Profane Leaf Gloves
- Enchantments
- Profane
- Minor Slash Resist
- Minor Pierce Resist
Yes, I know what they are, but what the hell does profane mean? You tryna say I got a potty mouth or something?
I looked at the gloves with a mixed sense of disgust and pride. I could swear I used to be a sailor in another life. Well, not the last one, but maybe in one before that. But hey, at least I got the skill!
The tidbit about being profane is really throwing me for a loop though. Does that mean that my state of mind influences the outcome of the enchantment?
OOOH! That’s what she meant!
Aspen said that enchanting was enforcing your will upon the mana, so that must mean that I need to influence my mana as I put it into the object that I want to enchant. When I was cursing while enchanting the gloves, the effect profane must have been added.
I almost want to give these to Axel and see what he says about it. That would be hilarious!
While I debated giving these gloves as a sort of prank item, I went ahead and enchanted a second pair. This time, it came out with a different tertiary effect.
Hesitant Leaf Gloves
- Enchantments
- Hesitant
- Minor Slash Resist
- Minor Pierce Resist
Hold on, hesitant? The hell does that mean?
I began questioning why the effect was there when I realized I was hesitating on whether or not I should go through with my prank. That just goes to show how sensitive the mana is to my mental state while enchanting.
I quickly destroyed my first two successful pairs of enchanted gloves before making a third. This time, I made sure my entire focus was on making the gloves only slash and piercing resistant.
A quick mana application later, and I had my first truly successful enchantment.
Leaf Gloves
- Enchantments
- Minor Slash Resist
- Minor Pierce Resist
I found it odd that this one didn’t have a title like the first two did, but I guess that came with the unintended third effect. I almost want to ask Aspen about it, but I feel like that would end up poorly.
I equipped the gloves on my puppet and felt them start to drain mana from my fake hands. I made sure to give it a solid supply of its own mana so it didn’t drain the puppet.
I made a few spikes on the chair my puppet sat on and used them to test out the enchantment. I moved my hand over the spikes but saw there was no damage to either the gloves or the puppet hands. I repeated the process a few times until I reached the stress point of about 20 pounds of pressure.
So, it’s good enough to stop a kitchen accident and maybe stop splinters while doing woodworking, but the minor version is definitely not enough for battle. At minimum, it would need a basic version or an advanced version instead of minor. But how do I upgrade the enchantment to a higher quality?
I spent the next few hours until sunrise practicing my new skill. I made well over 100 of the same pair of gloves. Each time I made it, I focused on strengthening the will I imbued my mana with. As I added more and more of my ‘will’ into the enchantments, I started to feel faint and light headed. That was extremely weird, given I didn’t have a head at all.
When the feeling began to strengthen, I started to slow down on the creation process. I kept making them though, as it was still something to do, but I decreased how much will I put into each glove. The change in amount of will I imbued the gloves with didn’t seem to change the quality of the enchantment, so I kept on chugging along. The sun only started to rise as I made glove number 250. By that time, I was regretting making so many and considered just taking a short nap. I was only awakened by a startling *Ding!* and a notification popping up in my face. I suddenly felt a bit more awake, like I just drank an energy drink.
Through intense mentally training, you have earned the skill [Mental Fortitude (R)].
Huh. I wonder what that does.
Mental Fortitude (R): Passive. Increases the user’s ability to maintain a clear mind. Mental Energy used during casting, crafting, channeling, or resisting mental attack is decreased. Mental energy is regenerated at an increased rate when the user is in a calming and familiar environment.
Oh great. Another regenerative skill. I’ll just add that to the list. I’ll look at it again later when I feel more… awake.
It’s almost time for the Laughing Vipers to wake up, and I want to get rid of the majority of the gloves I made over the night before they got up. I’m sure they think I’m ridiculous enough as is, and they don’t need any more of a reason to think I’m weird.
I started pulling out the mana in each of the gloves, though I found that some of them were harder to take apart than others; it wasn’t by much, but still enough that I noticed it. As I continued pulling apart the enchantments I placed on the leaf gloves, I started setting aside the gloves that were the toughest to dismantle. I kept the pile at 5, replacing the weaker enchanted gloves with the stronger ones.
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When I finished the pile, I got another skill notification. I skipped the notification and went straight to the skill description.
Disenchanting (R): Active. The user can pull apart enchanted items, destroying the item in the process. However, as the item is disenchanted, the user gains familiarity with the enchantment, allowing the user to recreate it.
Oh, hell yeah! That means if I can get the trio to bring me some enchanted items, I can recreate them! Yah know, I don’t think I ever looked at the skill description for base Enchanting either. No time like the present, right?
Enchantment (R): Active. The user imbues an item with mana infused will, bestowing various effects onto the item in question. Enchanting requires large amounts of mana and mental power. State of mind affects the outcome of the enchantments. Mental energy expended increases the life of the enchantment.
Well damn. I should have read that when I first got it. That’s my bad, I guess.
If I had known then what I knew now, I wouldn’t have suffered through so many frivolous mistakes. More than 60 of the gloves I made tonight had some sort of added effect along the lines of the first few. There were a few with the profane enchantment, a couple with an exhaustion effect towards the end, and more than a few with various curiosity effects that were made while I pondered the various uses of the skill.
