First Day, First Discovery, First Lesson

[Fletcher]

From day one, Angus, now known as Fletcher, had taken a liking to Elder Tale. It could have been for many reasons, but the most liberating was how realistic everything was. He was sceptical about how things would play out when there were early developments of virtual reality through devices invented at the beginning of the decade, but to actually live the game was something else. It hit fairly quickly that it wasn’t some form of advanced immersion tactic though; he was actually here.

His body felt different, more like his younger self both in height and vigour; the degradation on his body seemed to not exist here, leaving him to wonder whether or not he was still technically ill in this place. Other people were freaking out about their predicament, but the time for panic would be after he was established and self-sustaining. There were a few options for this, but given he didn’t particularly want to be fighting for monsters to hunt alongside the other people doing the same, he turned to his subclass choice instead. Thankfully, Alchemists have a fundamental and basic recipe that requires very little and produces something that could be sold for a profit.

The only thing that it seemed to require is the use of a magical skill to collect the residual mana or something of the sort into an item. Fletcher opened his menu and selected one of the few spells he had available to him as a new character. As he selected his skill, a magic circle opened up under his feet glowing a turquoise blue for a couple of seconds before out of the ether popped an instance of a being looking somewhat between a fox and a rabbit. It looked up at him, particles of what Fletcher would assume as mana hanging in the air and slowly dissipating around Carbuncle. With a soft chitter Carbuncle wandered the two steps closer to Fletcher it needed to, to rub up against his leg in affection.

Fletcher, while flattered found that this wasn’t exactly helpful for obtaining whatever a Mana Fragment was. Carbuncle seemed to pick up on this and assist, glowing softly as what little mana remained in the air condensed into a crystalline shard before picking it up in its mouth and storing it for Fletcher. The dwarf checked his inventory and found that there was indeed one Mana Fragment in his inventory. He looked down at Carbuncle who chirruped in response. ”We are going to need more of these if we’re going to afford a place to stay and something to eat.” Again, another chirrup from Carbuncle before Fletcher started to experiment.

It turned out anything would work. Either of his other healing spells also triggered this phenomenon, with Carbuncle collecting the fragments as they coalesced and palming them into Fletcher’s inventory in some fashion. The pair continued, farming up Mana Fragments until they had a bunch in excess to sell. It was the little things that made this better; he’d chosen to start this little experiment in a park near the centre of town, giving him a nice place to relax when he ran out of MP to continue. It came as a surprise when Carbuncle disappeared on him the first time, especially when he didn’t make the correlation between Carbuncle’s disappearance and his lack of MP. With a few moments rest though, he was back at it with his blue furred friend.
The pair ended their exercise at dusk. As it turned out, crafting this one thing over and over again seemed to be only work minute amounts of experience, but it was something extra gained for an afternoon’s work. It wasn’t going to be something he could do continuously until his level reached its upper limit though, otherwise he’d be doing the same motions for literal years when he could be doing other things. For now though it seemed to be enough to make a bare living by if all that was required was a place to sleep and food to eat. Calling it a day, Fletcher figured that he’d get his mind around what had happened in the morning. Selling off all bar one Fragment, symbolically the first one he created, he had enough to spend the night and the inn and get something to eat for dinner.

Tomorrow was going to be another day of experimenting with what he can do as an Alchemist, that’s for sure.

Word Count: 743
Total Word Count: 743
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

The day following his initial experimentation, the realisation of his predicament hit him hard. He was in this world, by his lonesome, and even though the issues of the real world lay behind him in the form of not having a body deteriorating around his mind. With a sigh, he called out Carbuncle again, tapping the icon in his menu to call forth the blue animal. With a quiet cry, Carbuncle landed from the ether with a soft landing on the ground before him, looking up expectantly at his summoner. The Mana Fragments from yesterday were a good start, and were a good way to kick-start the levelling business, but it wasn’t going to be enough in the long term if he wished for a suitable distraction from his new life, or to get further. If there was something he could make that was worth just a little more money, he wouldn’t have to invest so much time making ends meet.

There was another recipe that he wanted to try out, available for a newbie like himself that went a step further than the Mana Fragments that he had performed the day before. It looked a little trickier however, but that’s why Carbuncle was here. Mana Fragments proved to be highly unstable as he had discovered when he’d tried to touch one when Carbuncle got distracted by a butterfly; touching them caused them to just evaporate back into their uncondensed state. That is why while at the Inn the night before, he’d shopped around at the wares some of the NPCs were selling and obtained a glass container they could put things into. Carbuncle was in charge of the container, being the one between them to not dissipate the mana upon contact, where it was Fletcher’s job to surge the mana in a way they could condense it.

Fletcher put the glass container between them before flicking through his menu to see what he could use. They’d used Heal and Phantasmal Heal yesterday to the same effect, the same with Elemental Bolt. While all three could be used to create Mana Fragments, he needed more in order to create something brimming with more energy. It stood to reason that if they increased the output of mana from spells, that they’d be able to condense more of it in the same amount of time and make the thing that this recipe described. In quick succession he selected Elemental Bolt, directed at the box followed by Carbuncle to use Phantasmal Heal, also on the box. As soon as the magic was let loose, Fletcher went to try and condense the mana as best he could after his practise yesterday. Carbuncle followed suit, the ruby on his forehead glowing softly as the mana gathered within the glass box sitting on the grass.

