World Seed: Game Start (6 page)

Looking
around, I quickly found my way to Rukh, the elf that had instructed
me previously. “Uhm, sir, do you have a moment to answer a
question for me?” Seeing that he wasn’t busy dealing with
another student, I unhesitantly grabbed his attention.

Looking
over at me, he seemed to recognize me from the previous lesson. “Ah,
yes, what can I do for you?” I went on to explain how the spell
‘bestowed’ upon us by the gods included a chant to help
activate it, and wondered if he would mind explaining more about
them. After a few moments of thought, he nodded his head. “It’s
a typical novice trick to memorize a spell by associating it with a
phrase. Most experienced mages don’t bother with that anymore,
but it can still prove helpful as a focus tool.”

I
deflated a bit hearing that. “So there’s no actual power
to the chant, or anything like that?”

“
No,
no, of course not. Even in larger rituals, the chants are used as a
guide for timing the fluctuations in magic, and making sure that
everyone coordinates.”

Hearing
his answer caused me to let out yet another defeated sigh. I really
should have chosen a more specialized race, but there’s no
going back now. “Sir, I’m trying to make a basic attack
spell for either my Wind Magic or Nature Magic schools. So far, I’ve
come up with a Wind Bullet, but it seems like it is far too weak to
be of use. I hope that you could offer some guidance in this matter.”

He
seemed to have been caught off guard by the sudden polite approach,
but smirked slightly before answering. “Alright, I can help you
with that. Honestly, you’re on the right track if you made the
Wind Bullet already, but like you said, it doesn’t have enough
power to do any damage to the enemy. As for Nature Magic, you’d
have to speak to the shaman instructor for help with that.”

I
nodded my head, waiting for him to continue. “Wind is a rather
versatile element, but takes far more control to achieve specific
results than the others. For instance, practically any fire spell can
be an attack, but for wind you need to focus in order to get more
than a slight breeze. At the same time, greater mastery of wind will
allow you to do things such as flying within an atmosphere. If you
really grow powerful enough with wind, it’s actually possible
to carry a bit of wind with you in outer space, holding it together
with your magic and preventing the vacuum from sucking it away.”

“
For
a beginner, though, you should focus on building a foundation. There
are two common variants of the Wind Bullet spell which may be of help
to you, and both require extra time charging it to store additional
mana. The first is an explosive bullet, where you use that extra mana
to further compress the captured wind, making it create a small
shockwave when it hits. The second is a speed bullet, where you use
the additional mana to make the spell launch faster than normal. Once
you train a bit, you’ll be able to perform both of those spells
quite easily, maybe even do them at the same time.”

I
nodded my head again, thanking him for the explanation. In the corner
of my view, I was watching my mana recover slowly. Although the Wind
Bullet only took fifteen mana to launch, I still hadn’t fully
regained that amount back yet. It took over half a minute for me to
recover just a single point of mana.

After
I left Rukh, I went to find the shaman instructor, who apparently
handled schools of magic similar to my Nature Magic. This one was a
young woman, another half-elf like myself, but seemed exceptionally
young for her position. I have encountered the fabled elf loli…

Speaking
to her for a while, I learned that I wouldn’t be able to easily
do any poisons or anything like that with my magic, until I first
learned how the poisons were made. Sera, the loli elf, suggested I
learn alchemy to assist my Nature Magic. According to her, the
potential for this school of magic laid in the fact that it could
produce the effects of practically any potion, so long as the caster
was familiar with the process of making it.

Hearing
that, I couldn’t help but imagine me using my magic to
eventually pump out potions one after another and selling them for
easy profit. Though, going by my current recovery speed, I’d be
lucky to do two or three potions an hour. Still, I got what I came
for, and was even awarded another point of intelligence for listening
to their explanations, and a point of wisdom for asking their advice.

Moving
back to my previous practice spot, I decided to try something
different. What Rukh had said before inspired me to make a new spell,
which might actually let my bow be something other than completely
useless. Thankfully, by now my mana had finished recovering. Pulling
out an arrow, I nocked it and focused. Extending one finger from my
left hand, I used it as a guide in the same way I had when I
circulated mana between my hands earlier. This time, I was
circulating the mana along the path of the arrow.

At
first, the mana kept floating away before it could reach the other
hand, but once it had managed to bridge the gap it flowed more
easily. Still… that was another ten mana I had lost just like
that, so I needed to focus. Now that I had the mana circulating, I
once more began attuning it to the wind, causing it to spiral around
the length of the arrow and focusing on the tip. I kept pouring mana
into it until I could faintly see the wind being distorted by the
spell. Then, finally, I let the arrow fly to the nearby tree.

As
soon as I launched the arrow, I noticed how it spun far more than it
did when I fired it normally. And even though the tree I targeted was
barely five meters away, I still hit far from the center. It seemed
that adding the spin into the arrow reduced accuracy, but increased
speed and penetrating power, since the arrow actually dug in several
inches.

I
couldn’t help but curse at the high cost, and that wasn’t
even taking into consideration the mana that escaped initially.
Rather than waiting twenty minutes for my mana to recover, I went
ahead and moved on to the next test I wanted to do, which was to
create a guided arrow. Since I still had over a hundred mana left,
there was really no point in waiting.

Retrieving
my arrow from the tree was a splendid failure, as it was buried too
deep. As soon as I tried to pull it out, the shaft snapped in half.
So, one arrow lost forever… I continued cursing silently as I
went back to my previous firing spot and nocked another arrow. Using
the same method as before, I established a mana circuit between my
hands that traveled along the arrow. However, this time instead of a
spiraling force, I tried to compress it a bit more, and had the wind
moving forward in the direction of a tree roughly twenty meters away.

