Cat With a Raygun

Melanie had returned with the freshly killed boar meats wrapped up in the butcher paper created by Joe's Harvest spell and was quickly filled in on what was about to happen. She joined the rest as they looked to Joe expectantly.

“Okay, so here it is,” Joe said as a transparent window appeared in front of him. He moved so everyone could see it but before he could share his information Kerras chimed in, “That's just what you use with your Harvest spell, we've seen that. Where's your Guidebook?”

The words showing Joe's name, race and level appeared in front of everyone on the window. Eleanor gasped. “That is his Guidebook, boy.”

Everyone else repeated her gasp at the completely alien interface in front of them. As everyone was processing what they learned Joe changed to a new window. As it was shared they all saw a very detailed map of the local area they were in. They could see the road, the little area off to the side where they stopped to let the horses and livestock rest and eat and drink, they even saw the area Joe and Melanie had just walked through in the forest to find the boar.

“So that just makes a map of every place you've been?” asked Malcolm.

“Yeah, I couldn't access that function until I'd been to two different towns, though. Not sure why.”

“Everyone back in my town knows about my unusual Guidebook. Except the map part, of course, cause I didn't get it until after I left there and found new towns. Only one person knows this next secret of mine. It's about my skills. Can you guys guess what my skills are?”

The six of them started discussing among themselves all the skills they suspected Joe had based on comments he's made, proficiency he's shown, or obvious familiarity in helping Melanie unlock a skill. Portering, Smithing, Pain Tolerance, Mana Channeling, Stamina Growth, Heat Tolerance, Cooking, Focus, Meditation, Chemistry, Reading, Endurance, Defense, Listening, Alchemy, and Stealth.

After listening to all the suggestions they put forth Joe spoke up. “Yes, every one of those is correct.”

“Wait,” Melanie interjected, “None of those skills are unusual except for the Meditation one but you already told us that. How does that constitute a secret?”

“Go over the list again,” Joe smugly suggested.

“Sixteen!” Eleanor shouted out. “The boy has sixteen skills. That's impossible.”

As Eleanor figured out this new information Joe had brought up his Skills screen, but it was still blank to all but him.

“No, I don't have sixteen skills.”

Gymmie yelled out, “But you said we were right on all the ones we listed.”

“You were, but I don't have sixteen skills.” The list of skills materialized in the air for everyone to see. “I have twenty-eight currently, with plenty of space for more.”

“Wait a minute,” Melanie called out, “Why is your Bladed Weapons skill only level 1 still? Mine is at level 3 after all the sparring we've done.”

“Well, I wasn't trying to fight you with any skill as I didn't want you to notice I could get better. Expect that to change in our future sparring matches, though.”

Eleanor looked from the list to Joe, looking him right in the eyes. “Joe, do you know how I can unlock new skills? With additional Vitality my old body won't feel so old.”

“No, I'm sorry, Eleanor. My situation is rather unique. It's some quirk involving my soul, I'm not sure I understand it all. The Guidebook itself says it is simply an advanced interface, so the two aren't even connected.”

After a minute or two of reflection Joe closed his window and cleared his throat. “I hope I can count on all of your discretion about this. I don't need power-hungry people like Glior trying to capture me to dissect my soul.”

Malcolm was the first to respond, “Joe, you saved all of our lives. If this quirk of your soul allows you to get even stronger to keep protecting us, then we'll keep silent the rest of our lives.” All of the others were in agreement.

Joe had to wipe a legitimate tear from his eyes, “Thank you all. It means a lot to me that you continue to trust me. I promise I won't let you down. But now that I no longer have to hide it, I guess my training break is over. I have a lot of skills to make up for lost time with.”

- - - - -

By the time they got to Mankerin Melanie was level 3 in her Arcane Knight class. She got a protective spell that required concentration. It reduced elemental damage. Joe helped her unlock Focus the same way Lester helped him unlock it-- by hitting her while she was concentrating on her spell. She also got the Sense Manachlorians ability at level 3, but wasn't yet able to unlock Meditation. The ambient manachlorian flow was too low. Joe wasn't able to unlock Meditation until he was next to the Mana Diamond under the mines by Rust's Edge, so it makes sense that she would be having trouble. Joe reassured her that it wasn't anything she was doing wrong, she just may need to wait until she ranked the ability up like he did.

As for Joe himself, he had a good increase to his skills and spells.

Hit Points: 534/534

Stamina: 780/780

Mana: 612/612

Strength: 213

Agility: 120

Vitality: 267

Toughness: 123

Intelligence: 306

Wisdom: 150

Abilities:

Inspect 4

Land on Your Feet 2

Night Eyes 3

Tongue of All 4

Read Aura 4

Sense Manachlorians 4

Boost Spell 3

Advanced Imbuing 1

Spells:

Lightning Jolt 8

Harvest 7

Healing Touch 8

Deflection Field 8

Cold Snap 6

Minor Levitation 8

Backtrack 5

Hidden Blade 1

Karmic Bond 4

Stoke Fire 4

Imbue Metallic Object 1

Channel Fire 1

Speed Boost 2

Elemental Shield 1

Boost Speed 1

Skills:

Reading 6

Climbing 7

Mana Channeling 15

Cooking 9

Endurance 12

Mining 6

Stamina Growth 15

Stealth 8

Defense 10

Focus 13

Pain Tolerance 9

Smithing 6

Heat Tolerance 5

Throwing 8

Punching 5

Kicking 5

Meditation 12

Regeneration 6

Logging 2

Chemistry 2

Alchemy 4

Listening 10

Portering 13

Schematic Drafting 1

Glassblowing 3

Mathematics 3

Bladed Weapons 5

Joe's Cold Snap and Backtrack spells both got their level 5 upgrade through his training, and of course he learned Melanie's new spells as well.

Cold Snap (Level 5). This spell sends out a pulse of freezing power into the caster's immediate vicinity. The maximum range of the spell is 1 meter for every 100 points of the caster's Intelligence. The caster can exclude 16 creatures within range from the effects of the spell. The number of potential exceptions doubles every level. The damage is the caster's Intelligence score multiplied the spell level.

Alternatively the caster can use the spell to instantly create a sheet of ice one meter long and a half meter wide in front of him. This version lasts for 1 minute and continues to make the ice sheet if the caster moves, potentially making a contiguous sheet of ice.

Mana cost: 25 mana

Backtrack (Level 5). This spell allows the caster to teleport to any location they have been before, within range of the spell. The range is the caster's Intelligence multiplied by the spell level in meters. Additional creatures up to the spell's level can also be teleported if they are within 3 meters of the caster.

Mana cost: 50 mana

Elemental Shield (Level 1). This spell reduces the damage from elemental effects hitting the caster while active. The reduction is a one-for-one reduction of damage for every point of the caster's Intelligence multiplied by the spell's level.

Mana cost: 25 mana per minute the shield is maintained

Boost Strength (Level 1). This spell doubles the caster's Strength score for 10 seconds per spell level.

Stamina cost: 75 stamina

The road between Mankerin and Lefpool had a lot more monsters the last time Joe was there, so he hoped to get a lot more combat practice in for both Melanie and himself in the days to come.