Inflame (The Completionist Chronicles Book 6) Read online

  “Six hundred and twenty-five mana a second.” Joe gulped as he looked at the armor. “If it took five full seconds to reduce a dagger, how long will this take? I can only hold out for two and a half seconds. Are you sure we should do this? The armor is definitely going to break, and I am not going to be able to capture all of the aspects…”

  “Did I tell you to hesitate? Or did I give you a task to complete?” Havoc waved a hand imperiously at Joe. “Get after it.”

  Joe started pouring his mana into the ritual, and the breastplate began to shine. One second passed, two… and Havoc slammed a bottle into Joe’s mouth. The human was so shocked that he almost failed to continue, but he gulped the liquid down and watched as his mana was restored. It stayed at full for another five seconds before starting to drop slightly, and the breastplate vanished at the end of ten full seconds from the beginning of the process. “Havoc! What was that?”

  “Rare-rank Mana Philter. Hard to come by, very expensive. Using those like bathwater will really make the court-martial stand up and take notice. Mainly because I think we have a single Dwarven alchemist in the entire Oligarchy?” Havoc ignored Joe’s sputtering and demanded, “Well? A breakdown, please!”

  “That’s… I… over six thousand total mana used.” Joe deflated and started going over the details. Havoc listened greedily, writing Joe’s words out on a pad of paper. “I gained one hundred and eleven Unique aspects, eighty-two Rare, two hundred ten Uncommon, and a bunch of the lower ones.”

  “Good. Now, any class experience gained?” Havoc smiled knowingly as Joe checked and found a big fat zero waiting for him. “Now, what do you think you need to do to get experience?”

  “Since reducing things does not give experience by itself, I can only assume that I will get experience when I make things with the aspects.” Joe was almost bowled over by Havoc clapping a hand on his back.

  “Good! Oh, if you got that wrong, I was going to punish you so badly. Now, how do you make items out of aspects?”

  “I have… let’s just start testing, alright?” Joe pulled paper and ink from his ring and started to draw a circle. The paper took the ink, but as soon as the circle was complete, the entire thing burst into flames. “Ow!”

  “You aren’t hurt,” Havoc scoffed as Joe dropped the flaming paper. “You were just surprised. I know you are wearing a shield of some kind. What was that all about? Why didn't that work? You’re so bad at coloring that the deity of artistry cursed you or something?”

  Joe pulled up his notifications again, already sick of needing to open them so frequently.

  Attempt at creating a ritual circle detected. Warning: all crafting can only be completed via aspect usage!

  “I can only use aspects?” Joe slapped at the screen, only to have his hand go right through it. “How! How do I use them?”

  Checking… no skill trainer available. Aspect crafting tutorial is available for purchase! Cost: 5,000 reputation with a deity of your choice. Reputation loss must leave you at neutral or above!

  Joe stared at the black-hearted fee listed. “Kind of pigeonholing me here, aren't you? This seems like a blatant attempt to force me to regain favor with Tatum.”

  There was no response, though Havoc looked at Joe a little strangely. Joe shook his head. “I just got the opportunity to get a tutorial on crafting with aspects. What do you think? Is that usually worth doing?”

  Havoc’s eyes practically bulged out of his goggles. “Never, never turn down a system-generated tutorial. You cannot get a better, cleaner, more direct tutorial or method of training anywhere. It practically offers to make you the subject matter expert for the entire Zone!”

  “Guess… I’ll buy it then.” Joe accepted the cost and watched as various numbers dropped precipitously from his status screen.

  Aspect crafting tutorial purchased! Would you like to take the tutorial now?

  Joe didn’t hesitate to accept. He was practically useless without his ability to even make a simple ritual diagram, let alone draw a circle. “Yes.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The world around Joe faded into a dense fog immediately. He wasn't entirely certain if he had been moved from his position, or if he were in the same spot but completely zoned out. Joe was standing in a world of mist, but the condensation began to visibly coalesce in front of his amazed eyes. Joe flinched as the shifting world began speaking to him in a powerful voice. Every word from this unknown being burned itself into his brain, making it nearly impossible to forget.

  Crafting with aspects is the process of seeing beyond what is, to what could be. By using energy directly and following the pattern created with alchemy, blacksmithing, or a myriad of other crafting styles, you are able to minimize and standardize the requirements for every part of the crafting process. Let us review the different standard materials.

  A weak dark grey flame appeared and was introduced at the same time.

  Aspect of Trash. This is the most basic form of aspects, but also the most widely used. Every item, consumable, or anything else crafted… makes use of aspects of Trash. It is the most basic aspect and is more useful than you may ever comprehend.

  Three more wispy flames appeared in front of Joe, a light grey, white, and silver. The voice continued speaking.

  In order, these are Damaged, Common, and Uncommon aspects. For the majority of all crafting, these are the aspects that are going to be the most frequently used. We’ll begin with a simple example of using aspects in crafting. Let's make a Beginner-ranked ritual diagram.

  In order to make a Beginner-ranked ritual, two ritual circles are needed. Let's work together to create a ritual using aspects!

