Cat With a Raygun

A few more weeks passed as the cold of the winter finally made way for spring's warmth. Joe even had his nineteenth birthday, but he didn't make a big deal about it. Joe gained several more levels in different skills as he worked on his wheat field, helped the growing livestock, and he finally made a good design on his arcane refrigerator idea. It even had an ice maker. Joe gained a level in Animal Husbandry, a level in Focus, 2 levels in Stamina Growth, 2 levels in Regeneration, 3 levels in Energy Conversion, and even a level in Cooking. His arcane refrigerator construction gave him a level in Carpentry.

Joe also used the time to practice more of his spells, gaining 1 level each in Lightning Jolt, Healing Touch, Deflection Field, Hidden Blade, Karmic Bond, Stoke Fire, Speed Boost, Boost Strength, Creature Status, Transmute Material, and Meld Stone. He gained 2 levels in Vine Strike and 2 levels in Invisibility. All the spell practice also gained him two more levels in Spell Conduits.

Ferric called for another town meeting after he got a response back about the new residents they would be taking in. “I have great news, everybody. Of the twelve new people who will be moving to Rust's Edge, 5 of them are close to turning eighteen. Four of them were orphaned by the war and all raised by an older woman who died recently. That woman was the one holding the town together, basically, which prompted everyone to need to move after they lost her.

“Malcolm, Kerras, we'll need four new residences. Two of the existing ones will go to the families arriving, a dwarf family and an eaglin family, and the final one will got a felinoid adult. According to the letter, they should be arriving in a few months, traveling first to Telknock. I don't think they should be subject to a long, grueling trek after everything they've been through, do you, Joe?”

“Not at all. Let me grab some supplies and I'll head out. I'm not going to be coming back here at night because I don't want to miss them, but with the speeds I can move now, I can probably get to them by tomorrow at the latest.”

“That sounds perfect, thank you, Joe. We'll need to make some room for the rest of the people until the the homes are built, but from you guys, I don't anticipate it will take long.” Ferric paused in his address and a grin broke out on his face. “It's funny. The fact that so many of them are under 18 and don't yet have professions make them unwanted to the major cities, yet that makes them perfect for us. We can help them achieve potential they wouldn't know anywhere else.

“Speaking of which, Eleanor, do you need anything to make your elixirs?”

“Yes, there are some specialized ingredients I would need, depending on what attributes they need to improve. But I can work that out with Joe once he gets back. We'll need to do some traveling to get some of them and that requires Joe.”

“Fair enough,” Ferric said. “If there's nothing else then I'll let the rest of you prepare for their arrival. Joe, good luck out there.”

Joe didn't waste much time putting things into a Satchel of Extra Storage and cast Backtrack to get to Telknock. It took him a while to find directions to the town of Kela's Landing, because most people had never heard of it. After an hour of asking he finally found a traveling merchant who knew of it and was directed to the correct road out of town. Joe started Running as soon as he left town, but waited until he was out of sight before he cast Speed Boost. He could now keep it going for over three hours.

Joe wasn't able yet to concentrate on Energy Conversion while he was running so fast and depleting his stamina, not if he wanted to be aware of his surroundings, at least, but his Meditation worked just fine, keeping his stamina from completely draining before the three hours were up. As soon as his Speed Boost ended, however, he just stopped in the middle of the road and sat on the ground converting a portion of his mana and even half of his health into stamina. When his stamina was refilled he got up and cast Speed Boost again and started running along the road to Kela's Landing.

By the end of the day Joe had gained 2 more levels in Running and one in both Energy Conversion and Stamina Growth. Joe made sure to make his camp right next to the road so if anyone passed by they would see his fire and maybe stop to talk. Nothing happened while he slept, as far as he could tell, so he continued on his journey the next day towards Kela's Landing.

Joe frequently used the Telescopic Sight from his hat to scout ahead on while running. Finally, about two hours into his second casting of Speed Boost for the day he saw a group of people ahead traveling in his direction. He stopped running so as not to intimidate the group, hoping they hadn't spotted him yet and gotten scared.

It took 45 minutes at a leisurely pace before he finally got to the group. He saw the dwarf family of four and a trio of wingless bird people, which he assumed were the eaglins Ferric had mentioned, along with five other individuals. An older felinoid man, a human boy and girl, an orc girl, and a dog boy, the last four all looked to be in their mid-to-late late teens.

