Chapter 52: Tools

Kaius sat on the side of a hill, nestled in amongst the rows of myriad fungus that made up the extensive farms surrounding the underground city. After a few hours of walking, they’d noticed the gargantuan crystal suspended from the ceiling had begun to dim. An artificial ‘night’ had quickly set on. It was beautiful. A full quarter of the mushrooms in the farms lighting up with soft inner light. A riot of greens, blues, purples, and oranges.

Taking another bite of a strange grey mushroom that he had picked from the fields, Kaius looked out over the softly pulsing lightshow. A snort made him jump, and he turned over to find Porkchop twitching in his sleep. He smiled.

Taking the first watch had been his idea. He still felt absolutelywiredfrom receiving his firstHonour. No way he was going to be able to sleep now.

He’d expectedsomekind of benefit for being observed by the system, yet nothing so drastic. It made sense though. The system was already set up to reward feats. He knew it kept track of people's triumphs, tailoring offered classes and evolutions to what someone had achieved. He just hadn’t quite expected that something so massive had been forgotten. The other Observed, those from the stories,musthave gotten at least a few of them. Even if it was far harder to gain them after class selection, it was the only way to explain the feats attributed to them.

He fell backwards with a soft thunk, staring at the dark stone far far above.

They were a tangible goal, something to work towards while he grew his skills. The stats alone would provide him with a notable edge. While not much in the grand scheme of things, the cap at twenty for an unclassed waspunishing. Every boost would let him push just that little bit harder, getting him closer to achieving the nextHonour. If he got enough of them… They might be able to take on the Guardian. Without a class.

What sort ofHonourwould that give?

They’d need more though, both of them. At least another Honour. He just wasn’t sure what feats the system would need to see for them to get it. Therehadto be one for defeating more Champions in a group, and maybe higher versions of the one he already had. Ten was likely, if they didn’t get one by then, he doubted it existed. The problem was time. Even if they aimed for getting Porkchop three solo kills, and ten as a group, that was far more than the three he had seen in the city.

It was entirely possible that they would class up before finding enough. Whatever method Delvers used to explore a biome in weeks, they didn’t have access to it. Even finding this city had takenmonths, and that was with this being an unusually open biome. They wouldn’t get so lucky with others.

Kaius took a deep breath, setting out a long sigh. Therehadto be other feats that the system would reward. He would have expected a capping a complete set of legacy skills to be one, but surely it couldn’t? There had to be others out there with a full set somewhere, right? His father would have told him. He would have.

“I suppose that I'll find out one way or the other.”He thought to himself.

The only others that even remotely made sense to him would beHonoursfor reaching a certain layer of the Depths, and killing something a certain number of levels above him. Both of those had jumped to mind as something that might have happened to the heroes in the stories, if they ever existed. Unfortunately, they were inaccessible. He was stuck with a layer maximum of twenty. Even the strongest Champions would be capped at thirty, and only the Guardian would be higher than that.

Considering he wanted theHonoursto fight the Guardian in the first place…They wouldn’t be much help to him even if they did exist.

He couldn’t just chase after them mindlessly. Even the ones hewashalf confident in acquiring in time would press them for time. That, or they would be an idiotic risk. Sure, he could see the system rewarding him for surviving anAfflictionthat was all but guaranteed to kill an unclassed. Even withRapid Adaptationhe had no intention of killing himself on the off chance itmightgive him some sort of benefit. Let alone the fact that he was unlikely to find something with that sort of power on this layer. Even if it did, it was likely to be aChampion, something that wouldn’t exactly sit pretty while he tried to fight off an infection.

Kaius groaned, quickly quieting when Porkchop shifted in his sleep. He’d finally felt like he was ahead of his deadline. His skill growth had been explosive, and he wascertainhe would be able to merge and cap all of his legacy skills before his looming class selection.

Then this had to land in his lap.

Not that he was complaining. Nor had he exactly planned on taking it easy, the Depths didn’t doeasy. It was just another mystery on an already teetering pile. He had so much todo, both now and when he escaped.

“Bah, nothing I can do about it now.”

He reached into his pocket, pulling out the bronze stylus that was curiously moulded to his grip. He hadn’t had the chance toIdentifyit on their walk through the fields. Too absorbed in keeping watch for goblins and mulling over hisHonour. It’d make for a good distraction, he thought as he pulled up its description.

Jurryrigger’s Inscription Stylus:

Uncommon - Tier I

Most see the runic arts as something to be relegated to the sterility of the laboratory, or held contained in the illusionary spaces of the mind. Environmental conditions, perfect mediums, and tightly controlled mana density areuseful, but they are not the core of the art. A true master knows that quick and dirty always has its place.

Made from mystic bronze, this stylus is shaped to provide smooth control over the long process of runic inscription. Enchantments allow mana to be channelled through the artefact, allowing clean and stable lines with low mana resistance to be inscribed on a multitude of mundane and poorly prepared surfaces. Less effective with mana dense and alchemically treated materials. Low flow rate.

Depths-wrought Artefact.

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Auxiliary Equipment (Inscription stylus)

Mana Conduit I, Multi-purpose Inscriber I, Self Repair I

Kaius bolted upright like he’d been smacked. His head snapped back and forth, looking for something to test the stylus with. His eyes settled on a woody fungus growing just a few steps away. They were fairly common in the fields, and would suit his purposes. He crawled over, cutting off one of the growths with his knife. It was a few fingers thick, and shaped like an odd lopsided bowl.Identifysaid it was edible, but he hadn’t had the guts to try it yet. What with it being as hard as a rock and all.

