Morning found Ash back on the hunt. She had eaten half of the loaf yesterday, and had another quarter in the morning with the half Bondi fruit she had gathered the day before. But now she was rather low on food, so her goal was to at least fill her basket with fruit. It seemed like three of the large fruits could be enough to sustain her for a day. She thought if she could keep a good eighteen or so to eat herself over the week, then any more could be traded with the settlement. Getting them down was going to be a little more difficult though. She went to the second tree with lower branches. She tried prodding them with her torch, but that only caused the ripest of them to fall. She moved far too slow to catch it and it squished onto the floor, bruising a little and cracking on one side, thick juice leaking out. She turned it upside down to keep the juice in and put it in her basket, resolving to eat that one for today. The rest held on to the branch more stubbornly.

  There were a total of five fruits on the branches she could just about reach with her torch. She only needed to find a way to get to them safely. Or a way to knock them down and catch them without bruising. She couldn’t rely on her dismal reflex to help her catch them, after all.

  She propped her overshirt up like a net below the fruits, held up with the basket and a pair of sticks she jammed into the soft ground. She took aim at a thin branch, sporting just one of the fruits. Then she thwacked it, the impact shook the branch violently, the living wood cracking. The single fruit sailed off into the jungle, narrowly missing splattering over a tree before being safely caught by a bush.

  Well, that isn’t going to work. This fruit only survived by pure luck!

  Still, one fruit safely harvested. Next, she tried tapping a branch a little more lightly. Nothing stirred. She tried another branch and then the third. Finally, one came free, landing safely on her net. Success! Sort of. 3 fruits remained, stubbornly hanging overhead as if to taunt her with their defiance.

  How can I get them down? She thought. Surely, there’s something I can use. Think girl think! Use those 10 Wits. I can’t burn them down, that would be dumb. If I could reach them with my hand I could freeze them, that may work. They might snap straight off the branch! But I can’t quite reach them. Maybe I just break the branches and take the fruits that survive the landing?

  She thought for a moment. I wonder if I can extend my reach through the torch, like a wizard casting through a staff.

  She decided it was at least worth a go. She lifted the torch up to the branch and concentrated on her spell.

  “Frost touch!” She cried, and her hand blazed with power, ice crawling up her weapon’s haft. The wood cracked.

  Cracked torch (spent) – hammer / Great-hammer (2h) - damage modifier: 1.1x(physical)

  This item is damaged.

  Well shit, that didn’t work and now your weapon is half broken. Great going idiot. She berated herself. Don’t cast at the thing, cast through the thing!

  She focused, trying to feel the weapon in her hands. To feel the magic. She stood firm, steady, holding the torch tight and upright, touching the branch just where it connected with the fruit. She stood there for a good five minutes, trying to sense the Great-hammer in her hands. She could feel it there, something about the sensation made her think she was on the right track, but everything else felt wrong. She knew if she tried again she’d blast the handle and probably break her only weapon.

  Sighing, she lowered the torch. She was clearly missing something here. That or it just wasn’t possible. The torch was not a wizard’s staff, it was a long battered, charred and now cracked stick. How had she expected it to work as a magical focus?

  She really needed to get herself a better weapon. Maybe there would be a large branch that would work better.

  If I had a knife, perhaps I could carve something? She considered. Her dad had lent her a penknife and taught her how to whittle once when they were on a camping trip. The memory brought a soft smile to her lips. A simpler time.

  When was the last time I spent time enjoying my parent’s company?

  She’d been more focused on friendships in her late teens, then university… and then when she was ill, there had never seemed to be all that much to smile about. There was always the backdrop of sadness and worry.

  Sighing, she decided to call it for gathering for the day. She had enough to last her until tomorrow. Hopefully something better came up by then. Still, she knew what to trade for once she had enough to spare. A good versatile knife. She wouldn’t be able to defend herself with it, but it would be an essential tool in making something that could. A good knife had many uses, chopping up food, crafting, whatever.

  She set about exploring a little deeper, making sure she was being quiet and cautions in case she encountered any more dire ants or perhaps something even worse.