Nudging the lid of the box closed with its snout, Carbuncle contained the residual mana, trapping it from escaping into the air. With nowhere to go, the mana condensed around the outside of the container and existed as a fluctuating mass of raw energy. Carbuncle clambered on top of the box to hold the lid shut while Fletcher fastened it tightly until it was time to use it again.

Word Count: 538
Total Word Count: 1281
Gold Spent: 5
Items Claiming: Unstable Mana Core (Level 1) x1, Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

The last experiment was a success, yielding one new Unstable Mana Core for Fletcher to experiment with. Granted, the issue of only a limited selection of recipes to choose from for his level made it hard to pick something interesting to try next. While picking something interesting was hard, picking the next logical step was fairly straightforward. What he had in his possession was an Unstable Mana Core, and a single Mana Fragment; the next recipe on his list as a stabilized one of the latter. He didn’t need Carbuncle’s direct help with this, although he summoned the blue creature to bear witness to his deed and to provide moral support.

Something about having Carbuncle nearby made messing with the forces that existed simpler, or perhaps it was just having the company made it seem less of a chore. Regardless, Fletcher pulled out the Unstable Mana Core and set it on the ground; flickering and shimmering mana pulsing on the inside of its glass container. Fletcher steeled his mind for the task ahead; simply, he had to focus on forcing that volume of mana into a stable configuration so it wouldn’t disappear when he tried to touch it. He closed his eyes, hands hovering over the surface of the glass cube. He had another trick up his sleeve from one of his other classes; the Sigilmaker.

Carbuncle looked on curiously as Fletcher etched the Sigil of Aquarius into the glass box. Fletcher theorised that if he were to bolster the latent mana with a boost to Vitality that it might have more resistance against the outside world and not break upon contact. The mana within the box pulsed in response, reverberating and shining as the sigil took its effect on the container. The lid of the container popped open, and sitting inside was a crystalline lump that seemed to radiate a soft glow. Fletcher reached out to touch it and found that he could. Unlike the Mana Fragments, he was able to touch this one although did so gingerly as to make sure it didn’t decide to suddenly rupture leaving him with nothing.

Word Count: 371
Total Word Count: 1652
Gold Spent: 5
Items Used: Unstable Mana Core (Level 1) x1
Items Claiming: Stabilised Mana Fragment x1, Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

As the day went on, Fletcher looked around for other things that he could experiment with. He was missing the fresh and clean feeling of brushing his teeth but alas it seemed toothpaste wasn’t a common commodity amongst the People of the Land. There was an old primitive way to clean one’s teeth which at least would be a start for his long term goal. It tasted awful and was more something he remembered from his high school chemistry classes more than anything else; but in order to make it all it required as a piece of wood and some fire.

Charcoal. As basic as it was, it was there as one of his Alchemy recipes, although it seemed to be flagged to be compatible with some of the other crafting classes as well. While it would have been by far easier to just seek out and buy a piece to play around with, making it was not only more satisfying as an exercise, but the small bump in experience didn’t hurt either. The first task would be to seek out a decent piece of wood rather than any of the random twigs lying about in the park. Thankfully, he’d remembered a woodworker stall in the main street the last time he was out and about with Carbuncle looking for food.

Having acquired a decent piece cheaply, he went back to the inn to speak with the innkeeper about borrowing their fireplace. The deal was cut that he would be allowed to use it to his enjoyment after the fire for the night had been sorted. The evening wore on with Fletcher tending to the fire and adding his piece of wood to the fireplace, maintaining the temperature as best he could so he wouldn’t end up with just ash in the end. Patrons to the inn came and went for food, merriment, drinks and to retire all the while Fletcher kept the wood in the fireplace well stocked and the place warm.

When the night came to a close, Fletcher let the fire die down and awaited for the embers to clear before claiming his prize. Granted, it was small, and wasn’t exactly made of his piece of wood, but he had managed to at least in some form get some charcoal.

Word Count: 383
Total Word Count: 2035
Gold Spent: 5
Items Claiming: Charcoal (Level 1) x1, Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

In an effort to further improve his crafting ability within the alchemical arts, Fletcher decided to start pursuing recipes that made components specifically for making other items. Things such as the Unstable Mana Core, or the Mana Fragments within themselves served the same purpose. However, even with an abundance of mana sources to draw from, he had little to use them with for his current level. There would be times when his level far exceeded his current one where he would be using some of the things he could make now, but until then he was stuck making the basics so he may as well get good at doing them properly.

The description on the item he wanted to try next was an improved method of conducting mana between various sources. Similar to electricity and copper wire, mana apparently followed the same principles and thus having better conduction meant overall better efficiency. The problem though was that his major was biology and not physics; he knew bare basics but not enough to recreate how this should work. Perhaps he could temper it the same was metal does? After all, it was just wire that was reinforced to take mana better so at the very least he could start there.

A quick trip down to the market later, he’d acquired a spool of cheap wire and unwound it enough so he had a decent length. He did that again until he had three strands of the same length and called upon Carbuncle to help with the next bit. The blue fox sat down at the opposite end of the wire that Fletcher had laid out on the grass. On command, Carbuncle gathered the wire into its mouth and held them tight and still for Fletcher to do the next part. In essence, While Fletcher was braiding the wire together he’d pulse his Heal skill intermittently with Phantasmal Heal to get the Mana flowing through his hands into Carbuncle and then back again with Phantasmal Heal, travelling along the length of the wire. As Fletcher finished off the last part of the braid, the cost of keeping Carbuncle out was too much and his companion faded away into the ether. What was left of the exercise was a length of wire, thrice the thickness of its original and emitting a soft glow as it hummed with latent mana coursing along its surface.

