Chapter 27 - THASSAL SAND
He made five vents.
Like a palm and fingers, almost.
His little kiln in the Oracle Sand.
His little workshop.
It had started as a larger version of the sneaky little tactic to pull the shovel from the Aether.
But once the shovel was in hand.
Okay, Levan thought, wiping sweat from his forehead. That was the last of it. For now, at least. One more tool to call.
[ Item Gained: Oracle Sand x2227 ]
The center of the space was about four feet by four feet, with little tunnels leading from either side, and a main, covered entryway for him to place and withdraw his hand.
It was still going to hurt, but the Aether Particulate that would form would not be even close to as painful when spread out.
“I call you from the Aether,” he said.
[ Item Gained: Stone Axe ]
The pain came, and the pale green dust. But it traveled along his ventilation system under the sand, splitting the pain five ways.
All three tools— the [ Stone Axe ], the [ Stone Shovel ], and the [ Stone Pickaxe ] were now on his person.
A little much to hold in his hands, including the sword.
[ Crafter’s Path, New Optional Task: Create a Chest ]
[ Gather Wood, 0/10 ]
Later.
Levan dismissed the message with a thought.
He couldn’t stay here.
He felt exposed, bathed in the silver light of the moon, the only three-dimensional shape amongst a plateau of sand and deep blue pools.
No—what he needed was a strap. And he had a feeling of where to get one.
[ Pin Recipe: Generic Strap ]
[ Leather, Fabric, or Other Similar Material Found: 0/3 ]
It was time to join the other 3D-shapes of the plane. No, not the Lost Ones. No, not the bismuth temples that made him sick to his stomach to look at.
The strange stalks that dotted the landscape farther up the plateau.
After kicking some sand over his vent shafts, he headed off. He kicked over the gathered sand from the activity, too, and his Codex informed him of the loss.
[ Item Lost: Sand (Oracle), x2227 ]
Who exactly decided the increments of sand, he wasn’t sure—was it per pound, per gram, per ten-thousand? Either way, he was glad it didn’t track every single grain.
Setting down his shovel and pickaxe, Levan approached the strange stalks for the first time since arriving on the plane.
It was dark brown, with tiny vertical striations.
He tapped on the stalk with his finger. It was spongy, with some give to it, but the core seemed stiff.
Turning the axe-blade over in his hand, he scraped a thin strip of the striations down.
The revealed patch was soggy and fleshy, and a tiny hole at the broadest part of his scrape bubbled a dark blue sap. The striated stalk he’d peeled off frayed at the edges, the striations revealing themselves as fibers that crawled up the stalk, and, when cut with the uneven arc of the axe-blade, their tips splayed apart from each other.
[ Item Gained: Deepstalk Strip ]
[ Strap Material: 1/3 ]
Good enough.
[ Strap Material: 2/3 ]
[ Strap Material: 3/3 ]
[ Skill Activated: Fibromancy ]
Unlike the pale light of [ Aether Crafting ], his regular [ Crafting ] skill was less intrusive. Soon, from hilt to shovel head, axe blade, and pick-axe blade, his tools were conveniently capable of slinging over his shoulders and carrying multiple at a time.
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The shadow stretching on the dark sand made him look like a crazed mountaineer, equipment hanging every which way—but it wasn’t intrusive.
While I’m here, he thought, and decided to harvest the rest of the stalk.
Levan brought up his list of recipes, filtered by the specific product he was after. He found a basic version in the [ Crafter ] recipe list, with more advanced and upgraded versions in the [ Leatherworker ] recipe list.
Basic would be fine.
He dove into the basic recipe, examining the alternate material lists, and choosing what he thought he could find here.
[ Recipe Pinned: Backpack ]
[ Requirements: ]
> Dried Deepstalk Strip, 0/12
> Reinforced Deepstalk Patch, 0/4
> Latch 0/3
[ Recipe Pinned: Reinforced Deepstalk Patch ]
[ Requirements: ]
> Deepstalk Strip 0/4
“So, total,” he murmured, and the Codex did the math at the same time.
[ Total Materials Required: ]
> Deepstalk Strip, 0/28
> Latch, 0/3
Fabrimancy was a good fit for those three latches. Exactly its purpose.
So, time to get stripping.
He scraped the axe-blade, high to low, down the same Deepstalk until his arms started to hurt, moving in a small circle around the tree-like object.
[ Item Gained: Deepstalk Strip, x44 ]
By the time he was done stripping the entire stalk, he had enough for the backpack, and then some.
[ Gathering Skill Increased to Novice, Rank 4! ]
[ A skill belonging to your Ability Core has gained a rank. Continue leveling up skills within your Ability Core to level up your entire Ability Core. ]
[ Gathering | Novice, Rank 4 | Minor increases to gathering yield and gathering speed ].
All well and good. No game changers, not yet. The part about leveling up skills within his Ability Core to level up the whole Core was interesting.
[ Gain (3) more (Novice) Ranks across Ability Core Skills for next level up! ]
Good thing to keep in mind for my back pocket, he thought, scanning the surroundings. He was always a bit paranoid about reviewing these skills, learning these systems. They took his attention almost entirely, and attention wasn’t something he could spare on a world foreign to him by two degrees.
The strips were still mildly wet, both from the atmosphere and from the stalk they came from. He laid them out on a patch of the brittle black stone and began laying them across one another in a pattern that came naturally.
[ Item Crafted: Reinforced Deepstalk Patch, x4 ]
He laid the patches out— base, side, side, and back. The front would be made of even more strips. Then, using a bit of Fabrimancy, he used the latches to fit the whole thing together.
[ Item Crafted: Backpack | Quality: Common | Inventory Space: Small | This small pack allows you more conveniently carry things. ]
Satisfied, Levan put the extra [ Deepstalk Strips, x16 ] in the base of the backpack and slung it over his shoulders.
