CHAPTER 9 - YOU ARE NOW AN AETHERIAL CRAFTER!

  Power.

  Power came to him in waves.

  Levan stumbled, staggered, strayed, and swayed left and right as power flowed into his every nerve, punctuated by the smashing stones of siege weapons exploding in the street.

  His Elemental Affinity, his Ability Core, and the unique combination they made were melded with him, part of him, matched perfectly.

  Perfectly.

  He had chosen perfectly.

  [ New Ability Core Unlocked: Crafter ]

  [ You are now an Aetherial Crafter! ]

  Soldiers yelled from somewhere to his right, and Levan barreled onward to his left, finding an alley of cobbled stone between the walls of sandstone buildings as Knowledge came, unburdened and immediate, into his mind. He struggled to balance fleeing from the soldiers down foreign stone streets, while also ingesting this new information.

  [ Codex > Ability Core > Crafter ]

  == ABILITY CORE | CRAFTER ==

  —CRAFTER: SIMPLE OVERVIEW—

  Crafters discover and use recipes to create items and other products from materials they find in the world.

  They possess an extreme talent for all gathering and crafting disciplines, and develop these skills at a significantly higher rate than others.

  The Fabrimancy School of Magic allows them to substitute certain materials in recipes and aids them in all crafting and gathering endeavors.

  Discipline and Ingenuity are the primary stats related to Crafting. Increase these to observe their effects.

  — SKILLS —

  [ Skill: Crafting ]

  [ Skill: Gathering ]

  [ Skill: Fabrimancy ]

  —RECIPES—

  ???

  —DISCIPLINES (ACTIVE: 0/3)—

  ???

  —STATS—

  + Discipline (2)

  + Inginuity (2)

  == ==

  Levan pushed himself onward, down the alleyway, filling his lungs in gasping breaths of relatively clear air, glancing behind him. Nothing yet. In the back of his mind, the Codex waited for the go-ahead for more information.

  He gave it.

  [ Codex : Elemental Affinity ]

  == ELEMENTAL AFFINITY: AETHER ==

  Aether is a mystical essence whose properties are still greatly unknown. Known properties relate to space and time, as well as life and death, past and future, and more; however, the true nature of Aether remains relatively unknown.

  An Affinity for Aether allows one to see Aether and Aether Particulate, which is otherwise invisible.

  An Elemental Affinity for Aether grants [ Aether Magic | Skill Lvl. 1 ].

  —SKILLS—

  [ Skill: Aetherize ]

  [ Skill: Pull From Aether ]

  [ Skill: Aetherial Chest ]

  —SPELLS—

  ???

  Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

  —STATS—

  ???

  His head swam as piece after piece of information was laid into him. The knowledge was half explained, like a dream half-remembered. Some terms felt familiar, like he knew the word in a different language. Other terms had no explanation, and significance came from how they were structured.

  [ Codex > Aetherial Crafter ]

  ABILITY CORE (CRAFTER) + AFFINITY (AETHER) = AETHERIAL CRAFTER

  UPGRADES:

  + Aetherial Chest > Major Upgrade > Aetherial Stores

  + Aeth—

  ==

  “Wait, wait,” Levan said, shaking his head and cutting off the mental stream from the Codex.

  It was too much.

  Too much, too fast.

  Was this a mistake?

  Did I screw up?

  Did I—

  He reached the mouth of the alleyway and froze, staring at the space framed before him.

  Through the open mouth of the alleyway, Levan could once again see the rest of the burning city. Except this time, there was something new.

  There was a wild coalescence of ‘dust’ in the air, a pale emerald white. It wound in a torrent into the sky, flickering madly, jumping left and right, and showing starkly against the night sky. The way it moved…it roared and held its presence in the air like a pale green hurricane, but then struck down in violent flashes like emerald lightning.

  The vortex flickered, and, like lightning, always maintained an anchored point to the city while stretching and jolting in a dizzying freneticism.

  Levan turned, taking a few backward steps into the alleyway to retreat. He turned and stopped.

  It wasn’t just the alleyway.

  It was this side of the city, too.

  Other forking torrents of the pale green substance, cascading violently through the air.

  What is it?

  It was a rhetorical question, one he didn’t expect an answer to.

  In truth, it was an automatic thought that would have passed, had it not received an answer:

  [ Codex > Aether > Aether Particulate | A byproduct created when aether is forced to interact with the tangible world. Aether, which otherwise would not interact with the material world unless under extreme circumstances, enacts both a stress on the material world, and a stress on itself. This creates the energetic byproduct known as Aetherial Particulate. ]

  [ Add. Codex > Aetherial Crafter > Aether Particulate | Understanding Aetherial Particulate is crucial to the success of any Aetherial Crafter. Under certain conditions, or for certain Sub-Specializations, Aether Particulate can be used as a crafting material itself, or an energy source. For the most part, however, Aethercrafters view Aetherial Particulate as the potentially lethal product of Aetherial Magic. Venting, subverting, or otherwise directing the Aetherial Particulate created by your crafting is a key part of the aetherial crafting process. ]

  So someone is doing Aetherial Magic, Levan thought, unable to take his eyes off the twisting, jolting torrent of Aetherial Particulate as it erupted from several key parts of the city.

