The golem crafter, p.22
The Golem Crafter, page 22
part #2 of Ethria Series
A ball of water surrounded by submerged hands as mana poured into the water, gathering and shaping it. Instinctively I put my other hand into the ball of water as I pulled it out of the river, and the substance acted there as well. As the mana finished entering the water from my hands a small progress bar appeared in the lower portions of my vision. Below that bar said,
“Mana Available for Shaping 10,000 / 10,000. Template Selected: Simple Humanoid (Default).”
I stood and looked at the water surrounding my hands. As I did I found I could make out six glowing lights in the material. I felt more than saw the pattern that I needed to put them in, and began manipulating the mana in the water into the proper forms. I hardened the mana just enough to keep the shape I put it in, and after a few minutes of work, the water held its shape. A small humanoid, two legs each with articulated knees, two stubby arms, and a head that held the tiny crystal. But, it felt incomplete somehow. The physical form was complete, but it felt empty.
I’m an idiot , I thought as I remembered about the enneagram. Alright, what should this thing be? What kind of behavior do I want it to have? I needed it to be more protective than aggressive. I could handle the damage-dealing part of things easily enough. Fire was good at that. What I needed was something quick and watchful. Something to watch my back while I dished out the damage, something that would alert me to danger. Something that would follow after me and keep me safe. That's it! But, it will require a different body...
I began reshaping the things mana constructed form and when the system prompted me with “Do you wish to create a new template with six nodes?” I mentally chose Yes, and I began to work. After another twenty minutes taking apart the construct and reshaping it the way I wanted, I was rewarded with another notification.
“Congratulations! You have gained a skill point in Golem Making, and one point in Mana Manipulation! Congratulations! You have created a new Simple Golem Template. Template: Canine.”
With that success, I began working on the enneagram. The thing was simple, but the intensity of the emotions it would feel was difficult for me to truly fathom without my logical mind getting in the way. It was simple, instinctual, primal. But it was also loving and loyal more so than most creatures. I came to a place while building the enneagram where I had to make a choice. Did I want the creature to be smart and strong and generally watchful like most of the larger dogs I had lived with in my life back on Earth? Or did I want the thing to be more anxious, for it to make noise and constantly make me aware of potential threats around me.
The problem was, If I went with the first option which seemed like the better one on its face, the creature might be so self-secure that it wouldn’t warn me of a potential threat until it was too late. Or, it might be so overconfident it might just ignore my orders thinking it knew best. On the other hand, if I made it too anxious, it would quickly grow annoying and troublesome. Disruptive to my daily life here on Ethria.
I decided to play it safe, if things went wrong I could always remake the golem.
“Congratulations! You have successfully created a new Self Sustaining Enneagramic Matrix! Name: Watchful Hound. Experience Gains: 100.”
I felt the enneagram enter my memory as the dragon had. This one was remarkably simple and easy to make compared to the previous one, and it didn't seem to take up so much space in that area of my mind. I took that simple enneagram and attached it along with a small stream of mana to the Golem itself. Then I took the feed of mana that the construct would normally have from me, and moved those connections to the crystal, tieing off as many as I could so it was fully self-sustaining before I did so. The tiny cristal provided a trickle of mana to the construct, just enough to replenish what was lost as the thing held itself together, moved, or attacked. The gem itself didn’t actually generate mana, but instead, it siphoned a tiny bit of it from the ambient mana in the air. Enough to keep its own reserves full, and to make the entire circuit continuously operational. The only thing that could break it was, well, enough damage to the mana construct that held the water dog together.
I stood up, back straight, and looked at my work. The dog had a short tail, and the flowing water that dripped off it in places, particularly its mouth, made the thing look remarkably like a Chinese Shar-Pei. It was about the same size too, roughly coming up to my knees. I patted the good doggo on the head, happy with my new creation. As I did, I severed the last connection from the construct to my mana pool. Suddenly two things happened. First, I felt extraordinarily tired. Second, my new dog friend looked at me and whined concerned for my health. My suddenly swooning vision concurred with his whine.
As my new dog barked in a strange sort of whirlpool noise. Something I barely heard through the mana exhaustion, hunger, and back pain that all rushed in at once, I noticed the sun was about the set. I managed to stay on my feet, but only because the golem leaned against me and pushed me away from the water's edge and towards the stairs up to the central platform of the barge. As I walked, my new creation gently yet forcefully herding me away from danger, I received a prompt.
“Congratulations! You have successfully completed a Simple Canine Water Golem! This golem is of Good quality due to the Excellent quality of the enneagram that has been attached to it, along with your Journeyman rank of Mana Manipulation. Due to your luck skill, and the temporary favor of an unknown benefactor, the Golem Heart you selected “Simple Heart Crystal” was improved to an “Exquisite Heart Gem.” Experience Gained: 500.”
My debt is repaid, wizard.
