin from my pack and forced in mana, but it exploded. That was no good then, and a rather expensive experiment, but what had I done to the steel? I rushed the rest of the sixth floor, as far as I was able given that the boss was no pushover and was still a level at which I had to go all out for, then returned to the guild sales area.

"Oh, if it isn't little Peter. Bringing a pack of monster cores to sell again?"

"Not this time. I've got an ingot of... [Appraisal] calls it mana infused steel. Can you tell me about it?"

The sales clerk blanched and looked down at the ingot I was holding out. "That's... Where did you get that?! The dungeon here doesn't produce them; they show up in floor twenty-five boss chests."

"I... made it. From a regular steel ingot."

"What? You can't just make that stuff."

"The name is a bit of a giveaway, isn't it? It's regular steel that has been infused by mana. I just used [Greater Mana Control] to force mana into the fifth floor's regular steel ingot and ended up with this."

The clerk sighed. "You really like breaking all the rules, don't you? But I've heard rumours going around about turning iron into steel... I don't suppose you could repeat that trick and make mana reinforced steel from that ingot?"

Huh? There was another stage of steel? Or maybe there were two; this identified as rank three, while iron was one and steel was two, so if this 'mana reinforced steel' was four, presumably there was something to discover at five, too. "I'm afraid not; it took all of my skill to make this one. But I don't see why I couldn't make more, or why any mage with a decent level of [Greater Mana Control] couldn't make them."

"Then the guild sale price is one large silver an ingot. Although given what you say about how easy they are to make, the price is liable to drop."

Wow, it was valued at a hundred times the price of regular steel? That would more than pay for me blowing up a silver coin. I kind of wanted to keep it, though... My weapon was only made from regular steel, so I could presumably make something better from this. Although I guess I could make more easily enough. And selling them before the price dropped would certainly help to get the extra gold and a bit I need to visit Cluma.

"I want to keep this one, but I'll be sure to sell some after the tournament."

The clerk looked a little disappointed, but he'd have to cope.

The next day, my first order of business was another visit to the merchants' guild, to see if I could find out Cluma's new address. Addresses weren't something I'd considered before; they weren't something we had in the village. I didn't know if anyone ever received letters there, but if they did, it would probably be via Henry with no need for anything more than a name.

Eric was manning the desk again. Did they only have a single employee here? He was like the merchants' guild version of Adele... "Morning. I was wondering if I could find out Cluma's new address, so I could send a letter. Or Camus, as it would be written on your documentation."

Eric pulled a rather awkward expression. Great, more bad news incoming. "I expected you to return, so I did look into which property they'd bought after you asked about them last time. And I'm sorry, but there was an explicit request to not share their whereabouts with anyone from Dawnhold or its surroundings, or even to pass on messages."

Seriously? Just how far did that guy go to get away from me... If that was the case, even if I did go to the Emerald Nest, there was no guarantee I'd be able to find them. Could I really never see them again? That was upsetting... Eric must have caught my depressed look, apologising again.

Well, stuff that. Forget Erryn and her brainwashing. The demon lord of this fantasy world was obviously Camus. He was so screwed if I ever got my hands on him. Keeping me away from my best friend and hug dealing catgirl. Maybe my fame wasn't such a bad thing... If a random eight-year-old turned up in the Emerald Nest asking after Camus, then they might reject me, but what if the person who turned up wasn't random at all? A famous delver capable of soloing the Dawnhold dungeon, responsible for the creation of the Dawnhold research institute, inventor of the method to produce high rank metals from cheap low ranked ingots, not to mention being filthy rich. I don't know where you are, Camus, and I know you can't hear me, but make no mistake that this is a declaration of war!

"Are you feeling okay? You're looking rather red. Do you have a fever?"

No, I was just angry. But I should calm down before I pop something. Revenge is a dish best served cold, and all that. Fortunately, there was a handy nearby dungeon full of mindless monsters for me to take my frustration out on, but I'd have to remember to wash off any goblin remains this time, lest I scare the gate guard again. "I'm fine. Sorry, and thanks for the info."

Eric nodded uncertainly. "If you say so. Take care out there."