  It only served to reinforce what was still the most important idea going through his head:

  This city is not somewhere I want to be, and I need to leave.

  But how?

  The only direction seemed to be behind the temple, continuing up the city’s incline, hoping that this was the type of siege people could flee, and not the type where a few doomed folks were holed up at the top.

  Another idea, another flitting thought that was supposed to be rhetorical entered his head.

  Maybe I can just dig my way out. A stick, three stone—that’s a pickaxe, right?

  More a joke.

  As it turned out, it was more just a “dumb idea,” and not a joke.

  [ Crafting Guide: Stone Pickaxe | Type: Tool | Crafting Skill Required to Craft: Novice | Required Materials: Stone (x3), Wood (x2), Binding (1x) ]

  Wait…can I dig my way out of the city?

  Surely there was stone everywhere.

  He bent down, picked up a fragment of building, hunching reflexively as a far away boom sounded another trebuchet hit.

  [ Item Acquired: 1x Stone ]

  “Okay,” he said, looking around. He picked up another piece of rubble, balancing it on his forearm next to the other stone.

  [ Item Acquired: 1x Stone ]

  “Okay!” he said again, nodding to himself. Maybe not a joke. Maybe not even a dumb idea. It wasn’t hard to find another palm-sized stone in the rubble, as well as two parts of wood that Levan thought might make a decent handle for a tool.

  [ Item Acquired: 1x Stone ]

  [ Item Acquired: 2x Wood ]

  His hands were filling up quickly, but he had everything he needed.

  No, not everything.

  He needed something to tie the two things together. Rope, twine, something.

  No way I’m really going to dig my way out of here—there’s a line.

  And, looking over the stones…would any of them really suffice as a pickaxe? Most were rough, injured, and spherical, with no sharp culmination for the head of a pickaxe to pierce the ground.

  [ Codex > Ability Core: Crafter > Fabrimancy | Fabrimancy is the use of magic to complete crafts when the materials as arranged are not sufficient. Masters of Fabrimancy can replace major material requirements with magic. However, most Fabrimancers use the magic for the “things in between”— such as bindings, adhesives, latches, and so on. For example, if one has gathered the requisite stone and wood for a pickaxe, Fabrimancy can be used to tweak the wood into reliable haft material, it can be used as binding for the haft and head of the pickaxe, or can be used to tweak the shape of the stone to better serve the purpose. ]

  Levan blinked.

  Great, he thought. Let’s do that then.

  [ Attempted Activated Skill: Fabrimancy ]

  [ Cannot Activate (Fabrimancy) Skill! | Skill Level Too Low! ]

  [ Cannot Activate (Fabrimancy) Skill! | Get to a safe location! ]

  Damn it!

  Levan muffled something between a cry and scream of frustration.

  He was overwhelmed.

  The whole thing—the whole last…how long had it been? Surely no more than an hour. Less?

  He had no idea.

  Besides—the idea itself had been dumb. If he could get out of the city with a stone pickaxe, the army outside wouldn’t need trebuchets.

  “I’m not so sure it’s the army outside,” he added to himself, ears perking up as the sound of ruffled armor and barked orders once again rose from the area around him.

  Up.

  Gotta get up.

  Up and out.

  Levan made his way, arms still struggling with the rocks and wood he held, around a bend in the street, and onto a larger thoroughfare of cobbled stone.

  The thoroughfare was mostly empty, the inhabitants mostly fled long ago.

  Some people remained, though, some looking for friends or family in the rubble, some sitting dazed on the street, refusing to move when their fellows tried to urge them into fleeing.

  Levan started out a walk, picking up to a jog, picking up to a run as he ran up the ascending thoroughfare.

  He reached the top, found his way along a few side streets, and continued up.

  There was a building off to the left somewhere, or at least a single estate made up of multiple buildings. Unlike the sandstone of the rest of the city, the structure was carved into the limestone itself, including the arches, gates, and windows, making the structure look like a termite colony with grand, imperial dreams.

  It was empty.

  The gates were open, even. Levan ran right past them, ignoring them like the other fleeing citizens of the city apparently felt they had to do.

  I really, really hope there’s a way out of here.

  He was running out of time.

  And the rocks were heavy. So damn heavy.

  Why am I still carrying them?

  [ Codex > Aetherial Crafter > Active Skill: Aetherize | Convert physical materials or objects into their aetherial counterparts. More effective with materials gathered and items crafted by the user. Less effective on complex items not crafted by the user, and magical items & materials. Aetherized objects will be automatically added to your Aetherial Stores. ]

  [ Codex > Aetherial Crafter > Aetherial Stores | The Aetherial Stores are your personal storage for materials and items made of Aether. Aetherial Crafting Recipes can pull directly from the Aetherial Stores without needing to make their materials physical first. ]

  He frowned.

  Wait, does that mean I can…

  Levan felt a surge of intensity, a vibration that seemed to circle around his skin and send his head buzzing.

  “Aetherize,” he whispered.

  The rocks and wood in his arms seemed to freeze in place for a split second. Then, like a shattered mirror, turned the same pale green color Levan was now started to associate with Aether. Then they turned to green glowing dust, which blew away on the wind.

  Not green dust, he remembered. Aether Particulate.

  Some blew his way, slightly, and then, with an ill-timed breath, Levan inhaled the particulate.