The second prompt was short, concise, and written in High Elvish of all things. I had a sneaking suspicion it had come from a certain elven goddess of luck and standing bodies of water. As I sat down on the stairs, I looked back at the fish trap. Technically one could make the argument it was a standing body of water I suppose. And we are in the middle of a forest, so …. Grinning, I took one of the smaller gems from my pouch and tossed it into the pool. It wasn’t a coin like it had been the last time, but it was something that had real value to me, so I hoped it would do just as well. Nothing happened on Ethria’s system. I didn’t receive a prompt, or any kind of notification about Gods or Goddesses favor. A few moments later though a deep-seated sigh and a powerful feeling of amusement washed over me. Never hurts to have a goddess of luck on your side, I thought as I leaned back on the stairs smiling.
After a few minutes, Ailsa appeared in my vision. “Wow, you made a dog? That’s kinda advanced.” I didn’t say anything, just grunted my acknowledgment as she sat down next to me on the stairs. The dog sniffed her and drenched her in what was hard not to think of as dog slobber. It was just water, still, it made me smile.
After a few moments of awkward silence between us, she broke it. “I, I’m sorry. I know you humans have a different sense of what is and isn’t constructive criticism then we fae. Even fairies like me are sometimes bad at…” I raised a hand to stop her.
“It's okay, don’t worry about it. I’m sorry I got so rattled by it.”
“Yeah. Still, I'm sorry.”
“I’m sorry too.”
We sat there exhausted together, just being.
Eventually, Traser came by as it was getting darker. “What are you two doing laying on the stairs?”
“What are you doing trying to go down the stairs?” I asked, smiling.
“Dinner…” Traser motioned towards the fish trap. “And where did you get the water dog?” He bent down and began scratching the dog behind the ears. “Who’s a good dog? Who's a good boy? Huh?” My new buddy leaned into my friends scratching hand and closed its eyes in happiness.
“Dog-lover huh?”
“Who doesn’t like dogs? A man who doesn’t like a good boy like this you should be suspicious of.” Traser sat next to us.
“So you’re not freaked out that he’s made of water? And just, walking around acting like a dog?” I asked, still leaning on the stairs staring up at where he sat.
“Ha! Wizard, around you strange things happen in greater frequency than in all the tales of legend. Most of them are amazing, only some of them are as terrifying as those old stories. I have come to accept this.”
We all chatted amiably for a while until my stomach growled so loudly that my companions heard it. The sun was in the middle of setting, when Traser stood and walked over to the fish trap. “There’s nothing in here. Looks like hardtack and jerky tonight sadly.” The big knight sighed.
I stood up and looked at my water dog. Do you want to catch a fish? I said in my mind, seeing if we had some kind of mental connection. The dog just sat there, and after a moment he tilted his head. I could sense, something. Some kind of empathic connection. I just didn’t know how to use it yet. Well, that didn’t work.
“Can you catch us a fish boy?” I asked out loud this time. My good boy stood on all fours, wagging his water tail and sending a small stream of water everywhere on the deck. I laughed slightly as Ailsa got drenched again and sprang into the air with a huff. After a moment of winding himself up by crouching to the deck, my water golem dog launched himself into the river. Nothing but a slight glow from his gem heart gave an indication where he was.
I thought about needing to see his status in my HUD like I saw basic information for Tol’geth, Ailsa, and Traser. Tol’geth was symbolized by a single large sword, Ailsa by a spear symbol, and Traser by a sword and shield crossed over one another. As I thought about it, watching my water golem move through the water, a small blue circle with a paw print at its center appeared. The same info as the others were there, HP, Status Effects, and any active aura’s where listed.
My companions and I all moved to the other side of the barge, and patiently waited with the ship's captain and his family. After just a few moments my golem splashed onto the deck in a fountain of water. When the commotion died down he stood there panting happily, three fish swam in his body.
After we successfully extracted the trout like fish and began cooking them in a stew, I sent the dog off. With a wag of his tail, he jumped into the river to watch and alert us to any potential threats. Once I had my bowl of stew, I walked to the back of the barge where our sleeping area was. Once I was seated down by the small coal fire basin, my friends each doing their own thing and my water dog doing his, I decided it was time. There was one last thing I needed to do before I could go to bed.
As I gleefully ate my overfull bowl of stew and the three hardtack loaves I had, I pulled up my characteristics sheet. There were six new screens available, each listed for ease of access along the right side in a drop-down menu. The first was the Wizard Skill Tree. The second and third were the Grand Quest, and Grand Adventure screens. Two additional options with the same labels but with the added term “editing” attached followed.
The evolution screen was the last and it was fully grayed out. I couldn’t select it, when I tried I got an error saying it wasn’t available until level 30. Both editing screens were empty, with messages that said “You have no editable Grand Quest” and the Grand Adventure Editing Screen had the same but with “Adventure” instead of quest. When I opened both the main Quest and Adventure screens I received an error message saying there was no “Inciting Event” available from which to craft either a quest or adventure.
I was massively disappointed, it all sounded so freaking cool when I had first received it. I thought it would be awesome to be a quest giver! Someone who helped people learn, become friends, fight evil monsters, and the like. All while learning about themselves, the world, and the meaning of friendship! All that jazz. Or better yet to just start handing quests off to everyone I met to do the smallest things imaginable so that they could start leveling up. Perhaps even doing that for a little bit of coin now that I was virtually penniless after handing almost everything over to the Elves to start work on Winters Rest. Oh, I had some gold left, but only a few dozen. Most of what I carried were silvers and bronze coins from the Kingdoms of Ashe game.