He placed the slab of fungus in his lap, holding his stylus like an over large pen. Despite the strange size and hefty weight, its shaped grips felt comfortable in his hand. Moulding to its contours.

He’d used an inscription stylus once or twice. Father had a couple. They had, however, been made for his father personally. Using them as a mana conduit to inscribe bottomed out his pool in seconds. That was still enough for him to be familiar with how they worked.

Kaius reached for the mana in his pool, teasing it free and connecting it to the artefact in his hand. It snapped in place with ease, none of the mental strain present like it was when he infused his eyes. Intuitively he could feel his link with the tool.

None of hisManawas draining. Yet. A flicker of intent started the process. Sipping daintily at his offered mana, the runes on the side of the stylus began to glow with a dim internal light, working their way down to the tip of the implement. A moment later he felt the drain halt as the mystic bronze was saturated.

It would drain more as he inscribed. With a low flow rate he would need to go slow. Too fast and he would drain the bronze faster than he could top it off, breaking the connection and forcing the metal to physically scratch the material.

He brought his hand down, dragging the tip of the stylus against the fungus in his lap. The bronze spike at its tip seemed to almostmergewith the material. Phasing into it. He drew. A perfectly straight darkened line was left in his wake. A mana channel. He pushed more of hisManathrough the device, slowing the rate at which he drew. the line darkened. More resilient, less resistant to the mystic power that would flow through it in an inscription.

He pushed deeper. The line widened, allowing a greater flow rate.

This wasperfect. Inscribing was delicate work, and he had been avoiding making use of it due to the danger of collapse when improperly formed. Youcouldinscribe with just about anything that could leave a mark. Hells, he’d done just that when he made the inscriptions to learnSense ManaandSense Illusion.

Those were basic inscriptions. About as simple as one could make and still achieve an effect. Oversized, simplified, and barely more than parlour tricks. One of them had still blown up in his face, wood and charcoal too imprecise to correctly contain the flow of energy. Sure, it had been exacerbated by the abnormal mana density of the depths, but with a proper stylus it never would have happened in the first place.

The tool he held in his hand was evenmoreuseful than a traditional implement. Most inscriptions, even those done with mundane materials, were done on immaculately smoothed surfaces. Polished flagstones and the like. This one seemed to forgo the ability to work with higher grade materials to smooth out the process of working on uneven surfaces and inconsistent densities.

He could make wards!

He hadn’t dared to do so yet. They were complex and time expensive things to set up. With only charcoal at his disposal, they were more than likely to blow up in his face than do anything helpful like make an alarm perimeter.

Unfortunately, he doubted he would get any use out of his formations in combat. Thereweredisposable formations and crafted artefacts, but that was an entire discipline of its own. With how much of a time crunch his training had been, they’d only just had enough spare time to work on the bare necessities needed for body formation work. Basic wards were, well, part of the basics. So he’d learnt those. A lot of other things had fallen by the wayside.

Still! Basic locking inscriptions and alarm wards were things he knew well enough. They’d be a massive boon for their safety wherever they rested. Plus, now he couldpractise. He’d been dreading the work he would have to do to mergeRunic Lexicon. Nominally a language skill, it was incredibly difficult to level without actuallydisplayingyour ability. For something likeCommon Speech, that meant works of writing or oration. For runes, it meant inscriptions.

Beyond that, he’d still have to mostly hold off. He didn’t want the skills of a traditional runewright to impact his class overly much. Though, if he was successful with his plans, he expected he would getplentyof use out of the artefact.

Pulling his new stylus away from the fungus, Kaius smiled at the mess of meaningless lines he had scrawled all over its surface. Meaningless scribbles to simply try out his new toy. He reached over and tucked the stylus away safely in his back. Hecouldset up some sort of basic ward now, but even if his artefact was up to it, Kaius didn’t trust his skills nearly enough to try to inscribe a formation on loose dirt of all things.

Tomorrow they would reach the city. More battle, more Champions, and more loot waited for him. More than that, he was excited to simply explore the place. He was almost certain it was modelled after a dwarven city. Having never evenmeta dwarf, he was eager to see how they might live.

Stories of the Stoneholds had always been his favourite, and now he might get to explore one. Even if it was just a facsimile.

For now though, he would wait a few more hours before waking Porkchop for his turn at watch. That, and check hisstatus.

Status:

Name: Kaius

Dynasty: Unterstern

Age: 18

Class Selection: 1 Year, 28 weeks, 4 days

Race: Human (Dynastic) - +1 free stats per level

Layer Reached: 2

Resources:

Health - 380/380 (2.8/min)

Stamina - 280/280 (2.8/min)

Mana - 220/220 (2.8/min)

Stats:

Endurance - 30 + 8 (38)

Vitality - 20 + 8 (28)

Strength - 20 + 8 (28)

Dexterity - 20 + 8 (28)

Intelligence - 14 + 8 (22)

Willpower: - 20 + 8 (28)

Stat Points: 0

Class Skills (0/10):

N/a

General Skills (10/10):

Rapid Adaptation (Heroic) - 18

Warforged (Unique) - 20

Explorers Toolkit (Unusual) - 10 > 11

Adamant Body (Unique) - 8 > 12

Low Light Vision (Uncommon) - 20

Mental Visualisation (Uncommon) - 20

Sense Illusion (Rare) - 20

Sense Mana (Rare) - 20

Identify (Rare) - 0 > 16

Eagle Eye (Rare) - 0 > 14

Honours:

Born for Slaughter

Bound Artefacts:

A Fathers Gift -Common Growth Longsword

Growth Conditions-

Gain a class (0/1)

Acquire suitable materials (0/3)

Forge a link (0/1)