Viewing the Spoils

The silence was heavy after Verida’s last statement, something the goddess was quick to pick up on.

“Oh, that was a bit much, wasn’t it?” she awkwardly asked with a small chuckle. “I didn’t mean to be so dour.”

“I think we should change topics,” Vivian suggested. “No need to dwell on something we can’t change.”

“Can’t get started on planning that meeting without Lynn here,” Martius commented. “It’d be just plain rude and it’s best to not start politicking on an empty stomach.”

“I don’t think any of us are itching to get to that,” Beth remarked as she slumped in her chair. She rolled her head to look at John. “We got loot and stuff, right? We could look at that til Lynn gets back.”

“I’d be interested in seeing what was procured from the fights,” Martius piped in. “Some of those later ones looked to have some interesting innate magical properties. I’m almost certain those wolves you fought had a psychic link. They moved too seamlessly for it to just be animal instinct.”

“Or it could just be game logic making them a bigger threat,” John remarked. “Though psychic wolves would be cool. And could be a problem. Did any get to the tree?”

Several people made hums of thought as they tried to recall if any had gotten past their defenses.

“I don’t think so,” Aeolia said after a moment. “But given the shit that happened in the last round, I can’t say for sure. Do you have any idea, Verida?”

Everyone turned to the goddess, who tilted her head to one side. “I see a small pack some distance away. But I don’t know if they were from the ones you’re talking about. I’m better with plants than animals.”

“It’s fine. We always knew there would be some that got through. Probably will need to build a wall around whatever settlements get built,” John said. “Anyway, loot review?”

When no one raised an objection, John summoned what carried all the items they won, the Bag of Loot. The plain canvas bag wasn’t comically bulging with goodies but still looked and felt full, though John suspected it was going to act like the box they got after the temple dungeon. After a moment of thought, John also summoned the items he was rewarded with via achievements: a black rectangle covered in etched symbols, a small round shield of gold with rose vine decorations, a dark brown seed the size of an acorn, a stack of t-shirts and a silver fountain pen.

“I think we can skip the shirts,” Harker said, eyeing the stack with disdain. Clearly, he wasn’t a fan of casual, jokey attire. John looked down at his own shirt. Between the sweat built up from the fighting and the rips around one shoulder courtesy of a wolf, it wasn’t in the best condition.

‘I could swap into this pretty quick,’ he thought. ‘What I’m wearing is a bit sticky.’

He picked one of the shirts up and let it unfurl. It was that crisp white that said it hadn’t seen a speck of dirt, with only bold black letters breaking up the blinding whiteness. Letters that said, ‘I witnessed the birth of a goddess, and all I got was this T-shirt,’ all in caps.

“Still going to give it a once over,” John said, eyeing Harker. “Can’t be sure Gaia didn’t add some good effect to them.”

“Fine,” the dark-haired man sighed. “It’s not like we’re in that much of a time crunch.”

“Okay, so not anything groundbreaking based on the surface reading, but it’s not bad,” John said, equipping the shirt. The clean fabric felt good on his skin. “Anyone want one?”

“Hit me,” Beth said, and John threw one at her.

No one else made a vocal request so John pushed the shirts a little away from the rest of the loot. While a part of him wanted to explore the shirt’s Evocation, he had a rough idea that it would be similar to the still unused Emotion Surge ability of his wind spirit. And he knew the others would like to move on to the more interesting items.

The first one he chose was the one he got from Verida’s deal with the Order, reasoning it might prove useful tomorrow. Its name sounded promising at the very least.

Fae Script: Anyone who signs a contract written with this pen will be compelled to follow its terms.This only applies if all parties are informed of this attribute.

Never-Ending Ink: This pen will never run out of ink.

“Well, this looks like it’s going to be handy for tomorrow,” John said before rattling off the info.

“Almost seems like Gaia is stacking the deck for us,” Vivian pointed out as she nibbled on the butt of her pen. “Giving us something that will make whatever agreement we make unbreakable.”

“I wouldn’t call it a silver bullet,” Harker said, which elicited a few snickers he ignored. “We would have to disclose the pen’s power before getting use out of it, which means no trapping them in an agreement.”