  Her caution paid off when she heard a gentle skittering, turning just in time to notice a shape darting towards her. She swung immediately, torch slamming into the shell of the ant just before it reached her ankle. The ant splattered, but another darted out past it and she couldn’t back away before it bit down. Her health dropped by about a third. The bite had done 2 damage again. She gasped in pain, starting to swing as she saw a third ant coming for her. She adjusted, and swept the torch down, knocking one, then both new ants aside. The first cracked apart, but the second righted itself, starting to scuttle back towards her with a leg missing. She swung down and it splattered against the floor.

  You have slain 3x level 1 forager dire ant. You have received 3 exp.

  She panted. Damn. Three of them? She wondered, If I hadn’t been so cautions and they had all gotten a bite or two in… Rip. She grimaced. And that’s assuming I resist the venom too. 3 of them at once… I must be heading in the direction of their nest. That or they’re sending more this way for revenge.

  She resolved to explore in the other direction for now, leaving the back of what she was now calling the ‘settlement ruin’ to scope out what was surrounding her own ruin. Well, the one she was sleeping in a corner of.

  It turned out her ruin was also pretty square, and behind it she found another Bondi tree, collecting one more loose fruit, the others resisting her prods.

  Other than a few more red berry bushes, she didn’t encounter anything more of interest. She sat on an overgrown rock and ate the bruised Bondi fruit, contemplating.

  Was she being too reckless, exploring the jungle on her own in her condition? Would it be better just to focus on gathering enough to get by for the week and waiting for healing. Adding a whole 11 points to her attributes would be a game changer. Having 5x as much health would be so much more of a safety net. She could take a whole swarm of ant bites then. Plus, her clothes were getting decidedly worse for wear with all the moving around the jungle she was doing. She would kill for some actual shoes. Her socks were constantly catching on foliage and would likely be full of holes already if they weren’t thicker hospital compression socks. Solid shoes and something to cover her lower legs. The ants didn’t even have to try to reach her exposed shins. Maybe even a pair of thin trousers would have blunted their attacks.

  The clothes she did have were definitely in need of a good wash, and really, so was she. It was hard to discern from the humid smells of the jungle, but she definitely stank. She should have asked about the closest river. There doubtless was one nearby if there was a settlement here, unless they had some kind of magic to produce their water.

  She resolved to at least look for a river before relying on the settlers again. Hearing what Eric had said yesterday made her want to have at least something to show the next time she turned up.

  So, she set off to circuit the settlement. She found a few locations where the villagers had set up gathering points, a ladder placed on a cluster of fruit trees that she hadn’t encountered before. There were a few half-ripe looking fruits left unpicked, transitioning from green to a deeper purple. She mentally noted down the look in case she encountered any more.

  She skirted around a section of the jungle where some villagers were actively clearing, presumably for timber but maybe for extra flat space too. The buisily working people didn’t seem to notice her as she skirted around the clearing. On the far side of the settlement, she finally found it. A rocky river trickling down from a valley between two large hills. She almost ran into a pair of women clearly washing a batch of clothing in the stream. Ash hurried past, looking for a spot further upstream to use. She trudged uphill for a good 20 minutes, past rushing and rocky sections that seemed more dangerous than she could risk with her feeble stats.

  She was about to give up and just sit on a rock to dip her clothes in one at a time when she heard the sound of crashing water ahead. Rounding a tree, she gasped at the simple beauty of the scene before her. A waterfall, just over two meters high, crashed down onto a shallow pool before trickling into the rocks beyond. It was perfect. She hurriedly dropped her basket and rushed to the water’s edge. There she paused, catching herself and checking the water for any obvious danger. Fortunately, nothing seemed amiss and she giggled with glee as she splashed herself with the cool fresh liquid. She cupped her hands and tasted the falling water, before filling her waterskin. Then she rushed in beneath it, letting the falling tide pound down on top of her like a natural shower. She stood there for a few moments, revelling in the feeling of being washed. She hadn’t realised just how much she needed this.

  Eventually she took off her overshirt and socks, giving them as much of a clean as she could before spreading them on a nearby rock to dry out. She thought about doing that to the rest of her clothes, but decided against it. It was warm enough to let them dry on her. Maybe when she was healed and she was safe enough to not need to run or fight at a moment’s notice. Finally, she rested on a rock, drinking her water and wringing out her hair and t-shirt as best she could. The afternoon sun beat down on her, warming up her sodden body as she let her feet drift lazily in the pool. She wished she could take a quick nap here, but that was not exactly the safest idea.

