Finding Space

Since the loot pile wasn’t something that would interrupt Aeolia’s rest, John left it be for the moment, settling into his desk chair. It squeaked as John leaned back and he snapped his gaze to his sleeping companion. The noise didn’t rouse her, though it did cause her to shift in her sleep, snuggling deeper into John’s pillow.

John tore his gaze away from the adorable scene, forcing his mind back to the last task he had remaining: sorting out his recent level up.

‘I really need to sort out my Inventory,’ John thought as he saw the near full capacity. ‘I think I left all my school stuff in there. That was a noob mistake.’

Electing to get back to inventory management after sorting out his level up, John went back to musing how to spend his points.

‘I’ll definitely need to invest in Strength,’ he thought. ‘That greatsword won’t be easy to wield with my current level, and having more makes its Evocation better. The question is do I go heavy into it right now or keep slowly boosting it and my mana related stats?’

He stared at his Character Sheet while he pondered his choices. ‘Having more mana and Strength looks like the best way to go. Two into each, which will also boost my HP regen and carrying capacity along with my mana pool and hitting power. But what to do with the last point? Wisdom for mana regen, Endurance for more health, or Charisma to help with talking to people?’

John weighed his options, taking into account the effects his gear could bestow upon him. Chief among them was the new ring as the ten percent boost to Wisdom would count as much as the point he could invest.

‘That should be enough of a boost for me to skip putting that point into Wisdom,’ John reasoned. ‘So between Endurance and Charisma, which has the greater need to be increased? Charisma might be the best choice. We’re going to track down the person behind the business card to see what they might know. Plus it will help make Charm better as a backup.’

After a few more minutes of reflection, John decided that increasing his lowest stat was the best option for the final point.

‘I’ll definitely put more focus on Endurance next level up,’ John promised himself as he put two points each into Strength and Intelligence and the remainder into Charisma.

Points set, John closed his character sheet and carefully leaned back, setting his mind to the next problem: where to store his stuff.

‘Even with six more slots, I really can’t lug around everything,’ he thought, letting out a sigh. ‘And there’s no way I can just shove it into my closet. That’s just asking for trouble. Maybe I can stash stuff in the attic?’

His mind drifted upwards along with his eyes to the topmost section of the Newman household. Relegated to long term storage of holiday decorations and other almost never used items.

‘Mom never goes up there,’ his train of thought continued. ‘And I’m sure there was an old trunk up there I could throw some stuff into.’

Quietly, John got up from his chair and made his way out of his room. Before he slipped out, he spared a glance at Aeolia; the sleeping AvenFae looked completely at peace, her face unbothered by the torment she had been through.

John closed his door with care and walked a short distance down the hall until he was under the attic door, a cord dangling down. He reached up and took hold of the length of rope and pulled it down, wincing as the disused hinges squeaked in protest. He took hold of the folded wooden ladder and slowly unfurled it, the springs filling the hall with their harsh groans.

Ladder deployed, John crept up into the dark attic. For a moment he waved a hand above him until he found the drawstring for the sole light source and pulled it, bringing dim light to the low ceilinged storage area. Like he remembered it, the space was full of boxes: Christmas decorations, toys and clothing from his childhood, various odds and ends collected over the years. Among them was a large wooden trunk with slightly tarnished iron bands.

John closed the Observe window and manually inspected the trunk, undoing the latch and throwing open the lid. The scent of musty leather filled his nose as he exposed the empty internal compartment. John began to fill the trunk with his loot, frowning as the imagined space quickly filled up.

‘This’ll work for the smaller items,’ John thought. ‘But the extra sword and any other large item I might get aren't going to fit. Do I really have to risk just throwing them in here and hoping Mom doesn’t come up here?’

John closed the trunk and sat on it, surveying the remainder of the attic. Then an idea popped into his head.

‘A Barrier!’ he thought excitedly. ‘I can put up a Barrier to store all my stuff! There was an option to make a non-hostile one. That way Mom won’t stumble over my stuff. And the attic is big enough that I won’t have to worry about space.’

John cast Instant Barrier, the options screen appearing as his mana was spent. John tapped the ‘Protected Space’ option, his thoughts on recreating the attic.

Reality shifted from under John and he fell to the floor with a thud as he entered the Barrier. He pushed himself back to his feet as he took in the eerily empty room.

“Guess Barriers like this don’t come with everything in the copied space,” he mused. “Wonder how whoever trapped me back at school made it so the furniture was recreated too. Maybe when I get a higher level for Instant Barrier, I’ll be able to conjure up stuff like that.”

He walked around the replicated area, noting that there were odd inconsistencies with his reproduction. Colors were muted and the light from the sole bulb somehow became brighter which John attributed to his low skill level.

“Well, it’ll be a bit of mess to start with,” John remarked. “But with a few chests, maybe a chair or two, this looks like it’ll be the perfect place to hide all my stuff.”