My biggest question right now was what can I enchant the staff I made for Aspen with that she might be able to use. Mana efficiency? Mana regeneration? A Fire Magic spell? Other elemental spells? She said I could enchant certain skills I have, so maybe one of those then?
I pulled up my status screen to take a look at my skill list. It had grown quite a lot over the last few weeks, and I was very happy with the results I was seeing.
User: Willow Race: Tree
Level: 39 Exp: 1020/5100
H:100% S:100% M:45%
Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Domain of Awareness, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Fire Resistance, Improved Digestion, Resource Berry, Wood Working, Water Magic, Earth Magic, Body Manipulation, Mental Magic, Mana Circulation, Improved Sap Flow, Fruit Creation, Air Magic, Short Rest, Identify, Metal Magic, Blacksmithing, Mana Condensation, Mana Efficiency, Marksmanship, Enchanting, Mental Fortitude, Disenchanting
I wonder though, can I rearrange the skill list? It looks all cluttered right now, but if I can make categories to have them under, that would make it much easier to view.
As I thought it, a new notification popped up.
Add skill list categories? Y/A
Sweet!
I slammed the yes button and was asked to provide the number of lists I wanted, and what I wanted each one to be called. After a few minutes of debating, I settled on 5 lists, their names and descriptions, and then closed and reopened my status page. I was slightly saddened by not being able to move them around myself, but this should honestly be good enough.
User: Willow Race: Tree
Level: 39 Exp: 1020/5100
H:100% S:100% M:45%
Tree Skills: Photosynthesis, Iron Bark, Rapid Growth, Vine Control, Resource Berry, Fruit Creation
Body Skills: Domain of Awareness, Improved Digestion, Body Manipulation, Improved Sap Flow, Short Rest, Mental Fortitude, Parasitic Takeover
Magic: Water Magic, Earth Magic, Fire Magic, Air Magic, Metal Magic, Mental Magic, Mana Circulation, Mana Condensation, Mana Efficiency
Crafting: Wood Working, Blacksmithing, Enchanting, Disenchanting
Other: Fire Resistance, First Aid, Identify, Marksmanship
I was a little surprised at the way the system ordered a few of the skills, but I guess after thinking about it, it made sense. Sap flow started off as a blood flow skill, so that’s body, but vine control is specific to trees, so that’s a tree skill. I disliked that Parasitic Takeover was in the body category, but from the way the skill activates, it does make sense.
Yeah. It all made sense.
After looking at all the skills I had, I debated between the various elemental magics I had access to. Upon further reflection though, I didn’t actually know which elements she could use. It felt a bit late to ask her that now though, so I decided firmly on trying to enchant the staff with the flamethrower spell I used to defeat the giant.
Rather than try making the larger hotter flame I used, I instead opted to focus on a lower intensity heat using purely Fire Magic instead of the mixed fire and air magics.
I looked down into my workshop and noticed that the whole room was extremely saturated with mana, just as I had left it. The staff was filled to the brim with an unwilled mana, and it wouldn’t exactly work with what I had planned. I guess I could still give it to her, but it wouldn’t be enchanted like I wanted.
Instead, I chose to make a new staff for her.
I made it the same way as I had before: elongate a root, add scales up and down the length, add a viper head on top, add a rattlesnake tail on the bottom, just give it general snake vibes. Since I already had a model completed, it only took me a brief moment to make the staff, though the rush job made it cost a bit more in stamina.
As I finished growing the new staff, the group came out, had their breakfast, and chatted with me for a while. Archy was a little skittish about broaching the subject, but Axel was perfectly fine telling me what was on their minds with no trouble.
“We plan on leaving soon, Willow. We’ve been out here for almost a month, hunting Orcs over and over again. While I’m still having fun, Aspen is almost out-leveled for the area, and we want to be constantly improving. If you want us to, we can put in a good word about you at the guild. It would let others know that you’re a safe zone in an otherwise hostile area, and you would have some pretty consistent visitors. Or if you prefer, we can keep your presence here a secret. It’s totally your choice.”
I thought about it, and decided it was time to open up to the world a little.
“Aspen mentioned it to me that you would be leaving soon. I don’t mind you revealing my location, but, if at all possible, don’t let them know that I talk. I’ll have a safe zone put up soon, probably tonight while you sleep, and others can rest here as long as they want, but I don’t necessarily want to converse with people every time I get a visitor. You all have been a pleasant exception, but I’m not what you might call a people person.”
The group smiled at my puppet and thanked me for my protection during their stay before heading out for their final day of hunting. Before they left though, I showed them my night’s progress.
“I made these while you all slept. It’s made of leaf material, as you can see, but the enchantments should last a while. If you want to keep them or sell them is up to you. Consider it a parting gift. Now leave so I can work on one last thing. It shouldn’t take me too long, but I have a lot to do before you come back tonight.”
I didn’t give them time to react more than just grabbing the gloves I gave them before ushering them out with my dryad puppet. I wasn’t kidding about having a lot to do, since I haven’t enchanted anything more than just some gloves before. This had potential to get dangerous if I messed it up.