  While waiting to dry off a little better, she decided to practice a bit more with her torch. She’d managed to fend off the ants so far, but there was only so much her skills from a couple trips to a driving range could get her. She tried to feel the movements, what worked, felt natural in the swing and allowed her to shift and strike again afterwards. She felt like she was actually better with the weapon than she thought she would be, doubtless her 10 points in the skill was helping her out. After a good while, she was starting to build up a sweat but her swings felt just that little bit more natural.

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  You have reached level 11 in Great-hammers. Your strikes will be swifter and more accurate.

  The notification surprised her, but she did have to admit, having her progress quantified by an increased number felt great.

  She did also try channelling through the torch again, holding the wood out in front of her and trying to feel out flame burst this time. Maybe a torch will have more affinity with fire magic? After several frustrating minutes, it still didn’t feel right. Plus, she didn’t want to risk releasing the magic while that was her only available weapon.

  She tried not to let the frustration get to her, instead sitting back on the rock and relaxing a little more. She considered washing again to take off the sweat, but just couldn’t be bothered. She compromised by splashing some water on her armpits and decided to come back and wash again tomorrow.

  Her shirt was nearly dry at this point, so she spent a few minutes just practicing with her spells. She blasted the waterfall with flame burst a few times, watching the plumes of steam rush out into the air. Ice touch was fun too, creating a snowflake pattern of ice around her finger when she cast it into the pool. She revelled in the sensation of casting spells in this game. It was seriously so lifelike. The magic felt like it was truly coming from her, rushing out and creating the pretty patterns in the water. Still, neither levelled. They were meant to be damaging attacks, so perhaps they would only increase from doing damage or getting kills with them. If that was the case, she’d have no way to increase them at all.

  Finally, she pulled back on her hospital overshirt, now dry and only slightly discoloured.

  Honestly, who thought wearing white into a jungle was a good idea? She joked to herself. Even still, it really if nice to be clean and refreshed.

  She headed back, deciding to retrace her steps along the longer walk around the village rather than risk going behind the settlement ruins and getting attacked by more ants. It took her a good half hour to navigate around without catching anyone’s attention, but as she crossed the clearing between the village and the jungle someone called out to her.

  “Ash? Hey Ash, how are you doing?” It was Hestia, calling out to her from the edge of the village.

  “Hi,” Ash replied, “stopping so the older woman could catch up to her. She seemed to be holding a bowl of food, a wooden utensil sticking out of it. As she approached, Ash couldn’t help but catch a whiff of it. It smelled like actual cooking and she couldn’t help but be jealous of the woman. She glanced down at her own basket of two fruits and knowing it was only that and a quarter of increasingly stale bread waiting for her.

  “You look like you’ve cleaned up a little. That’s great! And what have you got there? Bondi fruit? Nice! I can see you’ve been busy!” Hestia grinned.

  “I’ve managed. How is it back at the village?” Ash asked

  “Oh, we’re getting things back in order. Now that the main hall is repaired we at least have a roof over our heads, but a lot of the other building is going to be put on hold to build fortifications, so some of the craftspeople are upset. And that’s on top of the people we lost. Plus, everyone is stuck sleeping in one room for even longer than we thought… Well, I’m sure you’re not having an easy time either, but maybe knowing that it’s not much better for us here might help you feel better about it!” Hestia laughed awkwardly and absently reached for her spoon. Then she paused. “You know, Ash, I was actually feeling like a good piece of fruit. We haven’t managed to spot any good Bondi trees nearby, so perhaps you’d trade me for one? How about… this portion of stew? I’ve barely touched it. Does that sound fair?”

  Ash looked at the bowl hungrily. “Are you sure? I wouldn’t want you to miss dinner.”

  “Oh, don’t worry about it. There’s a big pot in the centre of town, I don’t think anyone will mind if I ask for another. Specialist privilege and all that!” She grinned.

  “Alright then, thanks. Have your pick!” She held out her basket.

