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Chapter 18 - Return to Lord Stirling
🕑 Added 2024-10-26 04:27:52 +0000 UTCTossing his phone onto the bed, Alex let out a calming sigh.
He had just finished speaking with Mr. Henderson to let him know that he wouldn’t be coming to work next week due to a family emergency.
No idea if this is the right choice or not, but I can’t imagine going back to work after stepping into this world.
After spending hours the day before with a small group of people, practicing magic and fighting as if it were a fantasy story, it seemed utterly insane to go back to a job that he hated.
His new plan was to spend one week going to Rifts and trying to level up. He wanted to see how many Mana Stones he could get and how much progress he could make in a short period of time when he applied all of his attention to the task.
If he could make anything close to a livable wage, he would never have to go back to that shitty job. While he loved the idea of getting several years of experience as a graphic designer on his resume, he wasn't doing the actual work of a graphic designer; he felt like a cog in a bigger machine.
As always, he walked to the kitchen to make his morning cup of coffee. He paused, though, as the machine warmed up. Alex felt like his brain was already moving much faster than normal and he was completely awake.
Is this the Willpower stat?
Alex could admit that he wasn't the best in the morning. He tended to be grumpy when he woke up, especially on Mondays. It gave him a chuckle as he thought about what the System might show if he could [Analyze] a cup of coffee.
+10 to Willpower for three hours.
Or maybe +10 Vitality? It definitely gives me life.
Alex looked at the coffee machine and shrugged before turning away. He just didn't feel like he needed the caffeine but his muscles did feel extremely sore from the sparring the day before. He moved to the couch stretched out his shoulders, and rubbed his lower back.
As he sat down, he flipped through the Adventurers Guild app to see if there was any news and if his ID had been updated to reflect his new membership status.
Sure enough, it had already gone through. Now, his ID card clearly showed that he was a full Guild Member and no longer just an Outer Member. This got him excited, as he had a new goal for the day, and being a full member was the only way that it was likely to work.
While he wanted to immediately go and try to return to the Rift he’d been in earlier this week, he decided it might be best to do a bit of research.
After talking with Olivia the day before, he could not stop thinking about rituals. Her suggestion that they may be the answer to his low mana excited him.
His first step was to look through the app and find the social features, then to add Olivia and the other new adventurer who had helped him the day before. He was surprised to find that he already had a pending friend request.
Oh, right, I totally forgot about that kid. He was actually really nice.
After clicking on the username associated with the request, he saw the same young face he’d run into while hunting the boars. Alex felt bad for how he acted, so he added him and then moved on to Olivia’s ID.
Oh shit. She’s a Peacekeeper? She didn’t mention that.
Alex was surprised and impressed. Olivia must be strong if she was one of the Peacekeepers for The Guild. It did soften the blow a bit, for how badly he’d been trounced in their spar.
After making the connections, he moved on to the available training content and was pleased to see that it had grown by a large amount. Additionally, Alex now had access to the Auction House section of the app. This was how Olivia had recommended he should get the ritual training material.
Feeling the need to sate his curiosity, the first thing that Alex looked up were manuals on spell casting. He assumed this might give him a baseline of understanding.
What?!
If he sorted the trading section of the app by ‘Magic’ and then added the tag for ‘Manual / Skill Book’ and sorted by cost, he could view the cheapest item.
50 Mana Stones? That seems so excessive.
Even as he thought about it, though, a part of Alex’s brain wanted to try and figure out what he might be able to sell in order to get his hands on one of those books. If he could equate a Mana Stone being somewhere around $500, then that one book was somewhere around $25,000 USD.
In one sense, it boggled his mind to think that this was the cheapest available item in this search. On the other hand, it wasn’t surprising that there were people all over the country who would be willing to spend a ludicrous amount of money to be able to do real magic.
He shook his head and changed the search to look up Enchanting manuals and Skill Books.
Alex began to laugh.
The cost of these manuals was, on average, double or triple that of the spell-casting manuals.
I wonder if that’s because it’s so rare or because so many people are interested in it.
He moved on, once again, to what he was really there to search for: manuals and Skill Books for Rituals. They were much, much more affordable.
Several lower options were titled “Basic Rituals” or “Ritual Pattern Layouts,” which cost less than 10 Mana Stones.
After paying the Mana Stone to Elana, I have two left over... and I still owe one to Red Beanie and his crew for entrance into the Rift. If I spend a day or two back in that Rift, fighting boars, I should be able to get up to that pretty easily.
He looked through the available material more before stretching again and gathering his pack. He’d used some of the rations last time he was at the Rift and one of his pairs of pants had been ruined, so he took a quick inventory of what he needed to replace.
