Cat With a Raygun

Joe brought Otto to Rust's Edge in the early afternoon of the next day. The intense mana drain and repeated castings of Backtrack along with using Boost Spell to improve it produced results. His Backtrack spell was now level 14, Boost Spell was rank 4, his Mana Channeling up to level 20, and his Meditation up to 18.

His extra training while he was restoring his mana between travels also produced results. His Move Water spell was now level 4, Stamina Growth level 18, and Regeneration up to level 9.

Joe took Otto to The Rusty Cup so he could get some hot food and sit down. He asked Tess if she could help Otto's leg, but her Healing Touch was only level 7. She didn't have the mana capacity to practice it nearly as much as Joe did. Joe popped down to the mana cavern to apply more ice to the egg as well as to push his Boost Spell to the final rank. Rank 5 meant a spell's power would be ten times more powerful than normal.

Otto got settled in, Ferric said he could stay at least until his broken leg heals fully. After that, it would be up to Otto and what he wanted to do. In the meantime Joe went back to trying to do a million things at once. He'd ice down the dragon egg, check on the animals in the barns, refill the barns' heaters with charcoal, check on the Thessal Leaf growing in the greenhose, water it, start working on creating the chemicals he'd need to cure the toad skin he harvested into workable leather, reading more about leatherworking, create the wooden frames he'd need for the leather curing, work on his arcane furnace designs, and train his skills and spells as much as he could. It was exhausting.

- - - - -

Otto's recovery went a lot faster than expected. After 3 days Joe got his Healing Touch spell up to level 10.

Healing Touch (Level 10). This spell channels health restoration energy into a target by touch, or it can be directed towards the caster. At its current level this spell restores missing hit points and closes wounds, can cure diseases and neutralize poisons and other toxins, and can mend broken bones and fix other internal injuries. Hit points restored equal to Intelligence of caster multiplied by the level of the spell.

Mana cost: 6 per casting

Joe was able to fix Otto's leg immediately after that. Ferric had a long discussion with Otto about his past and his future. In the end Otto asked to stay on in Rust's Edge. Ferric decided to have all future traveling merchant transactions go through Otto to help with his Merchant profession. Malcolm and Joe planned to make him a new shop after spring arrived. Ferric even showed Otto the secret of the mana cavern and the source of their magisteel.

A week after Otto's recovery Joe started working on an arcane furnace prototype. He only had to change a few things in it after testing, but Teril was quite happy with the final result. He asked for four of them, which wasn't too hard to complete after the first one made it easier for Teril to handle different metals in faster batches.

Joe got another level in Arcane Gadgeteer for the work on the furnaces and other plans and designs he made. He leveled up his Schematic Drafting skill to 7, and his Smithing to 10. Illusory Rendering was up to level 4. He gained a level in Chemistry and Carpentry each for making the supplies he needed to cure the toadskin leather. Joe unlocked Leatherworking and got it up to 2 from working on all the skin from the toads.

Leatherworking (Level 1). This skill is for the tanning, shaping, and maintenance of leather, as well as creating goods from it. Higher levels allows you to create stronger leather and work with more exotic skins. To train the skill work more to create leather and goods from leather.

Key Attribute: Agility

- - - - -

“Welcome, Kerras. Please sit down. How have you been? Since the animals aren't put out to pasture any more I don't think I've really seen you much the past few weeks,” Joe said as he gestured the elf to a seat in his home.

“Thanks, Joe. Yeah, I've been trying out different jobs to see what I want to do for my profession. Found out what I liked, what I didn't like, to help me narrow it down,” Kerras replied.

“So, what were you thinking?”

Kerras's eyes lit up and he spoke with passion, “I loved watching you make buildings using your Levitation magic. I want to do that, but not out of wood. I want to work with stone. We're going to need a good stonemason in town anyway. Might as well be me, right?”

“Have you thought about what skills you'll want to pursue for that line of work?”

Kerras shook his head, “I'm not quite sure, that's one of the reasons I came to you. You're the expert on skills since you have so many. You also know the magic I want to use.”

Joe nodded at the logic of Kerras's statements. “Okay, well, you'll want to focus on Strength. The Minor Levitation spell is limited to only carrying 1/10 of what you could carry with your Strength score.”

Joe took out a piece of paper and a pencil.

“Let's list necessities and then see what we can add it.”

“Obviously as a Mage we'll want a few skills to improve your intelligence. Reading is rather easy to get. Mana Channeling and Focus are pretty required anyway. I'm sure Melanie will agree with ensuring you get Meditation, which is Wisdom. Stone Cutting and Masonry, obviously, although I don't know what attributes they improve. Endurance and Stamina Growth will naturally occur from the work to do those, they both grant Vitality. That's eight so far.”

“I'm going to need some Toughness as well,” Kerras noted.

“Definitely so. I wish I knew what the mason skills used.”

Kerras had an idea, “Oh, I still have two weeks till my birthday, so why don't you get those skills yourself in that time?”

Joe chuckled lightly, “You know, that's not the worst idea. Malcolm and I build faster when we work together. You and I could do the same.”

Joe pondered the situation for a few moments before speaking again, “I think I'll go to Trenos and buy a book or two about masonry, stone cutting, and the like. Train my Reading, and you'll be able to train yours as well in a couple of weeks. I'll check to see if anyone else needs anything before I go.”

- - - - -

While Joe was in Trenos he paid to shadow a Leatherworker to learn some new spells.

Dye Leather (Level 1). Change the color of one object made of leather. This change is permanent.

Stamina cost: 50 stamina

Imbue Leather Object (Level 1). This spell is used to permanently enchant an object made up of at least 50% leather with a magical effect. The spell must be used the during the entire creation of the object or it will fail. Breaks of no longer than 10 hours can be taken or the magical matrix formed by the spell will fail. Non-leather parts need not be created while this spell is active or even created by the caster, although the more the spell is active during the creation process, the stronger the result will be.

Stamina cost: 10 stamina per minute

Mana cost: The caster's entire mana pool, including everything that would refill while the spell is active.

Joe was able to get the books he needed from several bookstores. He read about what tools he'd need for stone cutting and masonry and bought a couple of sets of them. Joe also picked up some supplies for leatherworking. He also picked up some cotton and flax seeds, but those wouldn't be sown until spring. His greenhouse was too important for Thessal Leaves until next year when they can grow them in normal plots of land.

It only took a few days for Joe to unlock both Stone Cutting as well as Masonry, so he'd be able to better plan things out with Kerras for his proposed skills. His Stone Cutting got to level 2, and he had to improve his Chemistry to level 6 to make the mortar.

Stone Cutting (Level 1). This skill is for extracting rocks in block form for building from the earth. Higher level skills let you extract weaker stone without fracturing it and strengthens all stones you collect. To train this skill continue to quarry stone.

Key Attribute: Toughness

Masonry (Level 1). This skill is for making structures from stones, stone blocks, or bricks. Higher levels let you complete mason projects faster and with sturdier results. To train this skill keep making walls, floors, or entire buildings from stone.

Key Attribute: Toughness

It turned out both skills were for Toughness, which helped Joe and Kerras plan things out for his training. He would add in Chemistry for the mortar, and then Mining, Porterting, and Logging for extra Strength. That's all 12 of Kerras's skills planned.

Joe also knew the perfect project to help Kerras train his Profession. Joe wanted a new workshop, and wood would not cut it due to all the heat-intensive projects he'd be working on.