With the spool empty from dividing the original into pieces, Fletcher wound the new wire around it for ease of storage before tucking it away into his inventory. If the wire worked, then the next step would be to find what kind of circuitry used such a power source and wire in its construction. He’d heard of Magitech but the whole concept seemed a little beyond him for his current experience with the craft, but he figured it’d come with time.

Word Count: 481
Total Word Count: 2516
Gold Spent: 5
Items Claiming: Reinforced Wire (Level 1) x1, Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

BEGIN SESSION 2

With the increase in levels across the board, Fletcher was feeling comfortable trying something experimental when it came to his Alchemy. When he hit level five, a new recipe became available for him to try, simply named “Magic Accessory”. As far as he could gather, it was designed to fill the void of anything intended to bolster ones magical ability. The possibilities it seemed were endless, leaving only the imagination as the barrier to what one could make. At heart, Fletcher was a Summoner and while he was still learning, anything to aid in the development of his skill was a worthwhile venture. The first thing that came to mind was making something to boost his capacity to summon, although he didn’t really know how to do that or what that entailed.

Since moving more into the heavier crafts, he’d taken to doing the crafting in his room at the inn instead of in the park like he started out. He needed the space and the privacy to concentrate uninterrupted; and the location gave way to convenient snack and break times. He lay out what he’d collected thus far on the small desk that came with his room and thought about ways to combine them together. The other necessary part of this synthesis would be to call out Carbuncle for a small amount of experimentation, but mostly for a second opinion on his processes. There’s also the requirement to see if whatever he made was having any positive effect on Carbuncle.

Fletcher snapped his fingers, calling forth Carbuncle into the room. Who made itself comfortable on the bed, curling up while the Summoner went to work. He’d discovered that now that he was no longer level one, keeping Carbuncle out while in town cost him no MP to upkeep. It was useful if only because it was one less thing he had to micromanage whilst crafting. The company was also nice. The blue fox chittered to itself as Fletcher looked over the parts he’d collected prior to setting up for some experimenting; it took a little bit of bargaining and a little bit of searching to find everything but in the end he’d assembled an assortment of bits.

The jeweller down the road was able to part with a low quality ruby for cheap due to the faults in its lustre and a hairline crack starting to form in the underside. The metalworker whose forge was overlooking the market square was willing to cut him a deal on a scrap bit of metal that was left over from another project so long as it was banged into shape for what he needed. On top of that, he’d acquired other bits from the general stores around town including an Old Diode, and some adornments to make this thing look less like a mess and more fashionable as an accessory. Granted, what that meant was probably very different to what actual fashion was, but at least the circuitry would be covered up.

Word Count: 500
Total Word Count: 500
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1


CURRENTLY MAKING: [33% Done]

Carbuncle Booster (Item Level 20)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Summon Follower – Carbuncle +5
Description: A crudely made bracelet with an inlaid ruby of low quality. It has been hooked up with Magitech to harmonise with the latent mana signature of Carbuncle, boosting the power of the summoned Follower.

[Fletcher]

So Fletcher began working, taking out the reinforced wire from his pocket and wrapping it around the ruby that he’d set aside on the desk. He left a long tail on the wire and brought it over to the bed where Carbuncle was waiting. Holding out the wire, Carbuncle took it in its mouth and began to glow, sending mana up through the wire as a conduit to empower the ruby. As mana coursed through the wire and into the gemstone it started to emit a soft glow, catching Carbuncle’s attention. The reason Fletcher had chosen a ruby as the focus for this accessory was because simply put, Carbuncle had one embedded in its head. What better anchor to reality could there have possibly been? Of course, this was merely theory but if it worked it stood to reason that a better quality ruby and some finer produced Magitech components, the resonance between the device and Carbuncle would create a further boost.

Carbuncle spat the wire out, leaving the ruby dimly glowing in Fletcher’s hands. The Summoner looked to the fox on the bed, who returned a curious look. Sitting down at the desk, Fletcher took the ruby in one hand and the metal band in the other, coiling one around the other. He dismissed Carbuncle in order to see whether or not the current iteration of the device would have any effect. Calling Carbuncle back, without missing a beat, the fox resumed chilling out on the bed with no apparent change to the Follower’s strength. ”Hrm…” Fletcher scratched his beard, peering at the device and wondering what edits he could try next. He had an assortment of things he could tack on but it’d take a bit of fiddling in order to get the correct reaction for what he was trying to do.

Word Count: 304
Total Word Count: 804
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [67% Done]

Carbuncle Booster (Item Level 20)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Summon Follower – Carbuncle +5
Description: A crudely made bracelet with an inlaid ruby of low quality. It has been hooked up with Magitech to harmonise with the latent mana signature of Carbuncle, boosting the power of the summoned Follower.

[Fletcher]

Back to the drawing board, Fletcher tried attaching the device directly to Carbuncle to see if that was what the device was going to respond better to, but upon dismissing Carbuncle the device just fell onto the bed where Carbuncle was sitting. Turned out that devices such as this couldn’t be equipped to Carbuncle; although there were many possibilities as to why that could be. He went back to the desk, and sifted through his components. He was already getting ideas on how to improve the device, or ideas for other devices in general, but as for fixing this problem he wasn’t sure what was missing. He could attach his Old Diode and see what effect that did, but again he was new to rigging up electronics. Figuring it wouldn’t hurt, he uncoiled the wire and rigged up the Old Diode to it similar to the elementary school project with a battery and a light globe.