Then he shivered where the pack touched the base of his neck, just below his hair.
The whole backpack was wet.
[ Recipe Learned: Dried Deepstalk Strips ]
Thanks, he murmured mentally to the Codex.
At first, he thought the Codex’s reply was a smug one. But no, actually. Not this time. More important information.
[ Passive Learned: Spacial Manipulation | An Aetherial Crafter masters the superposition of spaces in which the Aether element lives. Crafted bags, chests, and other storage systems can be enhanced to hold more, weigh less, and achieve the otherwise impossible. ]
Levan frowned. Was that telling him what he thought it was?
Bag of holding?
Bag of holding?
Do I get a bag of holding?
[ Passive: Spacial Manipulation | Novice, Rank 5 | Current Modifier: -5% | Level up this passive ability to increase your Spacial Manipulation Modifiers. ]
That was a must-have.
5% was nothing right now.
How soon can I increase that?
[ Codex > Skills > Skill Increases| Skill increases come naturally, moving on a rank system from 5 to 1, starting with Novice, then moving to Intermediate, Intermediate to Advanced, and so on. Each level up provides minor benefits, with a major benefit coming with moving from Novice to Intermediate and so on. ]
[ Codex > Ability Core > Skills > Skill Points | Ability Core points can be earned through several other systems. One system is leveling up skills related to the Ability Core. These Ability Core Points can be spent on skills, forcing Rank increases, special skill aspects, and more. Ability Core Points can be spent in other ways, within the Ability Core. ]
[ Codex > Chosen Soul > Skills > Skill Points | When a Chosen Soul ascends in a major rank (Novice to Intermediate, Intermediate to Advanced, and so on) in a skill, they gain a Skill Point to be spent at their discretion. ]
[ Codex > Chosen Soul > Progression Points > Skill Points | Being a Chosen Soul unlocks several progression systems, several activities, loot, and methods of gaining progression points. These progression points can be spent on specific skills themselves, forcing Rank increases, special skill aspects, and more. Skills are not the only place to spend these progression points, however. ]
“Kind of an answer,” Levan reasoned.
So several ways--
First, he leveled up the thing by doing the thing.
Simple enough, they had that on Earth; it was usually just called “practice.”
It sounded like, because he was a Chosen Soul, when he made a major rank jump in any skill, he got a Skill Point to spend. It sounded like this wasn’t the norm. “Normal” people would gain a jump in power. He gained a jump in power and a skill point to spend.
He could level up his [ Fishing ] skill and use it on his [ Melee Combat ] skill.
“Do I have that right?” he asked the Codex.
The Codex confirmed it.
There were other ways, though.
There were Ability Core Points he would get—and though he’d be limited to skills that fell within the [ Aetherial Crafter ] Ability Core, he could treat those essentially as Skill Points, too. And [ Spacial Manipulation ] counted as an [ Aetherial Crafter ] skill, without a doubt.
Finally, there was the Chosen Soul beast. It was the elephant in the room—not just in the context of the Skill Point conversation, but of his entire reason for being taken from Earth in the first place.
I bet I could stop all this, he thought. Suppose I make it back safe. Just find a way to put all my points into Fishing, and go live quietly on a lake.
Spend his days fishing in the sun.
Sounded nice.
Somehow, he didn’t think it was in the cards.
A lot of information, a lot to navigate. Especially in the context of a few slimy strips of what felt like wet cardboard taking up 5% less space in his backpack.
Levan looked at the stalk, feeling almost a bit sorry for the thing.
The outer ring of stalk was gone, revealing the tube-like core and the blue-bubbling sap.
Might as well use every part of the animal, as they say.
He slung off the axe once more.
Hack.
Hack.
Hack.
[ Item Gained: Deepstalk Core, x3 ]
All that was left was the bubbling goo.
[ To harvest this, craft a glass vial ]
Levan put out a hand. He knew how this went. He had to draw the line somewhere, or he’d end up following task after task ad infinitum.
He didn’t like how long he’d remained here as it was.
Some materials.
A backpack.
This was good.
Except….well, surely there was more he could make.
Maybe a shirt:
I Went to the Ominous Black Ocean Realm, And All I Got Was This Lousy, Slimy Backpack.
“…two more things,” Levan relented. Might as well—while he had the chance.
[ Item Gained: Sand (Oracle), x127 | Uncommon ]
He dumped a shovel-full of sand into the backpack.
Uncommon? That was new. That was good. The word “Uncommon” in his mind had a small embellishment to it. Pleasing to the eye, that “Uncommon” was.
Now…if only I could get some of that black stone, too.
He took a look around.
The plateau was still empty, still quiet, still nothing but the eerie blue-white moonlight.
He swung the pickaxe at the bed of stone beneath the sand.
[ Item Gained: Stone (Thassal), x1 | Uncommon ]
A few more swings, and he had a healthy amount stowed into his backpack.
[ Item Gained: Stone (Thassal), x4 | Uncommon ]
[ Skill: Gathering | Increased to Novice, Rank 3 ]
[ Skill: Mining | Increased to Novice, Rank 4 ]
“Codex,” Levan began. “How long do I have left?”
[ 21 Hours Until Portal Reopening ]
Levan nodded.
“Okay,” he said, slinging the backpack back on. “So far, so good,” he murmured, daring the plateau to challenge him, to prove him wrong.
He felt the chill of…something.
But nothing moved.
No monster came clawing from the sands.
No Lost One champion dredged itself from the depths of the pools.
“So far so good,” he said. “So far, so good. 21 more hours. I’ll be fine.”
Still, the plateau didn’t answer.
But somehow he knew it didn’t agree.