“And that gives them the option to just not sign anything we write,” John noted, tapping the pen on the table.

“Still, as long as what terms we develop are fair and equitable, I can’t see the Order rejecting it out of hand,” Verida said. “It would bind us just as much as them.”

“Saying it came from Gaia probably will make them want to use it,” Aeolia remarked. “Or make them want to take it. I can see both happening.”

“Might not be the worst option,” Martius suggested. “A little gift, one they can’t ****. Or at least, one that will take some very careful writing and a lot of effort to ****. Not something we should reject out of hand.”

“We can keep it in mind,” John said, putting the pen down before grabbing the shield. “And with the idea of gifts and the Order in mind, it sounds like it'd be best to look at this.”

“I have a feeling the Order has plenty of decorations back at their place,” Aeolia joked. “Doubt they’ll jump for this one.”

“Yeah, so much for that idea,” John lamented. “I’ll just look at the Evocation real quick before checking the next thing.”

“That’s not so bad,” Vivian said. “Once you hit fifty Wisdom, that’s complete damage reduction.”

“Unless there’s an unseen cap in play,” John cautioned. “A lot of games will let you stack defense buffs over one hundred percent but don’t tell you only up to, like, eighty percent counts.”

“Well, that’s bullshit,” Beth commented.

John shrugged. “I can get their point. But yeah, sometimes I just want to walk into a screaming horde and come out unscathed. Anyway, on to the next one.”

He pushed the shield off to the side and dismissed its info, picking up a seed.

“Yeah, that’s what I expected,” John muttered, putting the seed down before looking at Verida. “You know if we can plant this anywhere?”

“I do not believe there are any dedicated planting areas,” the goddess replied with a faraway look in her eyes. “Nor will we need one to start planting things. But I think we should find a place with a bit more open space. A whole grove of those, plus other useful trees, would go a long way.”

“If my powers affect them, one tree might be enough for a while,” John mused. “I’ll just be able to harvest the raw material and leave the tree still growing.”

“True,” Verida commented. “We’ll have to experiment once we have time.”

“Ah, time, the most valuable resource,” Martius remarked with a chuckle.

John let out a hum at the gnome’s observation and picked up the last item. The black rectangle was cool to the touch and lighter than John would have guessed. He ran a finger across a few of the engraved symbols along its surface.

“Vi, you know any of these?” John asked, handing the thing over to the redhead.

She lifted the device to her eyes, turning it over. “Some of them,” she said, tracing a finger over one part. “This one reads like a projection sequence. And this one looks like it’s some sort of recording system.”

“Any particular reason you didn’t just call up its info?” Harker inquired as Vivian handed the thing back to John.

“I saw it had glyphs and thought Vivian might want to have a look at it before we learn just what it does,” John answered.

“It does give me an idea about what it can do,” Vivian said, a faint blush across her face. “I think it's some kind of scanning device. One that can log magical signatures.”

“I did get it for the Order messing up the quest,” John remarked. “So that’s probably not a wrong conclusion.”

Analytics: This device can detect mana signatures, breaking them down into their base components and identifying their effects. Can determine the mana cost of these effects.

Passive Charge: This device is made from materials that absorb ambient mana, allowing it to function without an external power source.

Projection: This device uses light bending arrays to produce 3-D displays of mana signatures.

Storage Matrix: This device can hold up to seven signatures in its memory.

“Okay, that Evocation looks spicy,” Aeolia commented.

“Yeah,” John said in a distant voice, his mind going over the possibilities. Storing his own spells or other Evocations was a waste, but having a banked reserve of something like Beth’s adhesion or Aeolia’s shrinking could be really useful in a situation where they were held down or just not with him.

‘Could I combine their magic with other Evocations?’ John wondered before shaking his head. That could wait until later. They still had to look through the bag of loot, eat brunch and figure out how they were going to handle the Order tomorrow.

After the achievement-given items, the ones produced from the animals they defeated ended up being a slight disappointment. They consisted mostly of animal parts: hides, teeth, claws, feathers, and bone. The most interesting at face value were the few vials of venom and toxins extracted from the creatures that produced them. They all agreed Lynn would have the most luck with those.

