Mel opened the Emporium and looked over the branches available.
[Copper Emporium Core Items]
[Petrified Branch of Vigor]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Common)
A wooden branch fossilized in ambient elemental Earth mana, suffusing it with the power of Vigor.
Imprint: Use to temporarily accelerate the natural growth of the Vigor attribute through training, battle, and meditation. Effective for Copper Rankers and below.
Price: 250 Battle Points.
[Petrified Branch of Strength]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Common)
A wooden branch fossilized in ambient elemental Fire mana, suffusing it with the power of Strength.
Imprint: Use to temporarily accelerate the natural growth of the Strength attribute through training, battle, and meditation. Effective for Copper Rankers and below.
Price: 250 Battle Points.
[Petrified Branch of Agility]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Common)
A wooden branch fossilized in ambient elemental Thunder mana, suffusing it with the power of Agility.
Imprint: Use to temporarily accelerate the natural growth of the Agility attribute through training, battle, and meditation. Effective for Copper Rankers and below.
Price: 250 Battle Points.
[Petrified Branch of Sense]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Common)
A wooden branch fossilized in ambient elemental Wind mana, suffusing it with the power of Sense.
Imprint: Use to temporarily accelerate the natural growth of the Sense attribute through training, battle, and meditation. Effective for Copper Rankers and below.
Price: 250 Battle Points.
[Petrified Branch of Arcane]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Common)
A wooden branch fossilized in elemental Ice mana, suffusing it with the power of Arcane.
Imprint: Use to temporarily accelerate the natural growth of the Arcane attribute through training, battle, and meditation. Effective for Copper Rankers and below.
Price: 250 Battle Points.
[Elemental Petrified Branch]
(Copper Rank, Item)
(Common)
A wooden branch fossilized in ambient Fire, Thunder, Earth, Wind, Ice, and Water elemental mana, suffusing it with the combined power of all attributes. Inherently unstable, this item’s potency diminishes rapidly when exposed to the environment.
Imprint: Use to temporarily accelerate the natural growth of all attributes through training, battle, and meditation. Somewhat effective for Copper Rankers and below.
Price: 450 Battle Points.
“What do you suppose is better, picking a single stat to focus on or spreading out?” Mel asked them.
“Asking us for advice instead of just rushing ahead?” Gwen asked with a grin. “Who are you and where is the Mel I knew?”
Thomas looked a little uncomfortable, but as soon as Mel glanced his way, he wiped the expression off his face. Not fast enough though.
That’s totally not weird at all.
He turned to her and said, “If you want to be completely balanced at all times, then all stats would be best. You’d want an [Elemental Petrified Branch] for that, but I would caution against it.”
“Why?”
Thomas took out his wand and drew in the air with his mana. He created several swooping symbols that hung in the air. “Imagine you have a pitcher of water and five cups with which to pour its contents.”
Mel watched as Thomas moved his wand and the pitcher of water outlined in blue glowing mana tilted and poured a stream of light into the cups.
“You could equally split it into all five and end up perfectly balanced,” he continued, “or you could choose to specialize in a few stats you feel most suited to. Few people need every stat in lockstep with the other.”
“We excel at our specializations,” Gwen explained, elaborating on the concept. “By maintaining complete balance, you are walking the path of an average normie. Decent, but unable to gain an advantage over another opponent of comparable rank.”
“I hate to use the old adage,” Thomas said, “but a jack of all trades is a master of none. Better to excel at one thing than to be mediocre at everything. There is only so much time you can dedicate to training and fighting.”
“Imagine,” Gwen said, eyes glittering. She leaned in with her hands on her knees, causing her storage necklace to swing free. “You could be like me and be on the path to a perfect starred attribute.”
Mel’s brow furrowed. “A what?”
Thomas and Gwen exchanged looks.
Gwen grinned slowly, not unlike a hungry wolf. “A perfect attribute surpasses the purview of one’s rank. Permanently.”
Mel shook her head. “How is that possible?”
Thomas started to rearrange the imagery of the cups and pitcher, but Gwen beat him to it. As she spoke, he gave her a hooded look, mumbled something under his breath, and then waved his hands to dispel the images.