  Joe rolled his eyes at the condescending tutorial. However, he had played enough games that he knew that he should follow along closely. He couldn't count the number of times that he had assumed he would understand how to do something, then tried to do it without the tutorial’s help—and failed miserably—in other games he’d played throughout his life.

  A Novice-ranked ritual circle can be created using either Trash or Damaged aspects. Of course, there will be a slight efficiency difference between the two. Damaged aspects will increase the potency by a minute amount, but using Trash will be more cost-effective over time. The second circle, the Beginner-rank circle, requires—at a minimum—Common-ranked aspects. In order to use these aspects to draw your circle, you must use your mana to shift an aspect into an inscribing utensil. Try this now!

  Joe reached out for the Trash aspect, but his fingers went right through it. As the aspect went over his hand, it burned him right through his shield; the weak aspect shaving off fifty points of his health in an instant.

  Please make sure to use caution! Injury from base energies leads to true damage!

  “Great. Once again, I am working with volatile energy that will likely end up exploding in my face or working so differently that I accidentally kill a bunch of people.” Joe tried again; this time, instead of directly touching the aspect, he allowed a little bit of mana to escape his fingers and swirl around the dark grey wispy flame. That seemed to work, so he bent his mind to the task of shaping the small flame into a stick, then into a fountain pen.

  Great visualization technique! You have made a basic, trash-quality aspect fountain pen! Using more potent aspects will require more specific and detailed input, since aspects tend to become a little grumpy if they have to go into something that they see as a lesser vessel!

  Now that you have a basic writing utensil, try drawing out a Novice-ranked circle!

  Joe made a simple ritual diagram on the ground, the most basic that he could think of: a perfect circle. As he drew on the foggy ground, a wispy grey meter appeared in his heads-up display. As the circle grew, the meter dropped rapidly. He completed the diagram, and it shone a beautiful light grey to signify completion.

  That was a heady feeling, a strange dopamine hit that made Joe strangely happy. Something about seeing results immediately upon finishing a project, even
a small one like this, was oddly pleasurable. He had a feeling that he was going to enjoy working as a Reductionist.

  Great! As you can see, when you are using aspects to craft, you will automatically use stored aspects. For the purposes of this tutorial, you will have unlimited resources, but nothing that you make in here will be available outside of the training area. Please remember that you will not be able to re-access this tutorial upon completion!

  “Well, there go my plans of perfecting all of my rituals.” Joe sighed pseudo-glumly. It was hard to actually be unhappy when he was learning a new skill that would affect everything that he did from this point forward.

  Now that you have created a Novice circle, try creating a Beginner-ranked ritual circle using this same writing utensil!

  Joe started working on the second circle without any hesitation, knowing that it would likely not work. That was okay; it was important to follow along with the instructions so that he would at least learn the consequences. But he was not expecting the deep pain as his ‘pen’ exploded, taking his hand and his arm up to the elbow along with it in one deadly, white fireball.

  The Reductionist went spinning across the foggy area, blood flying in an arc in the opposite direction. Joe landed heavily, stunned from the impact and how violent the reaction had been. He went to cast Mend on himself, but the damage vanished and his body returned to normal before he could use the spell. “From now on, maybe I won’t listen to every instruction that it gives me.”

  As you can see, there is a furious reaction when a higher-order aspect is used through a lower aspect crafting implement. Remember, in order to create a Beginner-ranked Circle, you need—at a minimum—Common-ranked aspects. You can use higher order aspects to create lower-ranked circles, but it is a waste of resources! Try creating a Common-ranked writing utensil now!

  Joe reached out to the wispy flame that was a pure white, once more allowing his mana to swirl around it and pull it into the shape of a fountain pen. Just before grabbing it, he had a premonition of danger and ducked away from it.

  It was a good thing he did, as the explosion it created was almost twice as potent as the one from the Trash-aspect pen. The flames hissed in the air, lashing out with flares and bursts, until all the captured aspects had been released.

  Looks like someone forgot that they needed to make a more impressive writing utensil! Hopefully this serves as a warning going forward!

  “I don't know why this tutorial is so vindictive, but I guess I should have expected it, based on previous interactions with the system.” Joe scoffed as he tried to think of the ‘writing implement’ that he would attempt to make next. He had a feeling that every single one of them would need to be different, each more impressive than the last, which meant he did not want to start with an exceedingly fancy pen, he just wanted something slightly more intricate. Joe would save the peacock feather quills for the Unique or higher ones down the line.

  This time, as he used his mana to form the pen, Joe visualized embossing Tatum's symbol on the side as a pure-white grip. He reached out hesitantly and gripped the pen, waiting to see if it would explode in his face. Nothing yet. He reached down and started drawing out the second Circle, composing a simple diagram and a complete ritual. This time, as he wrote out the diagram, not only did his Common-ranked aspects resource bar drop, the Damaged and Trash resource bars dropped as well.

  Excellent choice of writing utensils! As you can see, when you are crafting at a higher rank, all aspects below that rank are also used to stabilize and enhance the higher-rarity aspects. By crafting more carefully, increasing your skill level as a Reductionist, or as a crafter of the type you are attempting to emulate, you will reduce your overall resource draw.

