Homesteading in a fantasy world

There was a lot to absorb, and I knew that studying the druid magic system will be extremely difficult and most likely will have limited use in combat situations. Although as I understand with a bit of preparation anyone who uses it can be quite good at support if you are talking about Bert’s version of druid magic.

Currently, I believe the best way to continue is to focus on my energy control side of things. For that, I started to prepare to combine my abilities. I had an idea when I was sleeping about what I wanted them to do, and I wanted to basically merge everything that affected weapons into a combined ability.

It would be something where I could add even elemental powers if I get any abilities that give those effects. As I learned from the lecture, I needed to visualize what I needed and hope that I had enough materials in the form of other abilities that I could make it work.

So, while we worked in the forest, I also worked on my mental image of the ability I want to make. My current plan was to make it sort of like different bullet types so that whenever you used this ability you won’t necessarily need to use them all together and could use different parts of it on different kinds of weapons.

Hopefully, it would help it overlap and most importantly every action that I will take will be funnelled into this ability making it level up faster. I just hope that it won’t be too XP-hungry, and I won't screw myself into having a low level in it for a long time.

The next day I followed my apprentices to the dungeon and listened for a little while to the lessons that they were getting but I didn’t stick around for too long it was time to start combining. For that, I just put on my rabbit cloak and sat down on the bridge so the flowing water would help me stay focused on the task and where I hopefully will not be disturbed for a long time.

There were so many skills that I thought might work together so I started breathing in and out slowly and focusing my mind into an iron will. Into the mix went penetrating slash level 9, silent shot level 3, shaped edge level 6, piercing thrust level 11, energy arrow level 1, razor-sharp blade level 6, mighty blow level 1, charge throw level 6, splitting arrow level 18 and weapon enhancement level 10.

I could feel them all trying to resist but once my visualization of what I wanted them to be was connected their unwillingness stopped yet the resistance didn't. For 4 hours I pushed and pulled them together, yet my mind was strong and so was my body. The hardship finally started to ease when the melting started. It didn't last for long, and I finally got what I wanted

You have gained a new ability weapon of abilities level 12

I was covered in sweat like I had run a long time, but it wasn’t like it took everything I had to combine it. I took the blade that was beside me to see if everything worked as I wanted it to. My visualization didn’t crack and stayed true. I now owned an ability that had everything I used to have and more.

Now I could even get piercing on my arrows and make them a lot sharper. If I had a morning star, then the spikes would also be affected and made sharper and pierce better. I could even charge the weapon as I did with a javelin making an extremely devastating attack but the slow build-up still remained.

As I kept testing it, I found it to suit my fighting style quite well giving me a lot of options that I could use, and it seemed to work with my instincts quite well. Then came the moment I was most afraid of; testing this ability with the tools I have.

I think I was more worried about this moment than I was about messing up the visualization. But luckily it seemed to work with the tools I have so all my woodworking and stone working will still be superpowered. I honestly couldn’t think how much longer I would have to take with everything if it wouldn’t work on tools.

Next, I wanted to merge light steps, light load and substantial counterweight. It was an extremely simple job as they were similar to what they did. Making the visualization what I wanted it to be was quite simple.

The new ability was called weight control level 1. It didn't seem to have any boosted effects, but it didn't also have any negative ones. Honestly, I didn't care at least they were combined, and I wouldn’t have to worry about them. But with that, I stopped for the day, but I already had a few more ideas on what I wanted to merge next.

The rest of the day I spent with my animals and generally relaxing while also forming my next visualization. When my apprentices came back, they also share their stories, and it was quite fun to hear about their adventure into the dungeon. It seems that the group they were in was extremely green and they told me that it was quite good to be experienced compared to someone else.

The next day was a free day for us all so I went back to the bridge and started to focus on my next ability. I planned to combine all the sights but also add in tracking information trying to make something truly useful. I also wanted this ability to take advantage of my trait changing eyes so hopefully, it will help.

This one was actually harder and took a lot more effort to complete even though the levels were a lot lower and there were fewer abilities overall. But eventually, I was finished and was greeted with quite the awesome sounding ability.

You have gained a new ability dynamic vision

I hoped that it would work, and it did even better than I could have ever hoped for. If weight control was a success and weapon of abilities was a great success, then this was the 1% the truly rare combination that made the skill better than its starting pieces.

I think my trait changing eyes had a lot to do with it but now I could see so much more. Not only could I now properly see mana I could see heat like a snake can and I bet it has so much more to offer and to no one's surprise it was at level 1.

I was extremely pleased but also extremely tired and while it was just getting to evening, I didn’t do anything else but simply went to bed. The next day I also woke quite late, but I felt a lot better after the long sleep and ready to tackle the next problem.

I think I am a little bit addicted to the feeling when you combine abilities and I now know that I can strengthen and add to the ability when I combine them by using the knowledge or traits to help me.

So, I continued, and my next idea was to make my command capability better in battle. For that, I went and sat on the bridge again and started to grab a hold of the abilities I wanted to combine. I chose battle aura, intimidating aura, troop defence boost, tactical advantage and booming voice.

I wanted to combine them into something like a commanding aura that will boost everyone around me and help me command everyone better.

For this, I also poured in my knowledge and experience from my former life but also try to use the strength from my trait strong presence and regal stature to hopefully help me even further. This time the longest part was not pulling together the abilities but while they were fusing. I tried to remember everything and just kept pouring in as much as I can trying to make something that will encompass it all.

I might have shot too far because what came out was confusing. The new ability was called commander. My first thought was how is that an ability but even worse I couldn't do anything with it. I’m pretty sure I needed to be in battle or perhaps training for me to actually be able to test it out to see what it does.

Then came Monday and it was time to go back to train in the village. This time I didn’t learn anything new and even disagreed with some of the teachings, but when I reminded myself that it was for adventurers and not for a bigger army group all their talk about provisions and survival made a lot more sense.

I also didn’t agree that killing beasts was always a good idea perhaps with monsters it was true but a beast with abilities could be natural for the surrounding nature. Beasts sometimes could fit well into an ecosystem as the apex predator. At least in my opinion.

We stuck around the village a bit longer talking with acquaintances that seem to mesh well with each of us. We weren’t usually all together for this as everyone was off doing their own thing and talking to different people.

I told them not to be shy and make friends because we couldn't afford to alienate the closest village to us. We got back quite late but I still ran the dungeon for the XP and testing my new combat ability was quite exciting. I was happy with the versatility I could get from it. Next up will be combining my weapon skills into one skill that way I can hopefully get better abilities.