“You go beyond your limits,” Gwen answered. “You sell your soul to that attribute. You might not have to put extra restrictions on yourself like I did, but that’s how I picked up the quest.”
Mel tried hard not to snicker at that, smiling the entire time. Gwen obviously thought she was enjoying her explanation, because she sat up and looked even more eager to explain than before.
“How many stats can you perfect?” Mel asked.
“I would imagine it would be limited,” Thomas said. “Given the circumstances. If you were to perfect all stats, that would rather defeat the point, wouldn’t it?”
Mel folded her arms petulantly. “Still wanna try.”
Gwen shrugged. “You gotta start with one to begin with. Mine is strength.” She hefted the [Chain of Atlas] to illustrate her point. “Once I’m High Copper, I’ll finally be free of what that Covenant did to me.”
“Really?” Mel said too brightly. “Strength? I never would have guessed!”
Gwen rolled her eyes at Mel and offered no further information.
Thomas chuckled and nudged Gwen in the side gently. “Oh, come on, Gwen. You aren’t exactly subtle about it.”
“Yeah, okay.”
Mel winked at her. “I’m sure there’s somebody out there that wants a big beefy muscle mommy.”
Thomas choked on his water. He turned to the side, coughing and hacking.
Gwen glowered. That seemed to touch a nerve. “Somebody, but not many.”
Mel smiled big. Ah, it’s good to be back. “For most people, one is enough.”
Thomas cleared his throat. “Well, that was…enlightening. Thank you both for checking on me while I was choking. I nearly aspirated, but your worry is duly noted.”
Gwen looked over at Thomas curiously. “Will you start choking again if one of us says muscle mommy?”
“I’m pretty sure that’s a one-and-done surprise,” Thomas said with a wry grin. “Besides, I didn’t exactly expect that while I was drinking my water.”
“Maybe I should make sure you’re okay…”
“Ya’ll need a room?” Mel asked, making a rude gesture with her hands.
If you come across this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
Thomas lifted his chin, the blonde stubble sparkling golden in the afternoon sunlight. “We’ll do it wherever we want and you’ll have to get a room if you want to get away. Unless you like to watch. No judgment.”
Gwen was mortified. “We…will?”
Mel, meanwhile, was rocking back and forth, squealing with laughter. She hadn’t remembered laughing so hard before. “Fair enough, fair enough.” She reached over and poked Gwen. “You’ve got a real hot stud there, Gwen.”
“I have no idea what’s going on anymore,” she said, voice pitched high.
“Don’t mind her, she’s just in denial,” Thomas said, putting a hand to the side of his mouth but not bothering to modulate his tone at all.
They all shared a laugh at that, though Gwen’s was more nervous and unsure.
“So I need to chain myself up to get a perfect attribute then?” Mel asked. “Not sure I want to be shackled to one of the most tired out metaphors in existence.”
“No,” Gwen replied firmly. “I think, at this point, aggressively training that attribute may be enough. The key is obviously combining it with these new flask mixes.”
“Then it’d make sense for me to choose a stat that’s already high, wouldn’t it?”
“Not necessarily,” Thomas cut in. “We’re pretty weak now. Copper is usually the first step, so think long term. If vigor was your weakest stat, you could start training and working on it right now. Eventually, you’ll be Iron and several ranks beyond that. What we do now is more foundational than anything. We’re not locked in yet.”
Mel squinted at him. “You don’t know what’s after Iron either, do you?”
“I have some guesses,” Thomas hedged.
“Very convincing.” Mel turned to Gwen. “You said you picked up a quest for getting a perfect attribute?”
“Yeah.”
“When did that appear? Was it after a certain grade or just random?”
“It started a while after I was focusing on that attribute, like the quest aligned with my goals,” Gwen explained. “I earned a strength scaling title, and religiously used [Primal Mantle], which further augments my strength and stamina.”
“And you’ve probably been doing this for weeks more than I have,” Mel said, obviously let down.
“The thing is, I didn’t have the equivalent of a massively boosted training branch. You do.”
