Untapped ~ Chapter Twenty-One!

“I can see why you were nervous about some of these, Tatum.” Joe murmured as he finished reading over the dense information. “I think it's easier to count how many skills didn't change. Two? Maybe three? Also, what's up with Mental Manipulation Resistance? That skill is clearly out to get me, and if you can't get rid of it, what am I supposed to…” 

Trailing off, he looked around himself, only to grumble in frustration at finding himself alone in front of Tatum's altar. “Why are you so weirdly stingy, system? He can alter the skills grafted onto my soul but can't have a conversation about it?”

There was no answer, which he actually appreciated. Typically, when he did get a reply, things got… concerning. Usually pretty quickly. Rolling his shoulders slowly, he lifted his Ritual Orbs into the air around himself out of habit—now long-used to training them almost unconsciously—only to flinch away as one of them clattered to the floor as broken metal shards. “Ah… right. I suppose I should probably fix that. Good thing I hadn’t before meeting with Tatum. Stoic Constitution already changed and would have just broken it all over again.”

Still considering the changes, Joe turned away from the altar and waited patiently as the floor opened up, then he descended into the darkness of the tunnel hidden below, feeling like an old-school villain as he vanished into a secret lair. Minutes later, he walked into the open area under the Pathfinder’s Hall and raised an eyebrow as he saw Boris sitting there reading a book.

Skill increase: Mental Manipulation Resistance (Novice I → Novice II). Your surprise has faded.

Joe's eyes went wide as he saw the notification, only for it to appear again, increasing the skill to Novice three. “Abyss.”

“Where have you been all day?” Boris looked up at Joe's accidental cursing, snapping his book shut and getting to his feet. “You had people waiting for you here for hours.”

“Really? I just stepped…” The Ritualist shook his head, cutting off his ramblings before they started. “Actually, that makes sense. I just had a rather severe soul scouring, and I'm not surprised I lost a few hours there. I'm not great with keeping track of time in the first place, so-”

“He's back!” Taka’s voice sounded out from the other side of the room, followed by a few minutes of doors opening and people coming out carrying various-sized packs. Joe looked at their containers in confusion for a moment, only to remember that spatial storage devices were restricted goods on Midgard. “Are you finally ready to go? By the way, the town management board is having a conniption looking for you. Know how I know that? It's not because I went outside, because the doors are sealed, and I couldn't leave.” 

Joe could only offer an apologetic grin as he shrugged. “My bad. Everyone ready to go?”

“Pardon me, but I do have another quick concern to raise,” Boris sounded absolutely aggrieved. “First, I assume I'm not going with you, which leaves me alone in this place. Secondly, if I am meant to do the job you say I have, how am I meant to stay in the building? I'm rather certain that, as soon as you aren't here to stop them, I’ll be dragged out by my ear and tossed out of the town, let alone the building.” 

“Right, about that.” Joe motioned for everyone to follow him, turning around to find that the secret passage had shifted into stairs going up once again. “Everyone follow me? Boris, I transferred you super-user rights to the building. You can seal the doors, restrict information from being found, and generally have control over this structure, more so than anyone except myself. They try to get rid of you? Lock them out. They have a problem with it? Tell them to take it up with your guard.”

“My what now?”

“Your guard.” By the time Boris stepped out of the stairwell, Joe had instructed the Pathfinder’s Hall to open up, and the Juggernaut posted outside of the door was stomping toward them. “Meet Juggs.”

Boris blinked rapidly, appearing scandalized. “Say that one again for me?”

“This is Juggs the Juggernaut.” Joe's cheeks tinged pink, but he refused to acknowledge the accidental phrasing issue. “Juggs, you are to keep Boris safe, following his orders unless he is under duress. If you are uncertain if he is under duress, clear the building, have him seal it, then ask for clarification.”

“Acknowledged,” came the rumbling voice, deep from the depths of the empty suit of armor. “New designation received. Orders… acceptable.”

When he looked over, Joe was glad to see that the old man had a smile on his face. Boris was stroking his beard, trying not to look pleased with himself but failing miserably. “You know, Joe, that is a delightful companion to have. Might I say, I feel safer at this moment than I have in the last deuce of years… emphasis on deuce.” 

