D.I.Y spellcraft (Part 1).

I dismissed the summary, nodding thoughtfully. There was some good stuff there, but as I originally suspected, there was nothing that would immediately help me in the here and now. I would think about how to use the new Perks properly later. For now, I needed to focus on my current task. Everything had been hectic back during and after the fight with the wargs, and I had done something new without conscious thought, something that, if I could replicate it, would be extremely useful for me now.

My right hand flows through the gestures required for Minor Heal. My breath catches in anticipation as my hand contorts through the last few gestures, only to be let loose in a relieved sigh as I complete the penultimate movement, then hold on to the magic, refraining from completing the final gesture. Activating Mana Sight, I grin as I watch the stable spell formation float above my hand, ready to be activated at a moment’s notice.

This is a handy trick, one that I can already see many uses for. It would allow us to pre-cast spells and hold on to them for the perfect moment, but right now it would allow me to study the runic make-up of the magic at my leisure. At least, that was the theory. A glance at my Mana bar shows that Mana was draining much quicker than the drain of my Mana Sight could account for. ‘I can hold on to spells, but Mana is lost doing so. Noted.’

I quickly formulate a plan in my head. Rather than jump straight into action, however, I decide to fill my family in on what I had planned. I scramble to my feet, then look around the camp. Mum, Lisa and Em are gathered in a huddle, Lisa messing with something on a folding camp table whilst the other two watch, mildly horrified expressions plastered over their faces.

Curious, I wander closer, and am just in time to hear Em mutter, “Aren’t you worried about infection or something? And anyway, isn’t it wrong to be doing this if we have no intention of eating the thing?” More than a little worried by the remark, I pick up the pace, finally catching sight of what has everyone’s attention.

Lying legs akimbo on a bit of plastic sheeting on the top of the camping table is a very dead screamer beast. Lisa stands above the beast, kitchen knife clasped in a gloved hand. Forever the pragmatist, she replies, “We have plenty of food now, but what about later? The Looting Skill tells us we’ll get more meat and better-quality pelts if we learn how to do things the hard way. Normally I’d agree with you about being wasteful, but we should grab any advantage we can when given the chance.”

Mum speaks up, beating me to it. “I see where you’re coming from, sweetie, but do you have any idea how to skin this thing?” At Lisa’s hesitant look, Mum continues, “I know you’re just trying to look out for the group, but maybe its best to wait until we reach civilisation so we can find someone to teach us.” Lisa sighs, then reluctantly nods.

The girls then turn to me as I add, “Plus, I don’t think everyone has the Looting Skill yet, at least if I counted things right. Has everyone here unlocked it yet?” At their nods, I add, “So Ash still needs it. Where is she, by the way?” The group share an amused look, before looking back at me. I am about to ask what they find so funny when an unexpected tap on my shoulder causes me to practically jump out of my skin. I whirl round, only to come face to face with Ash. She smiles at me, then the smile turns to a grin as she boops me on the nose with her upraised finger. “Surprise!” I glare back at her, a little miffed that she snuck up on me.

“Oh relax, I was just trying to unlock more Skills, just like you told us to do. Speaking of which…” her eyes gloss over for a moment before she raises a fist into the air in victory. “There it is! Sneak! Thanks for being so oblivious, Adam.” Her grin only grows in response to my affronted look. I open my mouth, ready with a witty retort, but before I can get it out, Ash stands on her tiptoes and lands a quick kiss on my cheek before she walks past me, hovering a hand over the beast, which quickly dissolves into light before being absorbed into Ash's inventory. With a wink at Em, and a jaunty wave for the rest of us, she wanders off.

I watch her leave, deeply confused. Chalking it up to Ash shenanigans, I turn back to the group. Mum looks between the retreating form of Ash and me, her face slightly incredulous. Lisa’s eyes are on me, her expression stony, whilst Em’s eyes are locked onto Ash, clearly irritated. Suddenly feeling extremely uncomfortable, I quickly explain my plan. As soon as I’ve finished my explanation, I retreat to the privacy of one of the tents, feeling several sets of eyes on my back.

Just over an hour later, my eyes spring open as thoughts, ideas, and sensations rush into me in a flood. I take a moment to marvel at the sensation before I focus on my flashing notification icon.

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By meditating for an hour, you have activated your Perk, Knowledge Vacuum.

Your Skill and Profession Exp gain has temporarily been increased by 10%

Time remaining: 02:59:47

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‘Perfect, time to experiment!’ I reach into my inventory, drawing out a bag filled with odds and ends. After some digging, I find what I am looking for, a sketch pad and a pencil. ‘I can’t draw for shit, but there’s no better time to learn.’ Over the next couple of hours, I sketch every simple rune from each of our spells. Whenever I run low on Mana (heralded by the beginnings of a throbbing headache), I take advantage of the increased Mana regen of my Meditation Skill.

By the time the sun dips in the horizon, my list is as complete as it’s going to get. The first rune in the sequence (the rune we begin to call the ‘target rune’) is by far the easiest to decipher. This is because in all the spells we had access to, there were only four different alternatives in that slot.

First, there was a rune that appeared to make the spell ranged, as every single ranged spell we have as a group included this rune. This one was by far the most common. Second most common was the rune we called ‘self’. This rune only appeared twice, once for Ash’s Wind-walk spell, and once for Mum’s Aura. In joint last place, only appearing one time each, was the ‘touch’ rune (from my Minor Heal), and the ‘cone’ rune (From Lisa’s Minor Gust).

Beyond those four, things got a little more complicated. If the target rune wasn’t included, each spell we have access to contained three minor runes. From the ten spells we had access to as a group, we had no less than 21 distinct minor runes to choose from. We try our best to translate what we can, but not helping matters was the abstract nature of most of the runes.