“She’s right,” Thomas agreed. “The brews are new to both of us. At first glance, they blow anything the Emporium could give us out of the water…and I think that’s the point. I’ve long since wondered if we were supposed to use the Emporium to create elixirs to improve ourselves rather than simply using the ingredients. The chromatic unlockable section, while not replete with materials, is notably useful in that regard.”
“I know it was just a lucky guess, but I think this brew will dramatically change our chances in this Convocation,” Gwen said. “Thomas is probably right too. All those ingredients were too expensive for a while to experiment with.”
Mel could see the reasoning in that. “Kinda like eating an egg on its own versus turning it into a cake. The system gave us the ingredients, but it’s up to us to create the cake.” She laughed. “Damn we must look pretty dumb to the gods looking down at us, watching us eating the equivalent of dirt and proclaiming that it’s some mystical ambrosia.”
“That sounds pretty likely,” Gwen agreed.
“So the elemental branch is out,” Mel reasoned. “Too bad I already used a few. Good thing it wasn’t with my BP.”
“That’s okay,” Thomas said. “What stat would you like to focus on?”
“I guess now that we’re a team,” Mel said, looking at each of them in turn. Thomas’ expression was unreadable, but Gwen’s looked startlingly like a golden retriever that was just happy to be there. “I should probably find a niche, yeah? So we already know Gwen’s going for strength. What about you?”
“I figured it would be obvious,” Thomas said. “It’s arcane. Still don’t have a quest for it.”
Mel nodded, thinking back to her first aspect. Mist was still her most used aspect despite the relative weakness compared to something like Omen or Blood.
I’ve survived more times than I care to admit for my ability to quickly get out of the way, or to close a gap before my opponent can strike.
Agility was also instrumental in fighting against the naga. Both Gwen and Thomas were unable to keep up with that monster’s speed. Though, to be fair, Mel struggled too. Those [Smoke Dash Bangles] had clearly increased the naga’s attack speed.
Would I have struggled, if I went above and beyond with agility?
A glance at her status showed that her agility was still her highest stat. Technically, she had three stats at Grade 6, but only [Hidden Mist] was on the cusp of Grade 8. It was somewhat hard to compare, since agility was also bound to her Mist aspect.
[Mel Harper]
Race: Human
Standing: [#44] Exile (G-League) [1st Echelon]
Class: Mystic
Rank: Copper
Next Rank: Iron (47%)
[==Attributes==]
Strength [Divine Aspect]: Copper (Grade 4)
Agility [Mist Aspect]: Copper (Grade 6)
Vigor [Blood Aspect]: Copper (Grade 6)
Sense [Serpent Aspect]: Copper (Grade 6)
Arcane [Omen Aspect]: Copper (Grade 4)
[==Aspects==]
[Divine Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 4)
? [Tempest Heart] (Grade 4)
[Mist Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 6)
? [Hidden Mist] (Grade 7)
[Blood Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 6)
? [Sanguine Coat] (Grade 7)
[Serpent Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 6)
? [Gaze of the Serpent] (Grade 7)
? [Avatar of Askara] (Grade 1)
[Omen Aspect] (Copper Rank) (Grade 4)
? [Omen Mark] (Grade 4)
? [Bane of Tartarus] (Grade 5)
While it was true that agility, vigor, and sense were all Grade 6, [Hidden Mist] was her strongest and most advanced aspect skill.
[Hidden Mist]
(Serpent Aspect)
(Copper, Green/Spell)
(Grade 7 [78%])
Cost: Modest Mana
Cooldown: Moderate
Blanket an area in mist, obscuring the vision of your enemies and making them easy prey.
Imprint(Copper Rank): Create a layer of obfuscating fog that you and any allies you designate can see through. Area affected by fog is considered difficult terrain. Mana cost increases as the area of fog increases. Additional mana may be expended to illuminate the fog from within.
Mel’s brow crumpled in thought. “Dammit.”
Thomas leaned forward. “What is it?”
“It’s more than just an attribute. It’s an aspect too. If I choose agility, it means I’m also choosing Mist. They’re intrinsically linked. If I want to make Omen my starred perfect whatever, then that means focusing on arcane instead.”