I spent the rest of the day pummelling monsters and making more mana infused steel, a task which offered up a few more rewards before the novelty wore off.

Skill [Greater Mana Finesse] advanced to level 7

Skill [Mana Perception] advanced to level 5

Intelligence increased by 1

After all my time fighting, my armour was covered in nicks and scratches, but my weapon was in even worse condition. The wooden section was covered in grooves and cuts where I'd used it to parry or block bladed weapons, in some cases running as deep as the core. Even the steel caps were scratched quite badly. Given how many ingots I could carry without trouble now, largely thanks to my ring, perhaps I should upgrade to a solid steel weapon. Or even better, mana infused steel, which wasn't any heavier and presumably was better in some way. I'd still need the weight enchantment in conjunction with my ring to even carry the thing, and perhaps it would need to be made a little narrower too, but it would be far more durable. It would probably be costly too, but there didn't seem any point in paying out for a portal trip in the immediate future, so I could spend the money.

The next day I visited the delvers' store, greatly disappointing Adele when she realised I wasn't there for her. I spoke to the weapons clerk instead, showing my battered staff and asking after something more durable. He frowned in response.

"We could certainly forge a staff from mana infused steel, and the durability would be night and day compared to what you currently have even unenchanted, but mana infused steel resists enchantment, and the guild enchanter here doesn't have the skill required to overcome it. Without a weight enchantment, there's no way you'd be able to carry it."

He drummed his fingers on the counter, evidently still thinking about something. "I believe one of the dwarfs that came over for the research institute business has a higher rank runecrafting skill. Maybe he'd agree to help? Otherwise you'd have to have it manufactured elsewhere and shipped over."

Oh? Mail order was a thing that existed here? Once again, I wished I'd known that beforehand. It was amazing all the little titbits of knowledge that you missed out on by trying to be an adult at age eight instead of growing up properly. I probably had enough money to get some much better kit now, and given my quest, I should get the very best I could rather than skimping. Could I just order a mana reinforced steel staff instead? "If I wanted to order something from elsewhere, how would I go about that? And could I order something in even better materials?"

The clerk guffawed. "Better than mana infused steel? That would be mana reinforced steel, found in floor forty-five chests, or mythril, found on floor sixty-five. You'd be looking at multiple platinum coins for enough metal to make a staff from mana reinforced steel, and I doubt there's enough mythril on the continent no matter how much you pay; I'm not sure there's a delver group currently alive that can get that deep. Anyway, as to how to arrange it, just leave it with us. It'll be two gold coins down payment, along with the ingots. If we manage to get it done locally, we'll refund the extra money, and if we have to get it done remotely, we'll return the ingots. That acceptable?"

Right then. Must note that if it does turn out to be possible to produce mythril from silver, I was going to break the economy of the whole continent. Should probably be careful there... And I was right about the steep cost, too. Thankfully, I could afford it. "Yes, that's fine. Thank you very much."

"No problem, we'll leave a message for you at guild reception once it's done. Just be aware that it's going to take a few weeks."

The clerk showed no surprise at all at me casually handing over a pair of gold coins. I was pretty sure I was having a detrimental effect on the common sense of this whole settlement. Anyway, new weapon ordered, and it was going to be a good one. It wouldn't be finished until after the tournament, but that was fine; I wouldn't be allowed to use it there anyway, and my current staff wasn't in such bad condition that I was worried about it failing in a few more days of delving.

Weapon order over, it was time to move on to the next task of my day. I didn't want a whole ingot of silver, but I did want to see if I could find a silver ring, earring or stud of some sort somewhere. In my excitement, I'd blown up a silver coin, but on reflection I realised that all coins, silver or otherwise, were already infused with mana. It hadn't been obvious with [Mana Sight], but with [Mana Perception] I could clearly see an imbued pattern. What it was for, I had no idea; my first guess would have been watermark, but the Law made that unnecessary. No, actually, watermark was probably right; these coins probably hadn't changed from before Erryn's Law, so watermarks would have been useful back then. In any case, I suspected that the enchantment on each coin made them tamper proof, in which case my attempt to infuse mana was doomed to start with. I needed a small amount of plain, unenchanted silver.