He wasn’t exactly sure what diodes did, bit with a proper circuit running the ruby almost hummed with mana coursing through it. Carbuncle’s eared perked, looking over from the bed with vested interest as to what was going on. ”Alright, Carbuncle…” Fletcher turned to the fox on the bed, standing from his chair and slipping the band over his wrist. ”Let’s have a look and see if this works.” With a snap of his fingers, Carbuncle was dismissed, leaving just the Summoner in the room to collect his thoughts. He looked down upon his invention and breathed deep, hoping for it to work. Magic didn’t sit within the conventional logic of the real world, and now that he was an Alchemist he assumed that these things would just work if a small amount of ingenuity and some luck were applied to anything he were to make.

Outstretching his hand, he called forth Carbuncle, opening the circle for the fox to appear. As Carbuncle leapt out of the circle, Fletcher noticed that the Follower radiated a stronger light than it usually did. Its coat was shinier and fuller, and overall just seemed more healthy and stronger than mere moments ago. It stood to reason that with more anchors made in the same way, the effects of boosting Carbuncle’s power could be additive leading to more powerful Followers for one’s level as a Summoner. It was intriguing and possibly a great breakthrough to offset the weaknesses presented with relying on a companion. With enough of these, he could summon Followers with levels much higher than his own, although further testing would be needed.

While he was yet to make any pacts with other Followers, it was reasonable to assume that if he could find an appropriate anchor he could make revisions for the other Followers to join him. Depending on how high a level this Follower required him to be though, the materials to make their Booster might be harder to get. It would have to wait until he made another pact though to test his theory out.

Word Count: 502
Total Word Count: 1306
Gold Spent: 200
Items Used: Mana Fragment x2
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1, Carbuncle Booster (Item Level 20) x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [100% Done]

Carbuncle Booster (Item Level 20)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Summon Follower – Carbuncle +5
Description: A crudely made bracelet with an inlaid ruby of low quality. It has been hooked up with Magitech to harmonise with the latent mana signature of Carbuncle, boosting the power of the summoned Follower.

[Fletcher]

Making the Carbuncle Booster, Fletcher realised that if he were to properly get into constructing Magitech inventions he was going to need to be more precise with his technique. Having built a career around working with teeth, getting into small nooks and crannies was his forte; unfortunately, working with machinery was a little more difficult. Granted, he didn’t need to worry about asking if the thing he was working on had flossed or not, so that much made the whole awkwardness of knowing the answer to that question was more than likely going to be no completely disappear. Now the one problem he seemed to be facing was with circuitry everything was very small in scale, and even though his eyes were good, they weren’t at the level they needed to be for intricate work; at least not without assistance.

When he went to the jeweller to pick up the ruby for the Carbuncle Booster, he noticed that the jeweller had a device similar to a monocle crossed with a spyglass in order to appraise the value of gems and crystals bought to his store. When explaining the faults in the ruby that Fletcher bought, the Dwarf looked at the ruby and could barely see half of what the jeweller said was apparent. The idea was the replicate that looking glass but it also needed to be able to see the way mana was flowing through the circuitry. This was probably more important when you were constructing machines of war or were running a lot more active mana through the device to stop it from exploding on whomever was using or wearing it.

With a sigh, Fletcher sat down on the floor and laid out the materials he’d gathered for this particular venture. He’d bought an old spyglass with the lenses broken as the base for his contraption. It helped you see, but not see well enough for what he needed it for. He’d also picked up some more wires and some other electrical bits that he was planning on passing over to Carbuncle to ready for mana transference the same way they did the Reinforced Wire. Hopefully, along with the bits here combined with what he had stored in his inventory already, he could recreate what the jeweller had.

Word Count: 380
Total Word Count: 1686
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [33% Done]

Alchemist’s Goggles (Item Level 20)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Alchemy Item Level +2
Description: A specially designed Magitech eyeglass used for fine-tuning Magitech and other electronics. It is made by condensing Mana Fragments down into a glass-like substance and then framed for ease of wear to keep hands free to work.

[Fletcher]

Making sure Carbuncle was summoned and then ready to assist in handling the Mana Fragments, Fletcher got to work. Getting rid of the old lenses from the spyglass casing, he passed them over to Carbuncle who laid them out on the bed. In turn, each one was empowered with some mana and then a Mana Fragment was overlayed onto it, reinforcing the glass. The idea from here was to attune the glass with magic so it as a whole could be effected my magic; magic in this case being able to view it running through the things that were made with Alchemy. As each was completed, Carbuncle handed them back to Fletcher.

While the individual lenses were being treated, Fletcher rigged up the hollow cylinder with wires connecting the slots where the lenses sat to create a circuit. His theory was that while the mana was circulating up and down the spyglass, it would magically magnify what you saw through the lenses. It helped that the glass was treated to magnify what you saw already, but what they needed to isolate was the ability to see mana. The first lens went on and then before applying the second, Fletcher channelled some of his mana into the chamber between the two lenses. The first chamber of the spyglass was completed, effectively a container of mana with a circuit rigged up around it.