After a little practice, I discover that by visualising a certain rune, and channelling Mana to my hand, I could subconsciously form the gestures required to create the visualised rune in a spell formation. Unfortunately for me, the first combination I created at random was not a good one, and I found out first-hand that Mana feedback is indeed a bitch. At least Em felt validated, and I gained a level in Mana Manipulation? I didn’t try the technique again after that, just in case, and after thirty frustrating minutes with no progress made, all of us are pissed off and hungry. We decide that it’d be a good idea to take a break and get something to eat.

Surprisingly enough, it’s Em who volunteers to cook. I shoot her an amused look, remembering how she would fob off cooking duty any chance she got back home. She pokes her tongue out at me before explaining, “I got the cooking skill this morning. It says if I get better, I’ll be able to grant everyone bonuses to stats and such.” In a small voice, she adds, “I want to be useful to the group, and this is the least I can do.”

I smile, walk closer to Em, and ruffle her hair in a favourite gesture of affection. My favourite that is, not hers, a point that is quickly proven as she pouts up at me grumpily. I stop messing with her hair before she hits me, then ask, “Need a glamorous assistant?” Her mood instantly brightens, and she nods. I grin at her as I say, “Well, Mum’s probably busy, so I guess I’ll have to do.” She rolls her eyes in response to my joke, there’s just no pleasing some people.

Soon enough the food is ready. We sit around the fire for a time, chatting about things of little consequence. I smile, noting that despite the situation, everyone seems to be in higher spirits today, laughing and joking with each other, and have a good time. As scary as it was at the time (trust me, it was fucking terrifying), the warg attack did wonders for our confidence.

Then I swear I see a flash of white up high in the trees out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly on alert, I rise to my feet, summoning my shortbow to hand as I scan the canopy. Everyone picks up on my change in demeanour and joins me, weapons at the ready. In a whisper, Lisa asks, “Adam? What did you see?” I shake my head, then reply, “I don’t know, maybe nothing?”

We stand at the ready, eyes scanning the darkening forest. Then I spot it. On the forest floor, just on the outskirts of our camp, sits a white feather. I put two and two together in an instant and can’t help but feel like an idiot. I point out the offending feather, and sheepishly say, “Sorry guys, I think that’s what I saw. Must have been some kind of bird? I must be feeling a little jumpy.”

We head back to our seats, but it’s easy to see that the false alarm has dampened everyone’s spirits. Feeling more than a little guilty, but determined to improve the mood, I say, “Right, who’s ready to kick Em’s disease in the dick?” I smile widely as I get the response I’m looking for, looks of bemused amusement, and a rather unladylike snort from Ash.

Soon enough, we are looking over the pad again, suggesting different combinations, and hazarding guesses at what each rune means. Every now and again, Lisa opens her mouth as if to say something, then closes it again, a small frown on her face. Eventually, I ask, “What is it, Lisa? You look like you have something to add.” She looks up at me, startled, then blushes slightly before saying, “Oh, don’t worry, its nothing important… it’s silly, really.” I shrug, then say, “It can’t be as silly as Ash’s ‘I’ve cracked the code guys, this rune is definitely probably something to do with ice cream cones’, so go ahead.”

I grin at Ash, who shoots me a mock-affronted look, then look back at Lisa. To my surprise, if anything, her blush has deepened. At my raised eyebrow, she hesitantly says, “Well, that’s just it. A lot of these runes don’t really mean anything, but I look at this one and it just seems… pointy?” She looks down at the fire, then mumbles, “I told you it was silly.”

I look at the rune in question, and honestly? I get where she’s coming from. Out of idle curiosity, I look to see which spell it came from. ‘… Minor Earth Spike?’ I look over the spell runes, eyes widening as I recognise another of the runes. Excited, I scramble through the pages until I find my Ice Shard spell. “Lisa, I think you’re onto something.” She looks back up at me, startled. “Wait, really?”

“Have a look at these two spells. What do you see?” Everyone gathers round, and I show the group the spell formations for Minor Ice Shard and Minor Earth Spike. They look over the spells, then Lisa says, “The first runes are the same?” I nod, then flip over to the three other projectile spells. “And these?” This time it’s Ash who pipes up with, “The first and last?” I nod, then say, “I’ve got a hunch, so I want to try something.” Em looks thoughtfully at the spells, then says, “You think that one of these runes controls how the spell gathers the stuff its made from, and the other controls the shape?” I look at her, slightly chagrined, then say, “Actually, I was just thinking the second bit, but now you mention it the first part makes sense too. Good catch!”

Lisa perks up, clearly excited, then adds, “I’m willing to bet that the last bit is the part that shapes the spell, Earth Spike and Ice Shard are different shapes.” I grin, then say. “Well, there’s one sure-fire way to find out.” All eyes are on me as I form a spell diagram above my hand. Carefully, my hand flows through the gestures required, and I note with mild interest that casting this way, crafting the spell one rune at a time, takes considerably longer.

I reach the very last rune in the diagram. Rather than form the usual rune in the slot, completing a Minor Ice Shard, I visualise the pointy rune in its place. I hold my breath in anticipation as the rune forms, grinning as the stable spell formation floats above my hand. I look around, then aim at a tree before touching the target rune. Alarm floods through me as my body freezes in place, arm outstretched.

Before I can truly panic, I feel the air temperature drop slightly. I watch on in wonder as glittering water droplets gather above my hand, before freezing into a pointed chunk of ice about the width and length of a whiteboard marker. As soon as the chunk has formed, the ice spike flies out of my hand, burying itself in the tree I targeted with a solid ‘thunk’.

Movement returns to my body, and I sigh in relief before turning to my family, a grin plastered on my face. “Looks like we’re on the right track!”