“You've gotten crass in your time on the streets, haven't you?” Joe shook his head in mock sadness. “Well, if you're all set, I'll take this moment to bring my Coven members out of here. We have trainin’ to do!”

The handful of low-skilled Ritualists let out cheers with varied amounts of enthusiasm in them. Kirby was easily the most excited, yet Hannah stared at the daylight streaming in through the open door of the Pathfinder’s Hall with trepidation. Giving each of them a reassuring smile, Joe straightened up and strolled out of the enormous, egg-shaped dome. When a half-dozen guards confronted him with drawn weapons, his smile soured into something more dangerous.

“Whoaa, there, guys.” Immediately, the man in charge of them, Jay the guard, put his sword away and stepped back, grabbing onto the two people nearest him and pulling them out of the small group’s path. “Clearly our information was wrong, that's Joe. Yes, that Joe. He owns the place. Don't mind us, Joe! We were told someone took the building hostage or something? I’ll clear it up for you. By the time you get back from wherever you're going, you won't be hassled anymore.”

“Thanks.” Joe actively tried not to feel surprised at the treatment, knowing his Mental Manipulation Resistance skill was just waiting to pounce. “By the way, I put Boris in charge of the place. I hired him as the curator for the knowledge it’s collecting. Please make sure he isn't given any trouble… I'd be extremely irate if I came back, and the man I worked so hard to convince to come here was removed.”

Much to his relief, Joe wasn't stopped again as they left the town, leaving behind the souvenir shops and uncomfortable reminders of what parts of Earth used to look like. Soon, the replanted forest stretched before them, and his high-level perception allowed him to start picking out movement in the underbrush. 

“Looks like we're not going to get very far before we get to start practicing!” Beaming around at the others, Joe marched them along the road, quickly leaving the walls of Towny McTownface behind. Once they were fully out of sight of the sentries on the walls, he waved Robert forward and pointed at the base of a tree. “Go ahead and try out Elemental Burst, you should easily-”

“Wait, which one is that?” Robert pulled open the Ritual Combat Manual and flipped through it, only to glance up in despair. “Joe, I don't have half of the things this ritual requires!”

After going very still and quiet, the bald Ritualist pulled out his own manual and flipped it open, reading over the materials list the others needed in order to cast the ritual. “Ah… huh. Right. A moment, please.”

Turning on his heel, Joe sped back to town, quickly finding an actual shop hidden among all of the trinket stores masquerading as treasure. After making sure he could spend contribution points instead of coins, he loaded up one of his rings with enough components to make a thousand of the Novice-rank rituals for each of the others. 

He considered buying alchemical ingredients as well but decided against it—there was nothing in his skills that said they couldn't use the reagents he created, and alchemy was a massive time suck already. 

Minutes later, he was back to his group, walking them through the placement of the materials, the correct angle to tilt their hand when drawing the upper left quadrant of the circle, and watching with nostalgia as leaves, crystals, shavings of precious metals, and chalk all melted into each other to create a single, cohesive ritual diagram. Once each of them had ten of the Novice rituals prepped and ready to go—nearly an hour's work for the slowest of them—they were finally ready to set out once more. 

After seeing how his coven members prepared themselves for a fight, then how they used their rituals to hunt the creatures they found, Joe was absolutely amazed…

… at how bad they were at it.

“Big_Mo.” Joe stood with his palms pressed together, index fingers on his lips as he tried to carefully measure his response to the latest attempt at hunting a squirrel. “I don't know how to tell you this, but it is supposed to be an Elemental Burst of wind. That had all the force of a half-hearted sneeze. I legitimately have no idea how you did that.” 

“No, look!” The man in question gestured at the shrubbery he had minced with his ritual. “It did what it was supposed to do. I just didn't hit the squirrel.”

“The squirrel didn't move, ‘Mo.” Taka cheerfully called over, holding up his most recent trophy—a bushy tail, which was all that remained of his target. “You’ve gotten too used to the auto-targeting function of adding blood in.” 