“Hello, everybody. My name is Joe. I'm from Rust's Edge. From the description we got it looks like you're the residents of Kela's Landing, is that correct?”

The group of migrants looked at each other in confusion before the felinoid man spoke up, “Uh, yes that's us. Are you going to escort us to Rust's Edge?”

“I certainly am. Mayor Rustkeeper didn't want you guys to suffer on your journey more than necessary so he sent me to help you out. Now, we only have homes for the two families and you currently, but we'll be building new ones for the rest of you. They probably won't be done for a week, though, so until then we'll find you guys places to stay with the rest of us.”

The short young man who looked like a halfling or gnome sized dog man spoke up, “Begging your pardon, Mister Joe, but why would that matter when it will take us months to get there still?”

Joe got a big smile on his face, “Well, your journey to Rust's Edge will be a lot easier than that. I can get you there in a few steps with some magic.”

The group's earlier looks of confusion were replaced with looks of awe and wonder at this news. The youngest of the group, a chubby-cheeked dwarf boy of about ten spoke up, “You can do that?”

Joe knelt down to address the boy at eye level. “I sure can. We're going to get you guys to your new home today, off of the dusty, cold roads, and get you all a nice warm meal. I don't know what the conditions in Kela's Landing were like, but things in Rust's Edge are improving every day. We want to grow our little town into something big, but to do that we need more people to live there.”

Joe stood back up to address the entire group. “Our mayor was so excited when he heard the Royal Council was giving us this opportunity. Now, we do have jobs that need doing on a regular basis, but your classes and your professions will still be your own. For those of you who have yet to receive your Guidebooks, we will help you develop a path to lead to the skills and professions you want when you turn eighteen. If the jobs that we need doing don't line up with the skills you want, we'll make sure you get your full twelve skills before you're asked to help with them.

“Now, does anyone have any questions before we get ready to go to Rust's Edge?”

The orc girl spoke up, “How will this travel work?”

“It's simple. I'm going to create a gateway that will open from here directly to Rust's Edge. You just walk through it. Anything that travels through the gate arrives on the other side instantly. Anything you carry, or push, or pull will come with you just the same as if you were taking it through a wide doorway. The gateway only lasts for two minutes, though, so I'll want you all to be ready before I open it. I can make another one pretty easily, but I'd prefer not to waste the mana, just in case.”

“Mana? Are you a Mage?” the human boy asked in wonder.

“I sure am,” Joe replied.

“Can you teach me to be a Mage?” the eaglin girl asked.

“Don't be silly, Kleo,” the girl's mother chided her. “You know classes can't be taught, it's up to what the CWEST offers you in your Guidebook.”

“Don't be so sure of that, there are ways to expand what classes you can pick from in the short window you have to pick one. Just two months ago we successfully got a second Mage.”

“I want to learn how to fly,” the girl, Kleo, said. “Mages can do that, right?”

Joe cast Levitation and rose up 4 meters into the air.

Everyone looked impressed by Joe's small spell, but the three eaglins looked especially mesmerized.

As Joe set himself back down on the ground he asked, “When do you get your Guidebook, Kleo?”

“In three months,” she answered excitedly.

“That should be plenty of time, so long as it's no different than what Eleanor made for Toughness, which only took a few days.”

Joe paused to see if anyone had any questions. “Okay, grab the rest of your stuff and get ready to go through the gateway when it opens.”

“We don't have any more stuff,” the felinoid sadly said.

“Did you leave a lot behind in Kela's Landing?” Joe asked.

“We couldn't afford the wagons and horses to bring more of our possessions with us.”

“Well, we can fix that for you. Is Kela's Landing on this road, or do I have to take a different path from here?”

“Yes, it's on the same road, but why? I thought you could just teleport there.”

“No, I can only teleport to where I've been before. After we get you settled I'll come back here and then travel down the road to Kela's Landing. I can move pretty fast, so I hope I can get there sometime tomorrow. Don't want opportunists to loot the things you couldn't bring.”

“We will appreciate that, thank you.”

“Okay, let's get you to Rust's Edge now, your new home.”

The portal opened and everyone started passing through it.

“Wow, it really worked,” said the human boy as he emerged on the other side of the portal in Rust's Edge.

The door to The Rusty Cup opened and Ferric walked out. He counted to be sure all twelve new residents arrived through the portal. “Welcome, everyone to Rust's Edge. I hope it will become your new home.”