When
the arrow launched this time, I tried to keep control over the mana I
had locked in around it so that I could guide the arrow to its
target. However, that proved to be more than I could hope for, and I
lost the connection to the mana almost instantly. Almost, meaning
that I was able to hold onto it for a few feet after it left my
control. Sadly, since the spell failed, it wasn’t enough to
trigger the system granting me a new spell. But I wasn’t too
discouraged, and knew that this spell should eventually be possible,
since it wasn’t a matter of lacking the mana, but lacking the
control that stopped it from working.

A
noise distracted me from my thoughts, and I noticed that my stomach
appeared to be demanding attention, since I had yet to eat since I
arrived in the game. Looking at my inventory, I was thankful to see
that I had a few pieces of bread that would ease my hunger. Though
strangely, I only had four slots for my inventory right now. Likely,
either getting bags or leveling up would increase the size of the
inventory.

After
eating the rather bland bread, I decided that I would next head to
the alchemy instructor, before finally going out to hunt. The sooner
I get out there, the sooner I can level up and get the loot I’ve
been waiting for. Though, I couldn’t help but let out a groan
when I looked at my contact list, and saw that both my dad and Jacobs
had already leveled up at least once each. I’m not
procrastinating… I’m just making sure I’m ready…

Chapter 5: Rascally
Rabbits

Once
again making my way through the town, I eventually stopped to ask for
directions to someone able to teach me alchemy. The answer I got
nearly made me fall flat on my face from embarrassment, since
apparently the alchemy shop was right next door(tree? Next tree? No,
I’ll go with door) to the giant tower of magic.

Calm
down Falenel… It’s not your fault.. it’s a genetic
trait of men to be unable to ask for directions… I tried to
make excuses for myself while saying and making my way back. At least
this way, I was gaining a bit more time to wait for my magic to
recover. Need to add a technique to recover faster, or learning how
recovery works to my to-do list…

Once
I reached the fabled alchemy station, I was rather surprised to find
that no other players were lining up to learn the trade. I mean, who
doesn’t want to be able to concoct their own healing potions,
if there isn’t a limit to the amount of trade skills you can
learn?

My
question was further relevant when I got inside and noticed the
busty, silver eyed elf manning the counter. Or, was she a half-elf?
Her ears didn’t seem quite as pointed as the other elves, and
her chest was a bit larger than normal for the race. As she saw me
come in, she directed a kind smile at me. “Welcome, how may I
help you?”

Her
voice caused me to snap out of my mild delusions and get back to what
I wanted to do. “Right, sorry. Yes, I’m interested in
learning about alchemy. Would that be alright?”

She
thought about it for a few moments, and then nodded her head. “Yes,
that would be fine. But I need to ask a payment, first. The basic
alchemy set costs 70 copper, and I’ll need you to either
provide the herbs you use to practice, or pay for their cost.”

I
likewise nodded, seeing that this was entirely reasonable. However, I
decided to ask something else that had been on my mind. “What
all does alchemy cover? Just curious.”

She
smiled a bit more at my question. It seemed not many actually cared
to ask for the details. “Well, as I’m sure you know, the
basic levels of alchemy involve mixing together different types of
potions. However, as you become more skilled, you also are able to do
more. For instance, a master alchemist could make a potion, but they
could also develop ways for more permanent effects. They could also
make poisons, bombs, or even play with a creature’s genetic
make-up.”

I
blinked, a bit surprised hearing that. Obviously, I figured they
could do poisons, and maybe even bombs, but this sounded like the
answer to one of my earlier problems. “You mean gene therapies?
I’ve heard about those, but didn’t know what kind of
skill was needed to create them.”

She
kept that same smile as she nodded her head again. “In order to
master alchemy, it’s necessary to learn various other
disciplines, such as chemistry and biology. For gene therapies, you
just mix in a touch of genetics, and can get a pretty good result.
The only other profession that covers all of the needed skills to
make them are doctors, and they are similarly at a high degree of
mastery.”

Well,
that suddenly made alchemy far more appealing to me! “Thank you
very much, miss.” I was just about to turn around and leave to
go hunting for the resources I would need to learn alchemy when
something occurred to me. “This may sound like a silly
question, but are there any devices or techniques that will
accelerate learning in a given field?”

I
asked this because of how long I could imagine it taking someone to
learn everything needed to become a proper alchemist. It could take
years for someone to build up to the master level, decades even, if
there wasn’t some kind of assistance. And given what I’ve
learned from my fighting and magic practice, the system did not tend
to help much in terms of learning. I actually wasn’t sure what
the levels in skills gave at all, aside maybe a very slight bonus to
success.

It
took her a moment to think again before she nodded. “You must
be asking about Skill Shards. Their use isn’t that widespread,
and many frown upon it, but certain professions are able to create
gems which hold the knowledge of a skill. This information has to
come from someone that actually has the skill, and only contains that
person’s knowledge on it. Say for example, I assisted in
creating a Skill Shard for alchemy. Whoever used it would know
everything I chose to put in the shard, and nothing else. They
wouldn’t get any personal recipes, secret tricks, or anything
that one typically develops when they learn the skill themselves.
They also would not know anything I didn’t know about it. So…
there might be a plant considered extremely common in other areas,
but if I’ve never seen it, the shard I helped create would not
grant them any knowledge about it.”