Sighing, I opened the last screen. My Wizards Skill Tree. As the screen opened, three circles each representing a potential class skill or ability path appeared. All three were greyed out, but I could read their descriptions. Below the three circles were the words “Class Skill Points Available: 0”. When I focused on the Class Points I received the definition.
“Class Skill Points are skill points that can only be spent in the Class Skill Tree. You receive 1 Class Skill Point at every level. Upon attaining level 10, and selecting a class, you will receive 1 Class Skill Point for every level up until Class Selection, and 1 for every Class Quest completed before class attainment. +10 skill points.”
The meter at the bottom now read “Class Skill Points Available: 10” which made a kind of sense. In Ethria you didn’t receive the benefits of a notification from Ethria, unless you opened and read the prompt. You didn’t get the XP, level up, etc until you opened, read, and then closed those notifications. Or you let the information wash over your mind as Ailsa had taught me. That trick was difficult to pull off, but I knew I was becoming slowly better at it. On the other hand, buffs from spells and the like didn’t work that way. You couldn’t just ignore a fireball away. But anything to do with character improvement seemed to follow that same logic.
A new sub-menu opened up and I found a list of Class Quests. There were two lists. One titled “Class Quests In Progress,” and the other “Completed Class Quests.” When I opened the second, I was bombarded with auto-opened notifications.
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Learn A Type Of Magic 1. You have learned Force Magic! +1 Class Skill Point.”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Learn A Type Of Magic 2. You have learned Force, Fire, and Light magic. As you have completed this quest with the overrun of becoming a Master Pyromancer the reward has been doubled. As this was done using a gift, the penalty for using a magical aid to complete a positive overrun is removed. +3 Class Skill Points * 2 = +6 Class Skill Points.”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Mastery Of Magic!” You have mastered Fire magic. As this quest was completed all at once but was done so by using a magical aid, the bonus for swift completion is denied. Additionally, a penalty of ½ point reduction is in place. +4 Class Skill Points - 2 Penalty = +2 Class Skill Points”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Learn Basic Mana Manipulation 1!” +1 Class Skill Point.”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Learn Mana Manipulation 2!” By becoming a Journeyman in Mana Manipulation through hard work and constant study, the penalty for magical aid use (Aid: Fairy Guide) is reduced by half. Penalty - 1/4th rounded up to the nearest whole number. +3 Class Skill Points - 1 Penalty = +2 Class Skill Points.”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Know Thyself 1” by gaining access to your basic characteristics screens! As this was done with the help of a High Power (God, Titan, Ethria itself), the penalty for using a magical aid (Fairy Guide) is removed. +1 Class Skill Point! ”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Know Thyself 2” by gaining access to your Trait and Skill lists. +3 Class Skill Points! As this was done with the help of a High Power (God, Titan, Ethria itself), the penalty for using a magical aid (Fairy Guide) is removed. + 3 Class Skill Points!”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Know Thyself 3” By gaining access to your Special and Magical Ability Screens. As this was done with the help of a High Power (God, Titan, Ethria itself), the penalty for using a magical aid (Fairy Guide) is removed. +6 Class Skill Points!
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Know Thyself 4” By gaining full access to all Primary class screens! As this was done with the help of a High Power (God, Titan, Ethria itself), the penalty for using a magical aid (Fairy Guide) is removed. +12 Class Skill Points!”
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Know Thyself 5” by learning your True Name! As this was done with the help of a High Power (God, Titan, Ethria itself), the penalty for using a magical aid (Fairy Guide) is removed. + 100 Class Skill Points!”
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Know Thy Friends 1” by successfully analyzing one of your party companions in combat. +1 Class Skill Point!”
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Why Know Thy Enemy When You Can Kill Them First - 1” by killing an enemy magic-user without knowing their given name. +1 Class Skill Point.
Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Magical Lore 1” by learning 3 magic schools corresponding Lore skills: Abjuration, Biomancy, Enchantment. As one of these is a stand-in score (Healing: Biomancy), there is a ½ penalty in place. +1 Class Skill Point - 1 Penalty = 0 Class Skill Points
“Congratulations! You have completed the Class Quest: “Into The Darkest Abyss - 1” by leading a party through an evil necromancer's lair, and removing the threat to an entire region that the evil magic user posed. + 1 Class Skill Point.”
The information and the skill points flooded into me and by the time I was done reading the notifications I felt another wave of exhaustion hit me. I had finished eating the stew, and two of the hardtack loafs at this point. All I had left was my tiny water skin and the one remaining black hardtack bread loaf. I glared at the last prompt. Only a single point for killing that necromancer? Are you serious?!
My stomach still rumbled, so I began to eat the last hardtack loaf. I opened up the “Class Quests In Progress” menu and thousands of options scrolled past. With a flex of mental will the screen reduced to those that I had already had some progress on. There were the progressions of the ones I had already completed, “Into The Darkest Abyss - 2” as one example, but I removed them from the list for another time. I just wanted to see those I had started on, but had not yet finished even the first edition of yet. There were three.