After making his list, he got dressed and packed what he needed into his car before heading to the necessary stores. He decided to get extras of a few things, mainly thinking about socks and food. His socks had gotten so wet during his trek through the rainy forest last time. In this same line of thinking, he went to the nearby outdoor store and got more durable pants and some waterproof gators meant to protect his ankle and lower legs against the constant moisture.
He began his drive to the west and checked the Adventurers Guild app to see the stats on the Rift he’d visited before. He was surprised to see that it was much more occupied than before.
Wow, 52 of the 100 available slots are taken this time. I wonder if that means they’re any closer to completing the Rift Quest.
A short time later, Alex was surprised to meet a different group of people from the Guild. They asked to see his ID, and when he showed it to them, the group of young men became a lot more friendly. They were all either level two or three and were there as a voluntary detail to get entrance into the Rift over the next week.
“How long do they think that it’ll take to complete the Rift Quest?”
“Complete it?” The leader of the small group asked. “They aren’t going to complete it for a while. Actually, it’s a good thing you asked. You can participate and gain contribution toward the quest, but don’t go in there trying to complete it. There’s a Peacekeeper in there, and the whole point is to allow AG to abuse the time-stretching effect. There are some higher-level people in there just practicing and training, rather than actually trying to kill monsters or level up.”
Oh, that’s interesting.
“I guess that makes sense. Twice as much time to train if they’re in there.”
“Yeah,” The man said. “The Moderators have said that if they find an Uncommon Rift that spawns in a more convenient location, or they get ahold of a Rare Rift, that’s when they’ll let us complete this one.”
“Okay, so what about me then? I’ve already completed the Personal Quest here. Will I get another one?”
One of the girls standing to the side shook her head. “Nah, sorry. Personal Quests only come around once. So you can enter if you want, and the cost is reduced, but you can really just practice killing the boars in there. You can also get some experience for fighting the corruption, and that’ll increase your Rift Quest reward down the road, but that’s really it.”
The leader shrugged and nodded. “That’s about it. We still think it’s worth it, the monsters are low-level, and you can get some experience in fighting and gain some Mana Stones pretty safely.”
Alex nodded and thanked the group before asking him to put the entrance fee on his Guild ID.
When he entered the Rift, Alex was surprised to see that a large area surrounding the Rift had been cleared and there were tents and camping equipment spread out around it.
Wow, there’s a lot here. People must come back in the evenings.
He shrugged and decided that he’d do the same, but during the day, he didn’t trust leaving his pack somewhere that others might decide to rummage through it. Even though they were all a part of The Adventurers Guild, he didn’t personally know the people who were hunting in the Rift.
Alex stepped away from the camp area and into the forest, his wand gripped firmly in his right hand. The smooth wood felt reassuring against his palm. He felt a lot more confident than he had from his desperate and unprepared first attempt at fighting boars in the Rift. He looked down at the wand and smirked.
Much nicer to use this than that ridiculous hatchet. At least I can get some distance now.
Moving carefully through the underbrush, he could hear the familiar grunting of nearby boars. Soon, he spotted two boars rooting around near a corrupted pod.
He positioned himself behind a thick tree trunk, knowing that he’d need the cover based on his previous experience. The wand would be great for attacking, but he’d still need to rely on the tree as a way to dodge and avoid the boars’ charge.
Taking a deep breath, he pulled at the mana from his core and channeled it into the wand. He could feel how the focused energy gathered at the wood held in his palm, and he forced himself to loosen his iron-like grip.
Relax, you missed all of those tense shots yesterday. Keep a loose grip.
His palm began to tingle as he felt the wand pull on the mana and knew that he could begin to throw the seven-mana-charged bolts toward the boars.
Here goes nothing. 60 mana total, so I’ve got about six good shots before the headache really starts to kick in. Better make them count.
Alex aimed carefully at the nearest boar. The air around the tip of the wand chilled, and he felt a recoil ripple through his arm as the bolt flew off at speed. The bolt struck true, hitting the boar’s flank with enough force to send it tumbling into the dirt. The creature squealed in pain, its companion jerking its head up in alarm.
Both boars turned toward him, zeroing in on his position.
53 mana left.
When the first boar charged, Alex ducked behind the tree and felt the muscles in his legs scream in protest. The creature’s tusks scraped against the bark, though it was a glancing blow, and it continued past the tree rather than connecting head-on as he had hoped.
Alex spun around the trunk, taking an extra second to aim before sending another seven-strength bolt into the beast’s hindquarters.
46 mana. Still good.
The second boar was already moving to flank him. Alex backed away, keeping the tree between himself and the creatures as best he could. He looked around for his next piece of cover, unsure if he could afford to look away. His heart pounded as he heard them circling and lost vision of one of the boars in the thick underbrush.
