Cat With a Raygun

Now that spring was starting it was time for Joe to take a break from combat training and finally learn Agriculture from Ferrite. Ferrite mainly planted vegetables and they had to buy their own flour as they didn't have the facilities to mill their own flour. Of course, Joe would be able to fix that, but first he had to grow the wheat. Joe shadowed Ferrite in her fields for 2 days, assisting her where possible.

After he felt like he was ready Joe went to find a new field. He picked an area on the opposite side of the river from Ferrite's fields. There were a lot of trees and big rocks, but Joe spent a day clearing out the field. He stacked the logs and stone up along the side of the field as he had plans for them later.

It took another day to till and plant the wheat seeds he had brought back from Trenos on his first trip. Joe then brought a large amount of water up from the river and caused it to rain over the field. He took a few trips to get it nice and moist. Ferrite cautioned him to hold off on his Speed Plant Growth until the weather got a little warmer. Even so, Joe unlocked the Agriculture skill after the field was planted and watered.

Agriculture (Level 1). This skill is for the large scale planting and harvesting of single crop fields. Higher levels of this skill allow the farmer to produce healthier produce in less ideal conditions. To train this skill continue to plant, water, and harvest single crop fields.

Key Attribute: Vitality

- - - - -

“Is the spell in place, Joe?” Ferric asked.

“Yes, no one other than us town residents can enter The Rusty Cup for now. What's all the secrecy about?”

Ignoring Joe's question for the moment Ferric addressed the rest of the people gathered. “Don't settle down just yet, I'm going to ask Joe to take us down to the cavern where we can't be overheard. Joe, do you mind?”

A moment later everyone was down in the cavern lit by the glowing crystals growing all over.

“Okay, so what's going on, Ferric,” Lester asked.

Ferric turned to everyone to address the town. “When the traveling merchant came to town today he brought a message from Trenos for me. As you all know, the Imperial War hit many towns as hard as it hit Rust's Edge. We weren't the only town that was dying, others are heading the same direction. In light of our recent surge of unexplained prosperity the Royal Council is asking if we could take in additional citizens displaced from other areas. I want to say yes, but I won't do that without consulting all of you first.”

“I'd love to have more help in the mines,” Jack said.

“We need several people to take care of the animals full time,” Tess chimed in.

“How can we be sure we can trust these newcomers as well as we can our other new arrivals?” Sally asked.

“That is an excellent question, Sally. I'll address that first. We can't be sure of that first, which is why I propose that if we do this then we have Kerras use his stone magics to seal off the path down to here. Joe can get anyone in and out of here as needed, and hopefully Kerras will be able to do that as well at some point. Also, I suggest Otto help welcome the newcomers.”

Otto looked rather confused, “I beg your pardon? I don't quite follow you there. Why would I be the one for such a task?”

“Simple,” Ferric answered. “You used to be a duplicitous smuggler of illicit materials. If anyone moving into town ever bought such a thing from you, then we need to address it. You also might be able to intuit if these people are hiding things from us the way you used to hide your smuggling from everybody.”

“Yes, I suppose that does make sense when you put it like that,” Otto said, somewhat embarrassed.

“Okay, if there are no objections I'll draft the message to return to Trenos. We have three open cabins remaining, but we can build more homes between Malcolm, Joe, and Kerras, so I'll let them know we can take more if need be.”

With that Ferric had Joe bring everyone back to The Rusty Cup and the town meeting was over.

- - - - -

“Why did you borrow my wardrobe, Joe?” Ferric asked the next day after Joe brought it back to him.

“So I could install this,” Joe said as he pulled the wardrobe away from the wall and revealed a stone frame set into the back of it.

“And why are there rocks on the back of my wardrobe?”

“Feel on the top of it on the left side there, the metal plate? That's magisteel. Feed some stamina into it until the frame activates.”

Ferric did so and the inside of the stone frame now looked like one of Joe's portals that he makes with Backtrack. “It goes to the mana cavern, so you won't be dependent on me to get back to it whenever you want to.”

“Wow, that's great, Joe. It took a lot of stamina, though.”

“Yes, the portal is an energy-intensive spell. I lowered the cost by limiting the destination, but stamina isn't as manachlorian dense as mana, so it's still quite costly. You shouldn't have to use it too much, though.”

“So, Joe, any new projects between everything else you're doing?”