“It's how they’re supposed to be used!” Big_Mo belted back, glancing at Joe nervously, as though the bald man were about to kick him out of the group. “Right?”

“Not this version. When we’re using circles only, it's a burst, not an inundation. We'll work on it.” Joe turned his attention to Taka, who was still gloating at his successful hunt. “Speaking of, you know the ritual is supposed to last ten seconds at a time, yes? It activates in one-second bursts, but yours only lasted three.”

“I think I might have modified it to let out more of its power with each burst?” Now that Joe's attention had landed on him, Taka wasn't nearly as exuberant. 

“Are you asking me or telling me? Could you do it again, on purpose?” Joe pressed, only for the younger man to shrug nonchalantly. “Look, all of you… the reason I’m back on Midgard in the first place is because I’m lacking in fundamentals. I admit I have the advantage in Characteristics, and I can make up for some of my deficiencies with raw speed or sheer resources. Even so, here I am, just like you, trying to get through this Novice questline. Don't try to modify things, don't skip steps, and-”

A rabbit hopped out onto the path, only to be surrounded by a shimmering rainbow. The unfortunate creature let out a sharp squeal then burst like a hot dog that had been left in the microwave too long, a fountain of shimmering dust spraying into the air and leaving behind a piece of meat and a perfectly prepared pelt. Everyone looked at Kirby, who raised her hands helplessly. “I swear, I did it exactly how it said to do it!” 

“‘Kay.” Joe tried to fight against the grin pulling at his lips, wanting to give his pupil the respect she so desperately desired. To cover himself a bit better, he snapped his fingers and manifested his inscription tool. “Watch.”

A secondary function of Somatic Ritual Casting he’d never considered before was the ease of visibility it provided. By drawing in the air, he was able to create the lines and sigils extra-large, leaving behind crisp sections which spun into place to create a textbook-perfect diagram. 

The four elemental symbols appeared next, each glowing with their own characteristic light. Pointing at each of the different portions, he gave a brief explanation on its purpose, why it mattered that it was placed just so, and even hinted that it was possible to see the element it would be infused with by the brightness of the sigils. Not wanting to confuse them too much, he didn't bring up the interactions with the stars they could focus on—yet.

He flicked the activation sequence with a touch of mana, sending a series of faint, shimmering lines through the air. The first one passed through a tree growing alongside the path cleanly, and the second one did the same but at a slightly different angle, causing the tree to begin toppling over. The third and fourth tore out chunks that would perfectly fit in a campfire, while the rest simply ripped into the fallen tree and sent chips flying everywhere. 

“As you can see, the more precise the lines are, the sharper the wind generated will be. Same with whatever element ends up being used—though, with the others, it might manifest as pointed rocks, dense flames, or hyper-condensed water. When you let them stay fuzzy-”

Continuing to lecture as they strolled along the path, Joe answered whatever questions the Coven members had. Adding in some blood, he walked them through each of the different reactions that were created and why they happened. “I'd show you what happens with alchemy, but I'm going to need some time to prep that. I ran out on the way here, and it shouldn’t surprise you that I forgot to make more.”

By the time he had finished speaking, and the questions had stopped coming, they were another hour down the road. The others began murmuring amongst themselves, looking as though they had stumbled upon enlightenment. A few of them bragged about skill gains, comparing notes to see if the others had unlocked Lore skills as they had or just gained skill levels directly. 

The system took that moment to notify Joe of a happy change he had earned as well.

Skill increase: Teaching (Journeyman II → Journeyman III).

While he was pleased at the increase in a skill that didn't make him nervous, the Ritualist suddenly realized they had been walking completely uncontested for a really long time. “Hey, I know this is going to sound weird, but why have we been so safe for the last hour or so? I've kind of been expecting… I don't know, maybe a rabid wolf or something to show up?”

Hannah was the first to speak up, clearly working to be a part of anything she could. “It's been a regular problem around town! Since there’s so much tourism, the roads are heavily trafficked. Pretty much any monster above level seven is hunted down immediately.”