John cast Instant Barrier to exit, intending on popping out to retrieve the trunk. His exit didn’t happen, but a screen manifested instead.

Warning: Without a Barrier Anchor, Protected Space will collapse in 6 hours once unoccupied.

“Barrier Anchor?” John read aloud, a hint of confusion in his voice. “Just great. Something tells me that anything in a collapsed Barrier will just go poof. I guess I can check the Auction to see how much an Anchor costs, if they’re something readily available.”

With no other course of action, John truly exited his Barrier, shifting back into the box filled attic. John cocked an ear towards the hatch, straining his hearing to check if his mother had returned or Aeolia had awoken. No sounds reached him, so he assumed he was the only person up and about, and he slowly descended back into the regular living space.

Ladder folded and hatch closed, John returned to his room. Aeolia remained asleep upon his pillow, now curled up in a cat-like fashion, her wings acting like a cocoon, light snores filling the room. With slow steps, John made his way to his desk, carefully sat down and brought his computer out of sleep mode. It was time to do some research.

John’s search only brought a frown to his features. While a search of the Auction’s pages did reveal a somewhat varied supply, the prices offered far fewer options and they were all far above John’s current funds, most very far above. Other searches branched off from it; all items revolving around Barrier sustainability or advanced customization like temperature control or power distribution. All carrying a high price tag justified by the apparent specialization needed to craft such items.

Suppressing a groan of frustration, John leaned back in his chair carelessly, eliciting a screech as it reclined. The noise caused Aeolia to stir and she awoke from her short respite, sitting up on the pillow and stretching both her arms and wings as she yawned, drawing John’s attention to her.

A few seconds later, she had pushed away the fog of sleep and realised just where she was and what had transpired before she had surrendered herself to unconsciousness. A flush crossed her face and she pointedly avoided a direct look at John.

“How long was I out?” she muttered, pushing herself to her feet.

“About an hour and a half,” John answered. “I think you passed out right as I was going over the sword.”

Aeolia hummed and flew over to the computer desk, eyeing the Auction page he had stopped on.

“‘Climate Regulator’? Why are you looking up something like that?” she asked.

“Well, I was thinking about where to store all the excess loot,” John explained. “So I took a trip up into our attic to look for a trunk. Then I figured I could set up a Barrier up there to serve as storage, but it seems that any Protected Space I make right now can only last six hours without someone in it. The popup that informed me of this mentioned that something called a ‘Barrier Anchor’ would stop that from happening, so I started looking on the Auction to see what they were all about.”

“And you saw how expensive they were,” Aeolia finished John’s summary. “Yeah, most tools for Barrier modifications cost a lot. Fateweavers are an expensive bunch and the stuff they sell isn't that much cheaper.”

“Fateweavers?”

“I guess you could call them a guild of Barrier specialists,” Aeolia explained. “They like being neutral so everyone who wants Barriers that do crazy complicated stuff can just buy their service or gadgets.”

Sadness crossed onto Aeolia’s face as she continued, “Thankfully, we never had to deal with them since Zeph was good at tweaking Barriers. He whipped up something like one of those anchors. Not as fancy or long-lasting as one of theirs, but it got the job done.”

Aeolia bit her lip and furled her brow as she considered something. “We had a few spare ones somewhere back at our base. I can fly over there and pick it up.”

“You don’t have to do that,” John said. “It’s not like we need to throw this stuff into storage right now.”

“No,” Aeolia said firmly with a shake of her head. “It won’t be a problem. Just a quick trip there and back. Better to get it done now so we can focus on our lead.”

John glanced out his window, seeing the setting sun still lingering near the horizon, bathing the city in warm light.

“Is it a good idea to go out while the sun’s still out?”

“I’m small and fast,” Aeolia said with a hint of pride in her voice. “This isn’t the first time I've taken a flight under the sun. Did you think I spent all my time in Barriers?”

“Well, um, no,” John admitted, the idea sounding ridiculous now that it was voiced.

“I’ll be fine,” Aeolia reaffirmed her confidence in this task, moving closer to one of John’s windows. “Give me about an hour.”

“Alright,” John relented, reaching over to the window and lifting it open, a slight breeze wafting into the room. Aeolia breathed in the fresh air, then launched herself off the desk, flying back to collect her glaive before darting out into the early evening sky.

“Guess she does kinda look like a bird if you only catch a quick glance,” he muttered to himself, watching Aeolia’s diminishing form before shaking the lingering worry from his head.

“She’ll be fine,” John said, soothing his remaining nerves. “I’m being overly paranoid. She’s been a part of the Abyss her whole life and doesn’t need the guy who’s clocked less than a day questioning her fitness.”

John settled back in his chair and let out a sigh. “Okay. What to do while Aeolia is away? I guess I could move the loot up to the attic. That way we can do whatever we need to set up the anchor right away.”

John closed his web browser and rose from his seat. He moved towards his bed when a thought crossed his mind and drew his eyes upward.