31 – Preparations
Andy sat on his sleeping bag—a gift from Lucy’s fallen brother, Steve. She’d also given him an inflatable foam camping mat, which was a lifesaver on the hard cavern floor. They’d spread out a large blanket as a way to kind of claim their territory in the enormous cavern, and, currently, it was covered with weapons and arrows. Andy was planning on doing some enchanting before they went into the dungeon.
Once they’d discovered the portal, he and the others had held an impromptu vote, and it turned out they all wanted to get better prepared before setting foot into an “elite” dungeon. Number one on everyone’s priority list was to get some rest. It had been a hell of an afternoon preparing for the storm, and then they’d had the crisis of the vermin horde to contend with—they were all a little banged up, hungry, and tired.
While Andy worked to enchant their weapons, Omar was arranging guard rotations for the portal; they didn’t want another horde to take root before the five of them could deal with the source. Bea was purifying the vats of magical chemicals, but her quest to purify the water wouldn’t be complete until they cleared the dungeon; it seemed the dungeon was the corruption. Lucy was gathering supplies, and Bella was taking care of her baby rat. She’d already convinced Madi, the teenage Gatherer, to babysit the creature while she went into the dungeon.
Andy picked up the armored jacket James had made for him and gave it a thorough inspection. He hadn’t worn it since the battle with the Hardheads, but he figured it might be smart if he went into a dungeon. It might have been smart to wear it when they explored the tunnels, but there was no sense crying over spilt milk, as his mom used to say. He focused on the rigid plastic plates and activated his Evaluate Material ability:
Material: dross
Enchantment potential: natural-extremely poor
Enchantment capacity: 0/3
“What the hell?” He looked over at the next little campsite where Eduardo sat in a lawn chair, busily scribbling in a notebook. “Dross means garbage, right?” he called out.
Eduardo looked up, and it took a moment for the question to register before he nodded. “That’s right.”
“You might want to make a note: plastic sucks for enchanting.”
“Really?”
“Yeah,” Andy held up the jacket, rattling the plastic plates. “At least this stuff.”
Eduardo nodded, reaching down to pick up a different notebook. “Keep me posted if you learn more!”
“Will do.” Andy set the coat to the side, then picked up one of the bone arrows Lucy had scavenged from the rat-people. Once again, he activated Evaluate Material:
Material: alchemically treated bone
Enchantment potential: magical-moderate
Enchantment capacity: 0/140
“Holy shit,” he whispered, twisting the slender, blood-stained arrow this way and that. It didn’t look like anything special, and the tip was certainly not as sturdy as a steel arrowhead, but apparently it had been “treated” with some kind of magic. He told Eduardo about his discovery, then he took a minute to look at his status sheet. He was up to five Improvement Points again, and he figured he might as well try to improve his enchanting before he got started.
He focused on his Glyph of Fate spell and tried to add another point to it. As he’d feared, the System wouldn’t let him advance it past three, giving a message similar to the one he’d gotten for his Brimstone Stalker spells. He could assume he might be able to bypass that limit when he hit level fifteen, but that was a long way off. Of course, being only level three in his Glyphwright class had an advantage: he might be able to grind out another level or two and, in so doing, earn more improvement points and maybe some new spells.
With that vague plan in mind, Andy pulled Lucy’s bone-arrow quiver closer and counted them: 52 slender arrows. “Let the grinding begin.” He held the first arrow up and cast Glyph of Fate, inscribing a tiny glowing sigil on the arrow’s shaft; it seemed his finger didn’t even have to touch the material so long as he focused on it and traced the glyph in the air.
***Glyph of the Cobra’s Bite applied! This arrow will now apply Cobra’s Bite when successfully used to attack. This enchantment will attempt to overcome the target’s Will attribute to deliver a potent venom. Charges: 2.***
Andy checked his mana: 418/480. Before picking up another arrow, he activated Evaluate Material with a tiny trickle of mana:
Material: alchemically treated bone
Enchantment potential: magical-moderate
Enchantment capacity: 66/140
“Interesting.” Andy held up the arrow, noting the soft sheen of greenish iridescence—the Cobra’s Bite enchantment. He turned the arrow so the unmarked side of its shaft was before him, then carefully drew the Glyph of Fate again:
***Glyph of Drowsing Mist applied! This arrow will now apply Drowsing Mist when successfully used to attack. This enchantment will release a soporific haze that may induce drowsiness or slow reactions. Charges: 2.***
When Andy checked the Enchantment capacity, it read exactly as he’d hoped: 132/140. It now contained both enchantments. He wondered whether they’d fire simultaneously or only one at a time. Setting the arrow aside, he picked up another. He figured he’d get one with some destructive glyphs—fire or something—and Lucy could test it out later. Meanwhile, he had a lot of enchanting to do.
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The process of enchanting those arrows taught Andy a few things. One of the most interesting and potentially important lessons was that when his mana was lower, he regenerated faster. Of course, he shared the information with Eduardo, but when it came to the task at hand, he learned to do as many enchantments as he could, then, when his mana was low, he’d let it regenerate up to about half—ten minutes or so of twiddling his thumbs—before depleting himself again.
