Cat With a Raygun

While Ferric went off to make sure the four cabins he was going to assign to the new residents had what they needed Joe teleported around to check in with the existing residents of Rust's Edge whom he hadn't seen in months. First to Ferrite to ask if she could provide food supplies for a banquet that evening, and to let her know about the population change. Then he went to Teril and checked in on how he was doing with his new smelting methods.

Teril was glad to see Joe and let him know the adjustment was pretty easy, but he wished he had a better furnace or more furnaces so he could work more efficiently. Joe took out his journal and made a note about brainstorming designs for arcane furnaces. Joe invited Teril to the banquet to meet the new people moving into town.

Next Joe teleported into the mines, but had to use his Listening skill to find where his three miner friends were located. Lester, Jack, and Sally were quite glad to see Joe back and in good health. They asked about his trip, but he said he'd go over the details that evening at the banquet, and made sure they would be there to meet the new residents.

Joe met back up with Ferric to talk to him more about the people moving in. “I want you to know,” Joe began, “that I told them about the mana crystals, but not the mana diamond yet. They feel indebted to me because I rescued them from being prisoners by a gang of bandits. Some of them were young and scared and the fact that I was able to kill all of the bandits makes them feel more secure around me. They trust me and now I trust them. One of them wasn't far from her eighteenth birthday. The bandits were capturing seventeen year olds cause they discovered a means to ensure people could become mages. They forced them to become mages and then would sell them to other groups.”

Ferric looked rightly shocked, “That's barbaric.”

Joe nodded solemnly. “I didn't know if I could kill people, but when I saw their leader murder a man for trying to save his son from becoming their prisoner, I knew what I had to do. He didn't even fight them, he was a Scribe. Kerras, the son, wants to do it, though, become a Mage. He still has a few months until he turns 18. We have an old Alchemist named Eleanor who can make Elixirs of Intelligence. If imbibed right after someone gets their Guidebook it will add Mage and other Intelligence dependent classes to their list of options before they're forced to pick one.

“Kerras can do that because he wasn't their prisoner for even an hour. They also had a human girl, Melanie, who had been with them for months. She'd seen them murder the teens who were failed candidates, and sell the one successful mage they produced. She had such bad associations with the Mage class that she didn't want to become one, although she still recognized the opportunities such an elixir would provide. She's been and Arcane Knight for three months, and I let her do a lot of the fighting on the way back.

“Last three are a family of Forest Gnomes, Tess, Malcolm, and their son Gymmie. Tess is a druid and her first spell was Healing Touch, so the bandits forced her to be their healer. They kept her son and husband under constant threat so she would for them. She also made their clothes as she's a weaver with a bunch of spiders who make awesome silk, like these clothes I'm wearing. Malcolm is a Woodwright, he made the livestock pen carts we used to transport the pigs, cows, sheep, and chicken all the way from Trenos. Gymmie is fifteen, so still a couple of years away from his own CGS, but he likely wants to be a Mage like me.”

“You've had a lot of influence on people in a short amount of time,” Ferric observed.

“What can I say? Rust's Edge knows how to make Mages who can survive an assault on a bandit hideout. I ain't no Mankerin Mage,” Joe joked.

“Oh, yeah, I also revealed to them my limitless skills list. I figure I should reveal that to the rest of the town tonight during the banquet.”

“If you're sure, then yes, that would be good,” Ferric agreed.

“Oh, and take out your Guidebook for a moment,” Joe suggested.

Ferric did so and Joe directed him to look at the very last page in the book.

“These pages are all blank until you need them, there's no reason to go to the--. Well, isn't that interesting?” Ferric tapped on the page just as Melanie had done a couple of days prior in her own Guidebook.

“More power?” Ferric questioned. Then he smiled, “I think I know where we can get all the power we could ever use.”

“I thought the same thing when Melanie and the others discovered that a few days ago.” Joe got a mischievous grin on his face. “Want to pop over real quick and get it done before they arrive?”

Ferric looked confused. “'Pop over'? Joe, they'll be here soon, the mana diamond is deep in a cavern under the mines, it takes like an hour to get there.”

“Wanna bet?”

Joe cast Backtrack and brought along Ferric going right to the spot in the cavern next to the mana diamond.

After recovering from the surprise Ferric asked, “Was that one of your new Mage spells?”

Joe nodded, “Isn't it great? I can only go to someplace I've been before, but as its level and my Intelligence increase I can get further and further. Right now I can teleport a few kilometers. But let's not dawdle. Take out your Guidebook for the last time and let's do this.”

Ferric did as Joe suggested and flipped to the last page once again. He tapped the page again and this time the entire book started the glow. The book slowly dissolved into colored motes of light that broke off from each other and then streamed into Ferric's head. When it was all done Ferric tried to summon his Guidebook and instead of the normal book he had a window like Joe. Ferric grinned.

“I guess it worked,” Joe observed.

“It did. But let's play with it later. Take us back to town, let's greet our new residents as they arrive.”

Joe cast Backtrack again to take them both back out. Of course, that gained him an instant level since he cast the spell close to the mana diamond.

Backtrack (Level 10). 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.

If the caster forgoes additional passengers they can teleport one hundred times the distance for double the cost in mana.

Mana cost: 50 mana

“Oh, wow,” Joe remarked as he read the new description of Backtrack.

“Something good?” Ferric asked.

“That was level ten for that spell. It lets me go 100 times the distance if I go alone for 100 mana. I have a Boost Spell ability that at its current rank will boost the spell's effectiveness by four at a cost of the spell's mana cost again. That means I can get all the way back to Trenos in three boosted jumps, costing less than two-thirds of my current mana pool. A little more Intelligence, and after I use the diamond to get my Boost Spell ability to rank 4 I can get it done in two jumps.”

“Hmmm, you know, maybe after winter you should go travel some more to other cities and towns. You wouldn't even have to camp. Just travel down the road for the day, pop back to your house to sleep, and the next day go back to the point you stopped to continue.”

Joe thought about it for a minute. “That is a good idea. But why wait for spring? I have Heat Tolerance but not Cold Tolerance. Traveling in the middle of winter might be good for my Toughness.”

Ferric just laughed and peered off into the distance down the road. “I don't see them yet, when do you think they'll get here?”

Joe activated his Telescopic Sight from his hat and saw them off in the distance. “They'll be here in 23 minutes. Oh, while we wait, do you have any good spells you know from your class or profession?”

Ferric just stared curiously at Joe, both at his exact calculation for when they'd arrive as well as the question that seemed to come out of nowhere. “Uh, I guess. Fighters don't get as many spells as other classes. I have a spell called Trip, though. It trips an enemy so long as my Strength is higher than their Agility.”

“That sounds awesome! Cast it on me, please.”

Slightly embarrassed Ferric asked, “Is this some trick where you use a reflection spell to make me trip instead?”

“No, I wish I had something like that. Just trust me for a moment and cast it on me, please.”

Ferric nodded and did as Joe asked. Joe fell down as Agility was his lowest attribute.

After he stood back up Joe opened his Spells window and showed it to Ferric who could see Trip listed at the bottom of Joe's list.

“Wait! Did you just learn that from me?” Ferric asked in shock.

“I certainly did. It only works with spells, but I've learned quite a few spells outside of my normal purview that way.”

Trip (Level 1). This spell will cause the target to fall down. It does not work on any target with a higher Agility than the caster's Strength, although additional spell levels will increase the effective Strength score of the caster for the purpose of determining success.

Stamina cost: 10 stamina

“I'm too nervous just waiting like this,” Ferric said. “Take me out to meet them. I can't wait to meet our newest residents.”