  Hestia selected one and handed over her bowl in return. “Oooh, looks nice and ripe too! Great!”

  “No worries, actually I was thinking of better ways to harvest them and, well, should it be possible to channel my spells through my weapon?”

  “Oh, channel your spells through that tourch?” Hestia considered. “Well, in principle, yes it should be. Some materials will be a better conduit than others though. If you have sufficient skill in the weapon then it should work, just at a lower Will efficiency.”

  “Okay. What skill level is enough?”

  “If I remember correctly, I think the requirement is 5. My staff skill is only 6, so it will be less than that. I gave up on the idea of channelling though. It was just too expensive, in Will and coin, to get good with it. Good conductivity staves aren’t cheap! Anyway, you should have at least level 5 from your weapon specialisation, right? Can you not cast through your club?”

  “Uh, yeah I’m over 5. But… when I try to focus on casting through it, it doesn’t… feel right.”

  “Really, strange.” Hestia looked down at the torch Ash was carrying. “Hmmm… Well, that basic wood torch isn’t likely the best conductor. Some specialty woods can work well though. It should still be possible, but your spells will have majorly increased cost as well as reduced power. I’ve heard some focuses can be finickity things. Like, a staff is known for having magic cast through it so it’s pretty simple. A Great-hammer… Well, I’m finding it hard to picture what that would be like. Maybe it’s the same for the weapon. You may have to convince it that having magic cast through it is something that should happen.”

  “What, like the torch can think for itself?”

  Hestia cackled at that one “No! No, not quite! It’s more like the concept of the torch is struggling with being used as a focus. I’m not quite sure how it could be convinced otherwise though.”

  “I was kind of just hoping it would work like a wizard’s staff and give me some extra reach to cast frost touch.”

  “I can see that being handy. The problem is, it is not a staff.” Hestia paused. “Maybe we can find you a simple wooden stave to practice with instead?”

  “No.” Ash sighed, “Unfortunately I’ve got my specialty. I’ll have to find a way to make this work for me.”

  “Well, okay. Let me know how it goes or if you need any more advice! I’ll let you get to eating that stew before it gets cold. I should go and grab another before it’s gone too.” Hestia waved as she turned back to the town “Oh, and keep the bowl and spoon too, I’m sure you’ll have more use for it than I will!”

  Ash waved back and headed into the jungle, already spooning the still warm stew into her mouth. As soon as the broth hit her tongue, she paused, sighing with satisfaction. It was just a simple camp stew, but after eating only fruit and bread it was a whole new burst of flavour. There were even some small chunks of meat in there. Some protein was desperately needed in her diet, if that even mattered in game logic. She didn’t wait to get back to her shelter, leaning against a tree and quickly working her way through the whole bowl. After scraping up the last bite, she signed in satisfaction. She felt rejuvenated, ready for heading out into the jungle again. Unfortunately, the light was already fading. She checked her stats and noticed there was actually a new status effect.

  Good meal: recovery rate increased by 50% for 5 hours.

  Wow, that would have been great to have at the start of the day. She mused. Maybe I should get a little more practice in before it gets dark, make the most of it.

  So, Ash stood outside her new temporary home, swinging her torch around and occasionally at some nearby foliage, smashing through a few of the leaves. She was at it for even longer than at the pool, only stopping once the feeling of each swing felt easier, more impactful, and she was rewarded by a new notification.

  You have reached level 12 in Great-hammers. Your strikes will be swifter and more accurate.

  That had taken significantly longer than before, and she expected her growth from randomly swinging was going to have increasingly diminishing returns, but progress was progress. She was also impressed by how few breaks she had to take, her additional stamina recovery helping keep her going for longer bursts than before.

  Now, there was her discussion with Hestia to muse over. How would she convince her weapon to let her cast through it. She thought about what she had considered by the pool. This was a torch. Surely casting fire magic through it should be possible. But, what would that look like? Clearly Hestia had seemed to think that envisioning the spell working was key to its success. The first thing that popped into Ash’s head was the fire bursting out of the tip of the torch, surrounding the head like a candle. That would be helpful, adding a continuous burning effect to her weapon. Perhaps it would give her back that 0.2x fire damage that she had before or maybe even more!