Fletcher then grabbed the next segment of the spyglass and proceeded to do the same thing he did with the first. Carbuncle arranged more lenses, Fletcher rigged up the circuit, and it was all rigged up to be functionally the same as the other. It didn’t take long once the first one was completed as it was merely copying the process to make more. There was only one thing they needed to do before the new invention was done, but that could wait until later.

Word Count: 316
Total Word Count: 2002
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [67% Done]

Alchemist’s Goggles (Item Level 20)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Alchemy Item Level +2
Description: A specially designed Magitech eyeglass used for fine-tuning Magitech and other electronics. It is made by condensing Mana Fragments down into a glass-like substance and then framed for ease of wear to keep hands free to work.

[Fletcher]

The only part left of this new invention of his was to make it usable. For this, two things needed to be accomplished before he could call the project done. The first thing was to mount it to his face somehow so that when worn, he could still use his hands. It would be too much of a bother to have to hold onto these when needing to make either time sensitive adjustments or needed to hold something in place. He’d come prepared, although he’d have to work with what he had to get it functionally sound.

He wasn’t an optometrist, although he did have to wear glasses as a child. This didn’t give him the qualifications nor knowledge on how to make glasses for other people, but he could at least make something akin to a magnifying glass. At least this is what he kept telling himself as he coiled wire around the two cylinders, making them look something like spectacles so they would fit over his nose. It wasn’t going to be pretty, but it didn’t have to be for the first revision of this recipe; when he got more practise under his belt he’d make this proper and with better materials, but for now this would do. Carbuncle watched as Fletcher took the makeshift binoculars and tried them by holding them up to his eyes before quickly pulling them away, wide-eyed. The Summoner blinked before shaking his head. ”They work, that’s for sure.”

Fletcher took a belt that he’d picked up and tightened it so it fit comfortably around his head before taking it off to fix the spyglasses to it. It wasn’t pretty, but it didn’t need to be; it was a prototype. He’d kept the magnification swivel on the end of the spyglass attached to allow the mana on the inside of the chamber to change in density. After playing with the dial he tried the makeshift goggles again and it seemed to be working. He couldn’t properly test it due to his level but it seemed to be a promising thing to try out when he got there.

Word Count: 354
Total Word Count: 2356
Gold Spent: 200
Items Used: Mana Fragment x2
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1, Alchemist’s Goggles (Item Level 20) x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [100% Done]

Alchemist’s Goggles (Item Level 20)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Alchemy Item Level +2
Description: A specially designed Magitech eyeglass used for fine-tuning Magitech and other electronics. It is made by condensing Mana Fragments down into a glass-like substance and then framed for ease of wear to keep hands free to work.

NOTE: I just realised that I can't actually make these or the Carbuncle Booster listed before his due to level. My intention is before I claim the items for these; to get to Alchemist 20 to make it easier. I hope this is okay, but I had overlooked the level requirement and assumed I could make any level Magic Accessory as the recipe only specified Alchemist Level 5 to craft.

[Fletcher]

Fletcher looked at the Carbuncle Booster he had made, sitting on the desk of the room he was staying in. He liked making jewellery he found, although not so much to change classes to Artisan. The main draw he found was that something unassuming could hold limitless power given a bit of ingenuity and a little thinking outside the box. People wore baubles and trinkets just because it looked good, but imagine if those things that made you look fancy functionally aided you as well! Fletcher’s mind raced with possibilities and things to try. He was thinking of things that could possibly target a large audience; meaning he could possibly make a quick buck or two to fuel more of his experiments.

He needed a walk to get some inspiration; not only that but he needed to hit the market anyway to get some materials to play around with. While he had an abundance of Mana Fragments, they alone were not enough to make anything close to what he was considering. The marketplace was bustling with people, most of which buying groceries and random bits for easier living, but Fletcher’s usual haunts were akin to a trash and treasure market where spools of wire, diodes, and cathode tubes were all in plentiful supply. Around this place there were some jewellers that he’d spoken to before when needing to procure some harder to find parts and that’s where he was planning on starting.

He went back to his room after cutting some deals and striking some bargains and had an assortment of bits to craft into what could be perceived as jewellery. For a feature stone he went with quartz as it was inexpensive and clear so colouring it was easier. He’d picked up some beads, more wire, and a few craps of metal that were bent into shapes for bracelets. The metalworker who had sold him these was the same one that had sold him the bigger piece for the Carbuncle Booster. With everything collected, he went about sorting things out into groups to size up what kinds of accessories he could make before deciding on effects.

Word Count: 357
Total Word Count: 2713
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1,

CURRENTLY MAKING: [33% Done]

Lifeward Ring (Item Level 4)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Heal MP Cost -2%
Description: An old ring imbued with latent healing magic. Designed to assist in battles of attrition where a lot of healing may be required. It is functional over fancy, but with higher quality materials, more energy can be placed in the ring in addition to it looking more exquisite.

[Fletcher]

It became apparent quickly that the items that he was able to make from what he collected could be anything small such as a ring, pendant or possibly something like an anklet. Taking a piece of quartz crystal in hand he rolled it in his fingers, inspecting its surface. There were a few cracks, and a few black specs running through the body of the gem, but that was to be expected of low quality geodes. Not that it mattered, this was an experiment in the best sense; theory and idea being the driving force towards making something worthwhile. The road to success and innovation was paved with many stones of failure, and if he wanted to make anything of this venture he was going to need to spend money on trialling things out.