Speaking of the alchemist, she still hadn’t returned after all that, which wasn’t too much of a surprise given the amount of food they were ordering and the distance between the Kingdom and Cammie’s.

“So, we just going to vibe until Lynn gets back?” Beth asked once John stowed everything again, leaning back in her chair.

“It does seem rude to begin discussions on what to do about tomorrow without her here,” Martius replied. “Even if she doesn’t have anything to add. Though, I doubt she won’t put in her two cents.”

“Preach,” Beth remarked dryly.

“John and I have levels to sort out,” Senka said. “Though I doubt that’s something everyone wants to listen to.”

“Not like we haven’t heard you ramble on about that before,” Aeolia jibed good-naturedly.

“Plus, that way we can give some input,” Vivian said, hastily adding, “Not that we want to dictate how you allocate your stats!”

John gave the redhead a reassuring smile. “I get what you’re saying. There are a lot more consequences for bad point assignments here than in a game. Got ten to work with.”

“Really think I should finally put some points into Charisma,” John said after a moment to review his sheet. “Probably not the best idea to go into these talks with only twelve effective points in it. Plus, the base being the only single-digit number is really starting to bug me.”

Using close to half of his points for it was a tall order, but having the ability to properly talk and convey his wants without tripping over his words outweighed the loss of combat or survival potential. But getting the base to ten was enough. That plus the boosts gained from achievements and gear should be enough to not make a fool of himself.

New Achievement: Base Ten
Finally get all your stats to at least ten. Took you even longer than reaching level ten.
Reward: Lucky D10

“Of course I’d get something for that,” John muttered.

“Makes ya wonder if you would have got this if you speed ran your stats up,” Beth commented, an amused grin on her face.

“I’m fifty-fifty on that point,” John said as he retrieved the gifted item. “Getting to this point on like day three doesn’t give her the same amount of humor value.”

He looked at the D10. It looked like any other, made out of a silvery metal, if a bit larger than what he saw as normal. The numbers etched into each face, however, shimmered with a kaleidoscope of color.

“Well, that’s a nice little treat,” John said, rolling the dice around his palm. “Might want to save this up for when I’m higher level.”

John stowed the dice and looked back to his sheet. Six points remained and he wanted to make them count. He ignored Intelligence for the moment. While more mana was something he wanted, he had enough that his heavy-hitting moves didn’t drain him too much. His eyes dipped to the stat right below it.

Wisdom determined not only the rate at which his mana regenned but several of his Evocaction’s used it to determine range, duration or power.

‘Boosting that would help with mana too,’ he mused. ‘Maybe three there and three into Endurance to up my HP? That is my lowest stat, besides Charisma. I haven’t run into a wall yet in terms of running in and hitting stuff so Strength and Agility aren’t that important right now.’

“Leaning towards Wisdom and Endurance,” he reported. “Upping my health and mana regen sounds like a good idea.”

“You didn’t look like you were having any troubles when it came to fighting or slinging spells,” Vivian noted. “I don’t think skipping Strength or Intelligence right now is a bad move.”

John looked to see if anyone else was of a differing opinion. When no one gave one, John applied his last points and closed his sheet.

“That’s that,” John said, glancing over to Senka. “You do yours?”

The spirit nodded. “I leveled three times, so I put three to each my MP and HP. I used the rest to improve the power of both Dark Thorn and Snaring Shadows, and I increased the range of Cutting Shadow. I’ve found their damage to be a little lacking.”

John nodded a few times. “I wonder if that’s going to remain consistent. We might hit a point where you’ll need two or three points to upgrade your moves.”

“Then we will cross that bridge when we get there,” Senka said.

A moment later, John felt two people enter the Kingdom.

“It would seem food has arrived,” Verida announced. “And it seems Lynn has brought a guest.”

Thanks again for reading this little story. If you liked the chapter, please hit that thumbs up, and if you want to support my writing, check out my Patreon at https://www.patreon.com/ScrapCrow. Get access to my chapters before they’re published here and join my private Discord.