“That’s true,” Gwen said thoughtfully. “Bear in mind, it’s fine for two of us to specialize in the same attribute. Our aspects and classes are very different.”
“It is, and it isn’t,” Thomas countered, turning to Mel to make it clear he was referring to her and not Gwen. “While both aspect and attribute are linked, I don’t think we can perfect an attribute without perfecting an aspect. Either that, or we can only perfect the attribute without touching the aspect. We don’t know until one of us–likely Gwen–finishes the quest.”
Gwen shrugged. “I don’t know. It feels closely linked to me. Primal aspect and strength I mean. But it is a rather…instinctual aspect.”
“Thanks, that makes it a million times harder to decide. Very cool!” Mel complained.
“Sorry,” Gwen said.
Mel waved away her concern. “I’m going to go with agility regardless. Something about it feels…Blue. I can’t explain it, but I’ve gotten a few notifications that have mentioned my Blue Deeds. Still no idea what that means, but that’s got to be something, right?”
“We know very little about Chroma,” Thomas said. “The colors Gwen and I have been able to work out are Blue, Red, Green, and Yellow. Blue is defensive, Red offensive, Green supportive, and Yellow is afflictions.”
“That’s one more than I figured out,” Mel said appreciatively. “Agility feels defensive, though I guess you could call it a mix since you could use it to attack faster as well.”
Mel looked up at the sky. “How about you just tell us what these prophetic colors mean, system?”
The only sound Mel heard was the crackling of the campfire and the uncomfortable shifting of her two companions.
“Eat an avalanche of dicks, system.”
Mel opened the shop again and bought a [Petrified Branch of Agility]. She was going on her instincts here, and that meant focusing on her agility first.
She frowned. “Where did you get that [Red Rock]?” Mel asked Gwen. “I don’t see it in the shop.”
“I can find them very rarely, but mostly the chromatic items section,” Gwen said. “It cost six thousand Battle Points to unlock, so Thomas spent his points on it and we simply trade.”
“It’s more effective than having all of us buy in,” Thomas pointed out. “That would be a grand total loss of eighteen thousand points. Eventually, sure, but for now? It seems best to keep as many points in reserve.”
“There aren’t a lot of items in that section anyway,” Gwen admitted. “Spirit herba and the chromatic rocks.”
“The only saving grace is that the items are all cheaper than anything in the core shop,” Thomas said. “The herbas are a hundred points each, and the rocks are one-twenty.”
For some reason that Mel couldn’t put her finger on, it felt wrong to do this. Probably because you expect you’ll be on your own again soon. Take advantage of Magi hospitality while it lasts.
“So that’s what, two [Blue Rocks] for one petrified branch?” Mel asked.
Thomas nodded. “Thereabouts. I don’t have enough BP to buy both chromatic rocks and branches for myself and everybody else.”
Mel was still flush with BP, enough that she could have unlocked the section herself. However, until she needed to, there didn’t seem to be any reason. “Arcane branches, yeah?”
Thomas nodded. “And you want [Blue Rocks]?”
They traded, with Mel giving Thomas an extra branch to make up for the massive 6,000 BP debt he must have. A trade she noticed Gwen mirrored.
“I’m guessing there’s relatively few people even with access to an ampoule,” Mel said. “Which means that we have an even greater potential advantage. Even when people do get their ampoules, which is something I assume most people will get similar to their kilns, how many will think to potentially waste not one, but two Emporium items? Especially when the chromatic rocks need to be unlocked.”
Gwen beamed.
“Yes, you’re amazing, Gwen. Good job.”
“Seriously,” Thomas added. “Without you trying something neither of us thought to, we’d be in the dark as much as anybody else. This way, we can make the most out of your discovery. That means we’ll need a lot more Battle Points.”
“That’s a bad thing?” Mel asked.
Thomas’ answering grin told her it wasn’t. “Not unless you’ve got a weak heart for grinding?”
Despite the daunting task of trying to make sure she kept on top of spending hundreds of BP every time she made a primeval brew, Mel was excited at the prospects of grinding. For once, it wouldn’t be to avenge a wrong, or even to survive.
It would be the key to getting stronger, but more importantly: it would be fun.