  She thought about it, thought about the tip of the torch igniting, much like it had with the strip of oiled cloth it had on before. She focused on the image and her spell, trying to combine the two together. She held the torch in her hands, closing her eyes and focusing. It felt… better. Closer.

  “Come on, come on!” She muttered to herself in frustration, giving the torch a shake. Something resonated, something about what she was doing was right. She just had to find it. What was she missing. What would the effect look like? Feel like?

  She tried to intuit the sensations, going where her magic was leading her. It spread from her hands, and up the wood of the torch. Ash concentrated, focusing on the head and then on instinct she thrust it upwards. A bright flash lit up the darkening jungle. The roar of flame was sudden and she could feel the flash of heat. The torch also bucked in her hands, pushed down by the bursting flames and knocking it free of her grip. She blinked her eyes, frustrated that she had them closed and hesitantly picked up the torch again. She repeated her steps, felling the magic and the weapon, then thrusting it up into the sky. This time she saw the burst of flame emerge from the torch, forming a plume of fire much like she had imagined. Unfortunately, it did not linger. It ripped free, ejecting light at heat before dissipating into the canopy. A few of the leaves steamed above her and she realised she should probably be more careful with fire in the jungle. Fortunately, the plants were damp enough to not catch. She moved to a clearer section and tried again. This time, whatever she did, nothing seemed to work. She felt… strangely drained. Much like when…

  Ash checked her status bars. Her Will was almost completely gone. It was now at just 6 points. She watched as that slowly rose to 7. Somehow those two casts had taken… She did some quick calculations… 35 will! Maybe 36 actually based on how fast it was refilling. So, each casting of flame burst took 3 times as much will to channel through her torch! She was also pretty sure it was less powerful too, seeming maybe half the size as when she casted it normally. She sighed. Well still, she had managed something.

  Ash guessed, much like Hestia had indicated, casting through the basic wood torch wasn’t the most efficient arcane focus. Even so, if she could actually do damage with the fire… That would be a game changer. She imagined running through the jungle, using the torch as a makeshift flamethrower to incinerate swarms of nasty looking bugs. She could work with that. Plus, it seemed that casting like this meant she also didn’t need to call out the name of the spell. That was an interesting side benefit.

  She waited for her will to refill to 24, then tried again. Casting once without the torch then once with, trying to gage the difference. It definitely projected a little over half as far, but did that mean it was half as powerful? 4 times? Or maybe even 8 if it was about volume. Still, her continued practice rewarded her with a new notification.

  You have unlocked the skill: Arcane conduit. You are now level 1 in Arcane conduit. Using a focus will become more efficient as you level with this skill. You can now examine potential focuses for arcane conductivity.

  She brought up her skill page, looking at the new skill’s details.

  Arcane conduit level 1: Casting through a focus will reduce the potency of the effect to 0.26 x original power

  Well, that’s a quite severe reduction. She hoped the skill would eventually get her to 1x or above soon, else what would be the point of using a focus most of the time!

  Then she examined her torch’s conduit properties.

  Wooden torch: conduit multiplier 3x.

  This item is damaged. As a result, the potency of any spell will be reduced by 0.3x

  Ash tried the maths. So, casting through the torch not only cost her 3 times as much will, but also reduced the power of the effect by… Well, a 0.3 reduction was basically 0.26x0.7. And that was… the numbers danced in her head, increasing her frustration. Where was her pen and paper to work this out, or better still a calculator. Eventually she gave up and decided to just approximate it as 0.2, so a 5x reduction in power as well.

  Ash swung her torch through some leaves in frustration. This stupid hammer curse was just crippling her ability as a spellcaster! All combinations are feasible, my ass! How the hell was a normal person with this combination meant to fit the two together, let alone someone with my stupid curse. Plus, my withering is further hampering my ability to even use the ridiculous weapon at all.

  “Fuck you, stupid big lump of junk.” She cursed at the torch, tossing it against the wall. She stood there, fuming for a while.

  The she felt foolish. Sighing, she gathered up her things and crawled back through to rest for the night. She collapsed on her bed in a huff, trying to calm herself down.

  Breathe. Tomorrow was another day. She’d figure this out then.