  Let's move on to learning to craft in different disciplines that you have started upon! Please choose one of the disciplines that you would like a happy tutorial for! Options: Alchemy, Blacksmithing, Enchanting.

  “I need at least to know how to make the main crafting implements for all three of them, so let's just go in order.” Joe selected alchemy, and the tutorial began immediately. He needed to use a cauldron that the system provided, and what looked like a giant stirring spoon that he was required to make out of aspects. It was a strange spoon, because beyond having a scoop, it also had a lid on it. That allowed him to stir, collect, and contain the aspects as he made a potion. “This makes me rethink drinking actual potions… if I can make them out of simple Trash aspects, what am I putting in my body?

  Pondering the fact that he could convert human waste into viable potions was fairly disgusting, and he resolved to use Draughts—made from Common aspects—at the minimum from now on. There was one additional component to consider with Alchemy, and that was controlling the temperature of the cauldron. At this level of potion making, it was fairly straightforward. Still, he knew that there was going to be plenty that he could learn from alchemical skill trainers.

  From there, he moved on to blacksmithing, which required him to make an ingot hammer out of aspects, then use a normal anvil to craft the strange energy into a solid material. Slamming a hammer down on energy was a new experience, and one that he looked forward to repeating in the future.

  Enchanting was a pleasant surprise, because he found that he could use the same inscription tool that he created when drawing ritual diagrams. After he had absorbed the four crafting disciplines that he knew currently, Joe thought the tutorial was going to complete itself. Instead, it threw a curveball into the entire system.

  Great work! Now that you have created various materials and consumables, let's try making a Rare-ranked… anything! When going from Uncommon to Rare, an additional component is needed! Energy!

  “Isn't all of this energy?” Joe muttered to himself. Luckily, the system clarified for him in the next few lines of text.

  One way to think of the difference of crafting Rare-ranked objects and above is to assume that it is an ‘endothermic reaction’! Not only do you need the same components as you did before, you also need an energy source that allows you to force the components to react in a new way! Only, instead of adding heat, you are adding power directly from: a Core!

  Joe decided to go with what he was most familiar with and began making a Student-ranked ritual diagram. To save on time, he crafted his inscription tool in a similar manner to his Common aspect writing implement, but turned the top half of it into an eagle feather, making a fancy—but not too fancy—quill. It worked, and he started sketching the fourth circle of the ritual diagram immediately. This time, not only did he start seeing a decrease in his resource bars, but an additional empty, energetic blue bar appeared. Joe didn’t think too much of it until he tried to draw the circle and nothing happened.

  Please bind the Core to the aspect section in the crafting tab of your status sheet. For the purposes of the demonstration, you have been granted a Core that you can bind immediately!

  A shining, round Core appeared in Joe's hand, and he had an idea. Using his Ritual of Reduction, he attempted to reduce the Core directly.

  Item: Core (Rare).

  Energy value: 5,192/5,192

  Reduction cost: Cannot break energy down further!

  Seeing no other option, Joe followed the directions and found the Core tab, added the Core, and tried drawing once more. The resource bars went down, the circle was drawn, and the ritual diagram was completed. Joe inspected the energy resource bar, wondering how much of that core he had spent.

  Energy value: 4,751/5,192

  “So, I spent about four hundred and forty-one points of energy from the core.” Joe mused, looking at the bars and trying to get a feel for how the conversion worked. “How…?”

  You have completed the tutorial! Another tutorial may become available at a later date, based upon your usage and accomplishments. Try new things and increase your class to unlock further instructions!

  With no more warning than that, the foggy world around Joe vanished, and he found himself back in the room with Major
General Havoc. The Dwarf took a long draw of a thick cigar and stared Joe down. “Well? Are you going to take a tutorial or not?”

  “Already done.” That answered one question for Joe; he had not moved from his spot in the world.

  The goggles covering Havoc’s eyes gleamed. “An instant download of information? That's a very good tutorial, indeed… as expected of the system. So… you learned new things?”

  “Show me.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  One of the greatest benefits of having his Legendary codpiece was that Joe could bring things out of it to any part of his body whenever he wanted. It was time to show Havoc what he had learned, and Joe knew better than to hold back. With a thought and a handful of mana, Joe grasped forward and called forth an aspect of Trash.

  The dark grey wispy fire appeared and was immediately surrounded by his light blue mana. Joe didn't bother to put much effort into the design, making a simple stylus. After it was formed, the aspect solidified into an actual physical object, though it was practically weightless. He was about to create a simple Novice-ranked Circle, but thought better of it. Perhaps it would be better to see how many aspects he had first? Calling up his crafting tab, Joe was pleasantly surprised to see what had been stored.

  Aspects gathered

  Trash: 1,001

  Damaged: 712

  Common: 238

  Uncommon: 210

  Rare: 80

  Special: 0

  Unique: 51

  Artifact: 0

  Legendary: 0

  Mythical: 0

  Core energy: None bound