As if to punctuate her point, the next time they heard rustling in the foliage, a hunter poked his head around a tree. He gave them a once over then led his own group out of the woods and onto the road. Doing his best to ignore the small team casually walking around them, Joe directed his coven members to target a plump squirrel watching them from a branch—only for a sharp whistling to sound out just before the squirrel was pinned to the tree, going limp as the arrow vibrated to a halt.

“Okay, next time let's-” Joe was cut off as two men in damaged leather armor came stumbling into view, dragging a third person between them. A trail of blood led back into the trees, pouring out of the man's shredded leg.

“Coming through!” One of the men barked at Joe's group, only speeding up as they stepped onto the hard packed road and out of the underbrush. “Move aside, or I'll gut you on my way through!”

Seeing the bald man in front of him still not moving, the hunter put actions to words by drawing his dagger and thrusting it at Joe without hesitation as they got close. Not even bothering to defend himself, the Ritualist stepped close, letting the knife stop dead against his Exquisite Shell. A gentle chop at the man’s head later, Joe was shamefacedly pressing a hand against the nearly unconscious adventurer. 

“Whoops… hang on, I can fix you both.” Joe cast Lay on Hands, grunting in satisfaction as a giant lump on the aggressive man’s head faded, and torn meat knitted together under the thin sheet of water washing over the wound on the originally damaged hunter. “Hey. What did this to you, and where can we find it?”

It was the third member of their party who answered, cautiously looking on but keeping his hands to the side to show he wasn't going to follow the example of the first. “It was a stone wolf. None of our weapons worked against it. Blades just bounced right off of ‘im. Already down, though. As soon as Billy took a hit, another group stepped in and took the kill.”

“All that effort just to lose it and almost get sent to respawn.” The now-healed man snarled as he inspected his destroyed boiled-leather leg guards. “Thanks for the assist. Now I can at least walk back from here.”

“No problem-” Joe started to say, only for Kirby to lean forward and let loose a brilliant smile.

“What he's too nice to say is that going to respawn is free, but healing costs money. Now, he's a kind man and isn’t going to give you a set price for his services. He’ll take whatever donation you feel is the right one. Just do what your heart tells you.” Joe felt his jaw drop slightly as the tiny lady practically shook the men down for the last of their coin. Just like that, he gained a couple silver, a handful of copper, and-

A golden line appeared in the air between him and the man he had healed. For half a heartbeat, Joe could see as the light shifted, moving from the now-leaving hunters to the coins in his hand. Then the light burst like a soap bubble, fading away quickly enough that he wasn't certain he hadn't imagined it. 

Not entirely certain what had happened, Joe pocketed the coins and began slowly walking down the road. “That was definitely my Karmic Perception coming into play, but what did it mean? For a moment, we were connected, but it vanished after I was paid? Have I been setting up karmic debts between myself and someone else when I help them out for free?”

Breaking himself out of the cycle of confusion and rumination, as there was no handy-dandy library nearby for him to pop in and do research in what was almost guaranteed to be a restricted topic, Joe glanced around and watched as more and more people poured out of the woods. Big_Mo glanced at the sky and scratched his chin. “Looks like it's almost sunset. Should we head back, or are we setting up camp? I think we all brought enough for a couple days?”

Joe didn't respond immediately, his mind on the fact that his coven hadn't had any real challenge yet, how this place was practically crawling with other people vying for the same creatures, and—to put it mildly—how he had plenty of other things that needed to be done. “No. No, we're not heading back. Didn’t I already say that? We barely scratched the surface of what we can do, and if we keep bouncing back and forth between town and hunting, it's just going to be a few weeks of dodging tourists and trying not to accidentally send a wind blade into someone's face.”

“What are you saying?” Robert spread his hands, reaching back to tap his small backpack. “I didn't bring enough for an extended trip, so-”

The bald Ritualist looked down the road, and then, just through the grid-grown trees ahead, he saw it: untouched, old growth forest. “We've got everything we need, trust me. We're here to learn how to fight and complete quests, and we're not going to do that by living a regular nine to five like these other hunters. If we want food, let's hunt it. You want to go back and be perfectly comfortable? That's fine… but the rest of us are going to go out there and get good at this. Buckle up, friends. We’re going on a full-fledged expedition to the frontier.”