An idea struck as he nicked his finger on a rough spot of the gemstone. Healing was always needed in parties and sometimes those last few seconds were vital to survival. Fletcher called out Carbuncle to assist and looked to the fox as it took the spot on the bed reserved especially for the Follower. ”Alright Carbuncle, here’s the plan. We’re going to pulse the Heal skill into this piece of quartz until it’s effectively holding the essence of the skill. We’re going to charge this so much that whenever you’re holding it does some of the work for you.” Carbuncle tilted its head and seemed confused, leading the Dwarf to continue. ”Keep me topped up with Phantasmal Heal, I’ll do the rest.” Carbuncle seemed to understand and they went to work.

Setting the quartz on the floor, Fletcher started to pulse the Heal skill into the stone. He had to wait for some of the energy to disperse before channelling more. With Carbuncle’s support from Phantasmal Heal and no upkeep for having it out whilst in town, Fletcher’s MP was effectively limitless for this exercise. They went at it for about ten minutes before the gem emitted a soft glow. Fletcher examined the stone closer and found that it had retained some of the properties of the skill but the flaws in the gem meant a lot of the energy had seeped out during their refinement process. Of course, this was a case of higher quality materials yielding better results yet again.

Word Count: 387
Total Word Count: 3100
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1
CURRENTLY MAKING: [67% Done]

Lifeward Ring (Item Level 4)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Heal MP Cost -2%
Description: An old ring imbued with latent healing magic. Designed to assist in battles of attrition where a lot of healing may be required. It is functional over fancy, but with higher quality materials, more energy can be placed in the ring in addition to it looking more exquisite.

[Fletcher]

Unlike his past experiments with magical trinkets, Fletcher was able to immediately equip and use it when it was done. What he did need however was a way to mount this quartz before it was actually wearable. While he placed the gem in Carbuncle’s care, he went to work on the mount. It wasn’t Magitech so using Reinforced Wire wasn’t needed in this case. There were a bunch of things he could use instead for the time being; as was the case with many of his crafts, quality of materials was indicative of how potent a high quality version could be.

What he ended up settling on was a band of copper that he’d gotten as scrap in amongst all the other odds and ends that he’d gotten at the market. Fletcher sized up the band and started bending it into shape around one of his fingers; rolling the edges carefully so it wouldn’t cut into the finger of whomever wore it. He’d picked up some copper wire and tried to make a mount for the quartz but couldn’t get very far. Carbuncle brought the quartz over when he saw that his Summoner was having some trouble; they had found that preparing the gem first for mounting rather than making the mount first seemed more effective.

”Thanks, Carbuncle. Now, let’s see…” Fletcher wrapped another piece of copper wire around the quartz and then attached the two wire-bound pieces to create a not necessarily pretty, but wearable ring. To make sure it worked, he cast Heal to get a gauge as to how much MP it cost him to cast, and then put on the ring to see if the cost was any different. Lo-and-behold it was! While it was only a very small difference, it was a difference all the same. He could give these to a couple people he’d partied with before, if only to assist in what they did best. It’d need some tweaking to make sure it wasn’t just a dodgy product, but that could wait for another time.

Word Count: 342
Total Word Count: 3442
Items Used: 2 Mana Fragments
Gold Spent: 40
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1, Lifeward Ring (Item Level 4) x1
CURRENTLY MAKING: [100% Done]

Lifeward Ring (Item Level 4)
Magic Accessory
Effect: Heal MP Cost -2%
Description: An old ring imbued with latent healing magic. Designed to assist in battles of attrition where a lot of healing may be required. It is functional over fancy, but with higher quality materials, more energy can be placed in the ring in addition to it looking more exquisite.

[Fletcher]

It was no secret that the masters of the forge were Blacksmiths. In extension from this, masters of working were wood were Woodworkers. For food, there were the culinary geniuses of those who called themselves a Chef. Tailors were the masters of the cloth with their needles being their tool of the trade. All of these were fairly standard across all walks of life, both on Earth and in the realm of Elder Tale. As the different trades boiled down to what people excelled at, Fletcher found himself at a loss to what exactly it was that Alchemists were made for. In most fantasy settings, Alchemists were either brewmasters or experts of medicine, but here it seemed to be closer to a mechanic that worked with magically run devices.

The thing that amazed him was that his class of Summoner allowed him to use these devices for some reason. It wasn’t as conventional as using a sword or even a staff, and compared to the other weapons he had access to it just seemed to be the odd one out. He’d taken a liking to using a whip and had a Grimoire as a backup weapon if he so needed something more intangible as an attacking source, but the longingness to use something that looked like it belonged to a science-fiction movie had grown over his time here. The first and most logical step for Fletcher to make was to look into making his whip something more magical. Visions of having a whip made out of plasma energy or just glow neon blue light was quite vivid. By extension, all the Japanese fanboys would want glowing magical katanas amongst other people’s needs.

As he thought more on this though, it occurred to him that weapons for him were kind of useless. Well maybe not useless as they did support the damage dealt by the Followers he brought out in battle, but they weren’t the stars of the show. While a Samurai may want a new sword, what was really needed in this world was more protection. While science fiction brought in things like laser swords and neon lights, the other thing it brought were barriers. Shamans of the game could whip them up all the time with their spells, but what if you didn’t know one? What if your Shaman was dead? What if you were caught by surprise? Thing like that were too much of a danger for those with little in the ways of HP but plenty of MP to spare; even those that barely touched their MP could make use of something that ran off of it for survivability. He was aware that something like this already existed in the form of a Mana Liner Shield; it was a recipe available by level ten so reinventing the wheel wasn’t exactly helpful.

