NOVEL NEXT 2.19 - Blacksmith
Rud shrieked, clawing out at whatever was attacking him. A gruff voice shouted back, screaming with… delight? The druid had been sleeping in his cozy mushroom house, dreaming about growing trees and talking over the radio when he was rudely awakened. His first instinct was to lash out and claw blindly, drawing thin lines over the face of his attacker. His attacker? Who was it?
Rud blinked the sleep away, watching in amazement as Taz—with three thin red lines across his face—performed the worst dance ever. He clapped his hands, hooting with excitement. "I got it!?"
"Got what?" Rud said, springing from his bed in a panic. He grabbed his staff, ready to fight off whatever 'it' was.
"My Blacksmith subclass!"
Rud's eyes went wide. Especially when he focused more on the wounds he had inflicted on Taz's face. While he wanted to heal the injured dwarf, his body had other plans. The druid grabbed him, pulling him close as they danced within the mushroom house, then outside into Ban's clearing. They hooted, shouted excitedly, and made grand proclamations about the soon-to-be best blacksmith in the world. It didn't take long for the Sacred Beasts to gather, coming to see what the fuss was about.
Mint shifted into her human form, joining the dancing while Sarya and Dean did their best. It wasn't easy to dance while in wolf form, but they tried. Major was more reserved, tapping his paw to an unheard beat. Once the immediate celebrations calmed down, they moved the party to the longhouse. The shy elf from the night before was there, looking surprised when the group burst in. She was soon drawn into the celebrations against her will, dancing on the table with Rud and Taz until she was too out of breath to continue.
"Redemption!" Taz shouted, drawing in a deep breath. "Ow. Why does my face hurt?"
Rud bit his lip, pulling the dwarf over to heal his wounds. "Sorry. I thought I was under attack." A few applications of Nature's Restoration, and the wounds sealed themselves.
"What's going on?" the elf asked, confusion flooding her flushed face.
"Our resident dwarf got the subclass he wanted," Rud said, patting the dwarf on the shoulder. "I guess he worked hard enough to make a god happy."
"Not a god. Aegael."
"The Salamander Spirit of Fire?" the elf asked, clasping her hands in front of her chest. "I worship Aegael."
"A wise choice," Taz said with a wink. "Fire mage?"
"That's right," she said, nodding with excitement.
Rud dished himself out some soup as he watched the pair talk about the salamander. He was a big fan of the spirit, as it had provided him with the means to create ingots. Those ingots had been instrumental in keeping Ban alive over the first month he was in the grove. Mortals loved imbued ingots, especially when they came from Gladesbale Grove. But he found he had little in common with the elf after that. As for her purpose of traveling through the grove…
Rud sipped his tea, offering a cup to the elf. "What's your name, solo-elf?"
"Kali—Ah, sorry. My adventurer name is Scorch," she said, bowing her head.
"So, what should I call you?" Rud asked with a laugh.
"Whichever you like more."
"Alright, Kali. What are you doing traveling through the grove alone? Seems like anything in the west would be too dangerous for a solo adventurer."
Taz gave Rud a nasty look. He didn't seem to enjoy the topic changing from the fire spirit.
"I've always been solo," Kali said with a shrug. "I know it isn't common, but I've done fine on my own."
"How do you accomplish that?" Taz asked. "I've never seen a solo mage."
Kali snapped her fingers, a dancing flame appearing in the air. The soft look on her face faded, all the brightness draining into a mad admiration of the fire. "Overwhelming firepower."
"Fair enough," Rud said, holding his hands up defensively. "Color me impressed."
Kali shrugged, turning back to Taz to talk about the spirit.
Rud turned back to his tea, taking a tentative sip. It was slightly too hot to drink, although he felt the need to get some energy in his system. When he had helped Kali get her bath last night, his Custodianship skill went from Level 1 to Level 2. It wasn't surprising for a new skill to level so quickly, but Ban had promised taking care of the forest would also add experience to the skill. Perhaps taking the trees offered far less experience than dealing with mortals. Whatever the case, he was happy to do both.
Rud waited like a polite little custodian until the conversation died down to interject once more. "Do you need anything else for the road? We don't have it in the store yet, but we have some nuts, dried berries, and dried meat."
"Oh, that would be lovely!" Kali said.
"Let me get that for you," Rud said, bowing his head and scampering off.
Pulling material from a mushroom, Rud created a pot to hold the trail mix. It had taken a few days, but the berries he had set in the drying room were done. They didn't have any walnuts to offer, but he loaded the mushroom pot with hazelnuts, berries, and strips of dried meat before creating a screw-on cap. Until he figured out how to remove the air from the container, this was good enough for now. He returned to the longhouse, placing the jar on the table for the elf to take.