When he finished the thirty-third arrow, the System took note of his efforts:
***Congratulations, Andy! You’ve gained another level in your Glyphwright class. You’ve earned an Improvement Point and also gained a new class spell:
Glyph of Resilience – Bound: By inscribing this glyph, infused with your mana, you can increase the natural durability of any object with the appropriate enchantment potential. The glyph will last seven days before requiring a mana infusion to recharge it. Mana Cost: 20.***
Andy’s mind began to catalog the many things he could cast the spell on—weapons, armor, tools, and even building materials. He just hated that it wasn’t permanent; if he were to cast it on every brick in a house, he’d spend half his life renewing the enchantments. Worse, he learned from trying it on his spear that it took up a significant amount of the enchantment capacity. He had to use his Strip Enchantment spell, removing the Glyph of Resilience, in order to cast Balefire Lance on the weapon.
He supposed that, like many things, it might pay off down the line when he had a higher-quality weapon that could handle more enchantments. Saving the extra Improvement Point in the hopes that he’d grind out another level, he got to work.
By midnight, Lucy returned with two packs of supplies, which they’d divvy up with the others in the morning. Andy took a break while his mana was regenerating, and they tested one of his enchanted arrows. It was enchanted with a glyph of Flame Touch and a glyph of Static Grasp—perfect for testing because the effects would be easy to see.
It was a short test. They’d dragged a four-by-six post—part of the lumber supply they were trying to keep safe and dry from the storm—over to an empty section of the cavern to use as a target. When Lucy shot the post, her arrow burst in a shower of fiery embers and arcing blue electrical discharges.
“Shit!” Andy laughed. “Glad we didn’t shoot it on top of the lumber pile.”
Lucy laughed too, but then she held up her quiver of slender ratman arrows. “I guess these are one-shot arrows now?”
Andy shook his head. “I can take one of the enchantments off—they might survive with only one.”
“No, don’t. These bone arrows are kind of fragile anyway. Might as well get the most bang for our buck.”
“Heh. Yeah, I like that plan.”
After that, they dragged the post back to the lumber stack. Lucy crawled into her sleeping bag and watched him continue enchanting until she drifted off to sleep. Andy kept at it until all their arrows and weapons had decent enchantments. He was able to get two enchantments on Bella’s sword, but he removed and recast them many times until she had two that he hoped wouldn’t harm the weapon: Cobra’s Bite and Withering Edge. One was a virulent poison, and the other would, supposedly, sap the target’s strength and vitality.
Omar’s spear could only handle one enchantment, but Andy removed and recast the glyph a dozen times before he got one he liked: Electric Loop. Supposedly, it would have a chance to stun his target. Just as he finished it, the System recognized his efforts again:
***Congratulations, Andy! You’ve gained another level in your Glyphwright class. You’ve earned an Improvement Point and also gained a new class spell:
Glyph of Defense – Bound: By inscribing this glyph, infused with your mana, on a worn or carried object, you will grant it the ability to intercept damage intended for the bearer. The enchantment will also attempt to intercept hostile magic, though the bearer’s Will attribute will be pitted against the aggressor’s. The glyph will expend one charge for each blow or spell it intercepts. Mana Cost: 50 per 2 charges.***
Andy immediately picked up Bea’s staff, cast Strip Enchantment on it to remove the two offensive glyphs he’d earlier applied, and then cast Glyph of Defense. His finger traced an intricate glyph that glowed with hazy white mana before fading in a soft pulse of light that ran up and down the length of the weapon.
***Glyph of Defense applied!***
Wondering if he could add more charges, he activated Evaluate Material:
Material: oak wood
Enchantment potential: natural-moderate
Enchantment capacity: 70/100
“One charge…” he whispered, trying not to bother Lucy. Rather than give up, he quickly put one of his new improvement points into the spell, then reread the description. Nothing changed other than the final line: Mana Cost: 60 per 3 charges.
“Okay…” With a shrug, Andy applied another Improvement Point. Again, the spell was the same, but the final line made him smile: Mana Cost: 75 per 5 charges. Satisfied that his two points had been well spent, he used Strip Enchantment on the staff and then recast the more powerful version of Glyph of Defense. This time, the glow was brighter and lasted longer before fading. Curious, he used Evaluate Material again:
Material: oak wood
Enchantment potential: natural-moderate
Enchantment capacity: 100/100
He’d almost improved the spell to the point where Bea’s staff couldn’t handle it. While he’d been working on it, he’d had the idea of enchanting people’s belts or backpacks, but all the leather and cloth objects he’d tested had capacities in the five to thirty range; most were closer to five. Jewelry was another idea, but Andy didn’t have anything to test on, other than his already magical necklace. He thought about asking someone to borrow a ring or bracelet, but as he looked around the cavern, it seemed like pretty much everyone was trying to sleep.
He felt wired—it was the same kind of feeling he used to get if he had a good show he was bingeing or, back in the day, a game he and his friends were trying to beat. He didn’t want to stop, but he recognized the folly of an all-nighter; he didn’t want to be a zombie when they walked into that dungeon in the morning.
Resignedly, he reached over to turn the little knob on the already-dim camp lantern, and as the dark engulfed him, he pulled off his jeans and crawled into his sleeping bag. Lying on his back, he concentrated on his status sheet briefly, then made his Brimstone Stalker class active. He might get a chance to enchant some more in the morning, but if something happened in the night, he wanted to be ready to fight.
With one hand resting on his spear, he tucked the other up under his head for a pillow and closed his eyes. As he almost immediately drifted off to sleep, unbeknownst to him, the System recognized that he’d found his “safe” space, and in clouds of colorful steam, it delivered the two rewards it owed him.