He could however improve on it for his own needs. There were times when fighting elemental monsters, or enemies specialising in casting elemental spells that such defences were lacking. Fletcher called out Carbuncle and the pair stood in the room that they had rented to use in the inn. ”Alright, this may seem strange Carbuncle, but I’m going to need you to blast me with any Light Element magic you have.” Understandably so, the blue fox tilted its head in confusion and seemed to have objections about just attacking its Summoner. Fletcher gave Carbuncle the look he always did when he was serious about something, only warranting absolute disapproval from Carbuncle. Sighing, Fletcher stated calmly and simply. ”I’m going to need you to do this so I can have a baseline for my damage resistances. I need you to do this for me, Carbuncle.” Fletcher fixed his beard and looked at the fox seriously; he meant business. ”Don’t. Hold. Back.”

Word Count: 634
Total Word Count: 4076
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

Carbuncle was still unsold as to what his master wanted him to. Fletcher had braced himself, steeling himself for getting shot by a magical beam of energy with no protection bar his starting armour. This was absolutely necessary for knowing how much damage he was taking without any form of elemental mitigation. The thing he wanted to make had to target elemental damage, so it would’ve been better if he had more sources of dealing pure elemental damage but he just had to work with what he was given. Carbuncle hunkered down and its gem glowed a fierce red, building up power before blasting Fletcher square in the chest, knocking him across the room and into the opposite wall. The blue fox panicked and rushed over to the dwarf’s side, placing its head on Fletcher’s chest and using Phantasmal Heal to being the Summoner into more reasonable levels of health. He didn’t die, which was good, but the impact of having nothing but base level gear took its toll.

Fletcher got up and topped himself up with Heal before making a mental note as to how badly he was injured before Carbuncle intervened. With the first bit of data sorted, it was time to hit up the market for some materials. The first place to look was going to be any stores focusing in Magitech to see what the current competition and market-ready devices were like. If it turned out that what he had in mind already existed in some other more convenient form, why bother? Didn’t hurt to be sure, in fact it may give some insight into what he’d need to improve on before he made a successful breakthrough. Setting out with Carbuncle over his shoulder, Fletcher left the inn and headed out to the marketplace.

In terms of Magitech, very few places had active devices ready for sale aside from a few things that were already made to be used as materials. There were a few other things created by other adventurers and had become common knowledge but nothing exactly what he had in mind to create. There were a few armour stores that stocked a piece or two, but very few places were considered one-stop-shops for Magitech. The closest thing that Fletcher could find that was similar to what he was making was something referred to as a Mana Liner Shield. It seemed to be equivalent to an emergency defence mitigation device; but was only meant for short term uses. Unfortunately, this venture of his would have to wait given his inability to try out this Mana Liner Shield for himself. He grumbled and felt foolish for making Carbuncle attack him without doing his research first.

He’d have to come back to this venture. And before even doing that he’d have to consult with a Tailor and a Blacksmith as well to make sure that what they could naturally do didn’t already cover that part of the market. He didn’t know what he was looking for when it came to clothing and armour, that was better suited for people that worked in that field. It wasn’t a complete loss though; he knew what was out there on the market and with that, what the gaps were. It appeared as though no one had managed to crack the secret to creating any laser weaponry yet, so he could always be the first into the market on that grounds once he had a few more levels under his belt.

Fletcher headed back to the inn and reassessed his options, digging around through the junk that he'd gathered to use as materials. There were options here, but he'd need to do a bit more levelling before he could accomplish any of his long term goals. A new weapon, an airship, some Magitech armour, but also some devices to help out the Followers that he called into battle. He could do all of these things given the time and levels and for the most part that's what kept him going. Carbuncle took its place on Fletcher's bed and watched as the dwarf went about resorting all of his junk into piles, wondering what he'd be making next.

Word Count: 697
Total Word Count: 4773
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

As it turned out, Fletcher had nothing to do today. When days like this rolled around, he found himself defaulting to performing Alchemical experiments or just filling in the rest of the recipe list that he had yet to try out. The next thing on his list was something that a person he’d run into before had crafted before him, known as a Firearm Mana Fragment. In essence, it is a volatile Mana Fragment primarily used as an explosive. This creation spurred some of his ideas to pursue in the field of engine combustion as well as maybe getting closer still to figuring out how to make a car, or some other Magitech transportation device.

First things first; Carbuncle would be needed. With a snap of his fingers, Fletcher called forth the blue fox to his side. ”I hope you’re ready for this next crazy experiment; we’re going to be making something a bit more explosive than normal.’ Carbuncle gave its Summoner a concerned look that went ignored as Fletcher rubbed his hands together, readying himself. The way he was going to tackle this one was to condense something down similarly to when making an Unstable Mana Core, but overload it further with Mana to give it the volatile nature it needed to be a functional explosive.