"There ya go," Rud said, bowing slightly. "Hopefully this gives you the energy to push far into the west. Oh! Wait!"
Snatching the pot back, Rud held his hand over the container. He focused on the Imbue Crafted Item spell, watching as his mana dripped into the container. After a moment of concentration, he withdrew his hand to inspect the new item.
[Rud's Trail Mix]
Rare
Description:
A blend of salmonberries, roasted hazelnuts, and dried venison, this trail mix will give you the energy to go far!
Effect:
Increased energy levels after becoming sated by this food.
Aspect Effect (Mint and Ban'tanthein):
This food is more filling than it should be. You will gain twice as much satiation from eating this trail mix.
"Magical food?" Kali asked, taking the pot and inspecting it the same way Rud had. "Do you have a classed chef here?"
"Nope. Just druid magic!"
"Wait, you can imbue food?" Taz asked, also inspecting the pot of trail mix. "And the system named it after you. Wow."
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"It does funny stuff when I use my crafting spell."
The system was lenient in defining what a crafted item was. It seemed to favor merit and effort over anything else. Rud was certain he could enchant almost anything he made, depending on if the system thought he put enough effort into it. And the trail mix had accounted for a lot of effort. The effect on the item was good enough, but the aspect effect was awesome. If a person needed less of the food to feel satisfied, it would make the perfect travel food. It acted as though there was twice as much food than there really was! Neat!
"I cannot thank you enough for this gift," the elf said, bowing her head.
Rud felt his Custodianship skill tick up a few points, but it didn't reach a new level. "Just make sure to tell your friends," he said with a wink.
Minor celebrations for Taz's class spread through the room over the next hour. Rud would have never lingered for so long without something so big happening. At least he knew where he could find the dwarf over the next few weeks… Perhaps longer. The next time things calmed down, he headed out to the Observatory to make his morning report. To his surprise, the dungeon was gone.
"Wow. They took care of that quickly," Rud said, tapping his fingers on the table. "How strong was that adventuring party?"
"Very strong," Nulsa said. Of course the owl was on the banister outside. "I watched them sweep in, clearing the dungeon in only a few hours. We're owed core fragments from the dungeon, aren't we?"
"Yeah, they normally put them in the box near the logging camp," Rud said, waving a dismissive hand. "Which I then collect."
"An interesting relationship."
Rud scanned the landscape for any more dungeons. He saw nothing. Not in the south or north. Just the regular ambient magic that swirled around the area. This was great, though. He had finally developed a relationship that worked with Feather. The adventurers had responded promptly, clearing the area while the Sacred Beasts held it. No monsters got out to ravage the land, and the adventurers got the experience and items they wanted.
"I think we're getting some more cold weather," Rud said, studying the patterns of the winds coming from the north. "And the frost island is acting up again."
"I have nothing to report about the island," Nulsa said.
"Maybe if I can get my magical senses honed, I can figure out what's going on there… For now, everything looks great." Rud scribbled a simple note for Feather.
"Do you think 'gonna get cold' is enough information?" Nulsa asked.
Rud gave him a flat look, writing a bit more about how the dungeon had been cleared and that there were no new dungeons appearing. It seemed like a waste of paper, but whatever. Feather provided the paper and the writing instruments, so it hardly seemed to matter. Once he had wrapped the letter up, the owl grabbed it and took off. That left the druid alone with his radio.
Maria was in a decent mood today. She had new dwarves traveling through her region, so that gave her something to do. Of course Rud had to share the exciting news about Taz's new subclass. As a subclass, it wouldn't be as powerful as a main class, and it would be tied to the Rank of his Prospector class, but still. For someone who never expected to get back in the classed game, this was a life-changing event.
"Wow. An apostate dwarf was given a class? That's… amazing."
"Can you believe Aegael gave him a subclass?" Rud asked. "Has that ever happened?"
"I don't have enough information to answer that question, but I would guess not. The gods are normally the ones who hand out classes, but… Well, our classes are driven by the Great Spirits. So I guess that makes sense."
"Before long my tree is gonna be handing out classes," Rud shook his head, setting the microphone down. He leaned back in his chair, sighing. Things were changing rapidly enough for him to smell more change on the horizon. If only he could get the power generation situation sorted for Ban, he could spend some time with the other custodians. He snatched the microphone up again. "We need more custodians on the radio."
"What? You don't like chatting with little old me?"
"I didn't say that. I'd just like to see more communication between the groves. Ya know?"
"I hear ya. Feels like every custodian is determined to undermine Bent's vision for the groves."