“Well, yes, I wanted to update my weapon,” Joe said as he took his raygun out of its holster. “I made this before I had my profession, so my skills and abilities have improved since then. I can make a much more powerful version now, and even make one capable of different outputs.”

“What will you do with your old one?”

“I don't know. Anyone could use it, so if you wanted it, you can have it.”

“I thought it was powered by your lightning spell,” Ferric said, confused.

“Yes, but it will work even with regular energy channeled into it the same way you activated that portal.”

“It's pretty amazing that it accepts any kind of energy. How did you make it do that?”

“Oh, I didn't do anything for that. It's just the natural state of manachlorian energy. It can manifest in different forms, but underneath it all, it's all the same. Some forms are more efficient than--” Joe trailed off without finishing his sentence.

Ferric smiled, “Did you just think of some new, previously thought of as impossible thing you can do?”

“I believe so, yes.”

Ferric laughed, “Well, don't let me keep you, go test it out and see if it works.”

Joe went to his home and cast Imbue Spell Conduit on his raygun. It wouldn't actually produce any result as the item already had a magical matrix attached to it, but it did provide Joe with a completely drained mana pool in an instant. He put himself into a similar mind set as his original meditation, but rather than concentrating on the energy flowing around him, Joe concentrated on the energy within himself. It took a while before he could sense his hit points, stamina, and refilling mana pools as their separate forms of energy. With a bit of mental effort Joe was able to transfer some of his stamina into his mana pool. 100 points of stamina converted into 50 points of mana in an instant.

Energy Conversion skill unlocked, +1 Wisdom.

Energy Conversion (Level 1). This skill allows you to convert any of your manachlorian resources into any of the other ones. Higher levels of this skill allow you to make the conversion faster and with less concentration. To train this skill convert your energy pools into each other.

Key Attribute: Wisdom

Joe decided that converting his hit points to stamina or mana was going to be a much easier way to train his Regeneration than cutting himself, it would also allow him to better control how many hit points he loses in the process.

Joe wasn't yet able to maintain the state of mind needed for Energy Conversion while he was casting spells like one of his Imbue spells, but when he trains enough in it that will help him put a lot more mana into a creation since he uses Meditation anyway to refill his mana quicker.

Joe put his Test Pattern ability through its paces yet again with the designs for his new raygun. He ranked it up and gained a level in Schematic Drafting. Through the crafting process of the new weapon he also gained a level each in Smithing, Focus, Glassblowing, Heat Tolerance, Meditation, and Mana Channeling. He also ranked Miniaturization up to level 2, and the spells Illusory Rendering, Imbue Metallic Object, Imbue Glass Object, and Imbue Spell Conduit all went up 1 level as well.

Illusory Rendering (Level 10). This spell allows the caster to recreate any schematic they have designed as an illusion in front of them. The caster can manipulate the illusion to overlay any part they are working on to ensure it matches the schematic. Overlaying parts while crafting improves their quality and the speed with which the caster makes them and the overall compatibility of the design as a whole.

The caster can alter the design from its original state while it is being represented in illusion.

New schematics can be created while the spell is active, making them entirely in illusion.

Mana cost: 5 mana per minute.

Imbue Spell Conduit (Level 5). This spell allows you to add an enchantment to any object that could be used as a spell conduit. The spell must be active during the entire creation process for any parts created by the caster. The spell funnels all mana from the caster while the spell is active to a magical matrix which will become part of the conduit upon completion of the spell. Breaks of no more than 10 hours can be taken or the matrix will fail. Any attempt to cast the spell again for a different item before completion of the first will cause the matrix to fail.

The caster can funnel their intent into creation process to try to shape an enchantment they are unfamiliar with.

Stamina cost: 10 stamina per minute

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

Bronze Channeling Raygun of Elemental Options (Legendary). This raygun has a dial on the handle that can be set to Lightning, Fire, or Cold. When set to Lightning and powered by manachlorian energy a coherent beam of lightning fires at the target which also attempts to Paralyze the target. When set to Fire a coherent beam of fire fires at the target which also attempts to Blind the target. When set to Cold a coherent beam of cold fires at the target and attempts to trap it in bindings of ice. When a spell of the corresponding element is cast while holding the raygun it is instead channeled through the weapon's internal patterns and the damage output is increased five times.

Joe also spent time watering his wheat field and practicing his new Energy Conversion skill so he leveled up his Agriculture to 3, his Energy Conversion to 4, and his Regeneration to 11.