Fletcher closed his eyes and breathed out slowly, fingers twitching as he channelled a Heal spell at himself to call upon the mana needed to condense down into Mana Fragments. The small particles of mana condensed in the air in a way that someone would see drizzle in front of their face before a heavy storm. The dwarf had gotten good at collecting crystallised fragments of this stuff and merely reached out a hand, running his fingers over the curtain of residual mana before sweeping enough of it aside and to the floor. Carbuncle dove from its perch on the bed and into the path of the falling mana, the energy crystallising against the blue fox’s fur.

Word Count: 334
Total Word Count: 5107
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [33% DONE]
Firearm Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

Carbuncle looked up at its master, a little annoyed and again concerned as to its current predicament. Fletcher only smiled calmly and warmly down at the small fox before proceeding down into step two. With the start of this explosive made, now the next step was to make it volatile, and the way to do that would be to pour even more mana into it. Channelling another Heal Spell as well as triggering Phantasmal Heal, the current project started receiving mana from two sources. In a way, it was how Fletcher imagined a conductor would instruct a full orchestra to play each of their parts, but it was as finicky as performing some of the more demanding dental procedures he’d had performed throughout his career.

The mana condensing on Carbuncle’s back pulsed with energy, nearing critical levels. A Stablised Mana Fragment had a sheen to it that stopped it from just melting in the user’s hand, and something similar would need to be introduced to this one in order to stop the thing exploding in his hand and over his Follower. While yes, if Carbuncle were to suffer a death from such a thing, or even damage, it was fixable, but he wasn’t so heartless to be careless about injuring his partner in such a way. Carbuncle whined, notably stressed about the potential explosive on its back as the thing grew in size and the pulsing started to speed up.

”It’s alright, Carbuncle, we’ve done something like this before, we’re just going to push the envelope a little bit.” Carbuncle whined some more but softer, feeling a little bit but not entirely comforted by Fletcher’s confidence. Fletcher knew what was going to happen next, although he still had to steel himself give the next bit was dangerous. Granted, if all was successful, he’d be able to proceed further down the past of an Alchemist.

Word Count: 314
Total Word Count: 5421
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [67% DONE]
Firearm Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

With another whine from Carbuncle, Fletcher moved onto the third step. It was times like these that he wished that he had a pair of Alchemist Gloves to just handle these things without needing to rely on Carbuncle all the time. While the extra assistance was nice, there were situations such as this where handling raw explosives just couldn’t be done safely unless he had either the gloves or a being made of mana, which Carbuncle filled the latter quite nicely.

The bulb of mana that the pair of them had created bulged dangerously showing that it was at a point that it could explode. The next step was to make it safe, or at least safer than it was now to handle. Fletcher continued casting his magic, letting the mana just flow freely into the room in preparation for what was to come. The idea here was to envelop what they had made in a much more solid, denser, and shell-like cacoon. He’d seen Frost do it, so it should’ve have been too hard especially with it being only a level one Alchemy recipe. The dwarf had to spin his own flair on the finished product though, and aimed for the finished product to be as round as possible. Using his hands to mould the mana in the air down over the bulging bulb, the energy put out from the pair started to wrap itself around the collection of magic.

It flashed as the excess energy became contained, the outer shell hardening up into a strong outer shell. Fletcher picked up the orb and felt it vibrate in his hand, wisps of mana coiling and spirally on the inside of the sphere ominously. He looked down at Carbuncle with a nervous smile. ”Okay, we’re done now. It’s over, you can head back to the bed.” Carbuncle gave one last whine before laying still on the floor, long ears falling by its sides as it focused on becoming less stressed. He couldn’t blame the poor fox, having an explosive made on your back wasn’t the most reassuring of things, but he was thankful that Carbuncle didn’t just out rightly disagree to help from the get go.

Word Count: 366
Total Word Count: 5787
Items Used: Stabilized Mana Fragment x1, Mana Fragment x2
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1, Firearm Mana Fragment x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [100% DONE]
Firearm Mana Fragment x1

[Fletcher]

There were just some things missing in Fletcher’s life. They weren’t the main things like food and shelter, those were catered to by staying at the tavern and working on odd jobs to get enough of an income to pay off his dues. But in terms of belongings, and things he could use, he had very little. Sure, he had weapons, he had his clothes, and he had Carbuncle, but there was just a lack of useful things in his life that he needed to fix. There were a bunch of things he had collected, but most if not all of it was junk he was hoping to refurbish at some stage or meld together into something that resembled something useful.

The great thing about Alchemy was that it was like being a mechanic but anything you didn’t quite understand how to make work you got to work just by pushing magic into it. It was probably the game’s way of making things interesting without having to delve into the sciences of how magic interacted with such things. He sighed, looking to the Carbuncle already asleep in the moonlight on the bed. He would’ve liked to have continued working but the candle that had been provided to him by the tavern had run dry, the only light source still available to him being the moonlight filtering in through the curtains.

What he would’ve liked to have was a new candle, but perhaps he could come up with an alternative. He recalled that when casting spells there was a small light effect that occurred. Perhaps it was the mana? Either way, if he could isolate that and put it into something usable, then he’d be right as rain. Looking through his junk he found an old oil lamp with the glass missing and parts of it rusted to the point of being inoperable. This would make a good start, although it’d take some work. The dwarf looked to the bed to make sure Carbuncle was still sleeping before starting to pull the lamp apart, sifting through his junk to find replacement parts before scrapping anything.

Word Count: 354
Total Word Count: 6141
Items Claiming: Mana Fragment x1

CURRENTLY MAKING: [33% DONE]
Mana Powered Lamp