"Right!? I gotta talk to Jim again. But I guess Basil is having power generation issues with his grove. Hey, how do you even generate power without the sun?"
"Mushrooms. Let me tell you something about a mushroom grove, Rud… It's mushrooms all the way down."
The conversation grew lighter after that, drifting between topics without a destination. Rud sat in his Observatory, feeling the pride of accomplishing a dream he thought long-dead. It wasn't exactly like being a fire watch back on Earth, but as the days rolled on it seemed more like that. He interfaced with adventurers passing through, which were a stand-in for hikers. The reports he made about the dungeons were like reports of fires to the forestry service. He even predicted the weather, sending word along to whoever needed to know of an oncoming storm. And his binoculars were the Farseeing skill that allowed him to search for these things.
There were still plenty of roots to connect along the pathway heading to the east. Once Rud was finished with that, he had to do the other directions, too. It was a daunting prospect he faced down, but whatever time limit existed was self-imposed. He wanted to do right by the grove, so his powers needed to expand. It was hard to remember a time when he had experienced this much drive to move forward.
"I need to sign off," Rud said, looking out to the forest sprawling outside of his window. "Lots of stuff to do. Like… an entire grove to regrow."
"Wow. Sounds like a lot of work. Have fun!" Maria laughed, her voice soon replaced by the buzz of static.
Rud clicked his radio off, sitting in his chair for some time. With the Farseeing skill, he sent his sight out to view the trees of the grove. Each looked like a blip of green energy in his sight, swimming in a sea of similar green lights. If those trees were diseased, his skill wasn't sensitive enough to detect it. Only when he went there on foot, practically on top of the trees, was he able to sense anything.
"Put it into numbers I can understand," Rud said, stepping out of the Observatory. He felt the Aspect of Bent fade as Ban's aspect washed over him. It was like a comfy blanket. "How much power do we need for a portal? How many trees?"
"Oh, a few seconds of operation would take a few thousand trees a couple of days."
Rud felt his brows rise without his command. That wasn't as many as he had expected. But it required them to have the storage capacity to hold that energy. So he thought of these units of power as the amount of energy a tree could generate in a day related to a second of portal operation. Continuous portal operations would require… what? Hundreds of thousands of tree-units? Shawn wasn't good at math, and Rud was even worse. But he knew the massive amount of energy they would need, and the work that had to go into it to make that happen.
"That must depend on distance, too," Rud said. That only made sense.
"Certainly. Some groves are more distant, as you might imagine. Interference from other magical sources could also play into our plot."
"Is this a plot? Some kind of ploy?" Rud pulled a lock of hair over his lips and twirled it, pretending it was a mustache. "Yes, I am plotting. Scheming even."
"Scheme away, you silly man."
Rud's thoughts had drifted to the strange enchanted things he could make for the grove. He had considered his Crafting Magic skill to be powerful in the past, but just how many things could he enchant? If it gained both the aspects of Mint and Ban, those items turned into very powerful things. Taking the bath water for example, it would retain heat for longer. That alone was worth it, but any added effects were also welcome. And the trail mix? Forget about it, it was the perfect thing to stuff in your mouth while you were walking through the grove.
There were many trees to prune. More still to grow back to their full height. Rud pushed forward under the assumption that his efforts would bolster the forest's defense against future infection. He flitted through the forest for a while, handling as many new trees as Ban was willing to accept. Unlike previous days, she didn't seem to have the stamina to endure as many.
Rud stepped through a bush, finding his way to the blacksmith. He was unsurprised to hear the sound of a hammer banging on metal. It rang out through the forest like a screeching church bell, the note carrying for far longer than it should have. He watched from afar as his dwarven friend put his back into swings, sending sparks flying from the anvil. Each strike moved material around, reshaping the basic iron he was working on. The vigor of a dwarf was not to be underestimated, neither was their love for metal. Shining in the dwarf's eyes was the very fire of the forge. An unmistakable need to be where he was flaring out like the plant energy within trees.
Taz had found a union with the forge, the heat bathing him in something familiar. Something that felt more like home. Rud approached the workshop but made no noise. He just watched as the dwarf went about his work, creating different odd things to pass the time, or perhaps increase the level of his skills. Aegael gave him a priceless gift. The workshop flared with that recognition, the fires within the forge seeming to grow hotter. It wasn't only Rud that the other groves put their faith in. They were investing in all of Gladesbale Grove, offering a silent prayer that perhaps something great would happen here.
"Just watch, spirits," Rud said, turning away from the workshop. He had to upgrade his customer service skill if he wanted to keep up with the kind of fervor Taz put off. "We're gonna do some cool stuff."