One of the boars burst through the underbrush to his left, and Alex fired quickly, causing him to only charge the bolt with five mana. Worse yet, the shot went wide and barely grazed the creature’s shoulder.
Fuck. Wasted shot. I've got... what, four good shots left? Maybe five?
He steadied himself and took a deep breath. The next bolt, properly powered and aimed, caught the boar in the face as it turned to face him once again. It caused the beast to squeal, dart to the side, and stumble to the ground after a few steps.
Getting tired. Three or four shots left before I'm in trouble.
His arms were beginning to tremble, and he couldn’t tell if it was from the mana fatigue or just the adrenaline coursing through his veins. The injured boar struggled to rise, giving Alex an easy opening to send another bolt into its head.
One down. Can't have more than two good shots left.
The remaining boar seemed more cautious now, circling just beyond the trees. Alex waited, controlling his breathing, trying to conserve what energy he had left. A dull pressure was building behind his eyes, and he recognized sure signs of mana fatigue.
The boar finally charged, and Alex managed to sidestep at the last second. The creature barreled past him, crashing through a patch of thick undergrowth. Taking advantage of the opening, Alex sent another seven-mana bolt into its side. The pressure in his head spiked sharply, and he winced at the sudden pain.
One shot left. Make it count.
The boar staggered from the hit but maintained its footing. Alex tried to steady his shaking hands as he aimed the wand. The mana felt sluggish, resistant, as he attempted to channel it through the wand. His stomach lurched, but he forced himself to focus through the growing nausea. With the last of his concentration, he pushed seven more mana into the wand and released the bolt. It struck the boar's head, and the creature collapsed mid-stride.
Alex sagged against the nearest tree, and his legs barely held him up. The headache had turned into a pounding behind his eyes, which caused the forest to tilt and spin around him. He slid down to sit at the tree's base, his hands still trembling from the mana drain.
Note to self: Passing out in a Rift is probably a bad way to go.
He closed his eyes and focused on taking slow, steady breaths. He decided the corrupted pod could wait. First, he needed to let his mana recover before the symptoms worsened. As his head continued to pound, he couldn't help but appreciate the irony. He was definitely getting better at fighting, but for some reason, maintaining that distance and managing his mana felt just as hard as when he was fighting in melee.
After taking time to recover his mana, Alex spent the rest of the day in the Rift fighting boars and clearing out the corrupted pods. When the night began to fall, he made his way back to the portal entrance to set up camp. He had to wonder, yet again, if he was seeing his abnormally high Willpower affect his mental faculties. He felt so much more in control of his thoughts during each of the day's fights. Even when things went poorly, he felt calmer and could continue to keep track of his remaining wand shots despite the panic he felt.
Making an effort to be social, Alex introduced himself to a few people near the camp's outer edge as he set up his tent. They invited him to their campfire a short time later and the gossip that they had was informative.
The most interesting bit was a conversation between the group's leader, who seemed to be some sort of warrior carrying a sword and shield, and his wife, who had a bow in her lap. He talked about how his old military contacts told him that the government would be trying to swap part of the backing for the U.S. dollar to Mana Stones.
Several of the others argued against it, saying that backing currency on any item was a futile gesture and that the government had to have learned its lesson.
“There’s a reason they moved away from backing it on gold and silver. I don’t see any reason why they’d try to do it again; it’s just setting them up for failure.”
Regardless which direction they took, everyone agreed that the stones had a high value that was likely to continue to increase in the coming weeks.
That became even more clear as the conversation continued. They said that the Mana Stones could be ground down for a source of energy that could potentially solve the energy crisis. If the Mana Stones could be used as a resource to replace fossil fuels or reduce the strain on the electrical grid, then the government was willing to go all in on the Rifts.
It suddenly changed the dynamics from ‘clear the Rifts quickly, for everyone’s safety’ to ‘farm the best Rifts for materials.’
Money makes the world go round, I guess.
The advice he took away from the conversation was that there was a lot of gossip going around about who was doing what, and he should hold onto his Mana Stones for as long as possible. Since things were still in such flux, their value was likely to skyrocket over the next month.
While this made sense to him, his main goal was still to get the ten stones needed for the basic ritual information. He planned to continue saving after the needed amount. If he continued as he did today, he could easily earn more than ten stones in the next few days.
Despite feeling safe with the camp’s numbers, Alex slept fitfully before rising the following day to continue hunting boars.
Comments
lenkite
He needs to level [Mana Infusion], otherwise higher-level creatuers will be too fast for him to even look and aim and he won't be able to move his body fast enough to dodge. How much does [Mana Infusion] improve physical stats ? that would be good to know.
