The Way Ahead

Edwin bonelessly sank into the couch in pure bliss. He hadn’t even realized just how tense and sore he’d been after his altercation with the ‘law’ had been until Rillah had pointed it out and then fixed it, giving him the greatest shoulder massage he’d ever felt.

…it might have also been the only massage he’d ever had, come to think of it, but it was still borderline magical if not actually supernatural.

“That was so… so nice,” he admitted, “Was that a Skill, or just practice?”

“I’m not Lefi,” Rillah laughed, “But Heightened Sensations definitely helps with this sort of thing. Makes it all so much more fun.”

She traced a Skill-laden finger along his arm, and he shivered at the feeling of pleasure it brought along with it.

“Could have fooled me,” Edwin groaned. He tried and failed to sit up before he called on Flight, grabbing his shirt with Unbound Tether. He didn’t pull it on immediately, instead looking dejectedly at the small hole at the center of its chest and corresponding bloodstain, “Guess I need to see Lefi about this.”

“Nah, toss it this way.”

“You’ve got Mending?”

“Of course! It’s so useful, how could I not?”

“Fair enough. Can you do his whole… instant-fix trick?”

“Not quite but I wish I could. It’s just far too high-level of an effect for Repairing, but…” She slipped his shirt on, and the fabric almost seemed to ripple for a moment, colors shifting before settling in a turquoise color and cut that fit much better on her, “Whoops! I can fix that.”

With a bit of focus, Edwin watched as several Skills flowed throughout his shirt, restoring it to its proper shape and green color. She slipped off the outer garment- Edwin wasn’t able to not stare, even though all she was doing was undressing to her normal level of clothing- and tossed it back to him.

“What was that?” The hole and staining was completely gone, and it thankfully fit him just as well as it had before in addition to being perfectly clean.

“Oh, Custom Fit. It makes anything I use always benefit from the effects of my Skills, as well as a few other perks.”

Very convenient. He approved.

“Well, thanks. I think I could stand to relax a bit, though, and I’m a bit peckish so I’m going to make myself some dinner, I’ll be back soon.”

“Ooh, you cook? You any good at it?”

“Did this somehow never come up before now?” Edwin raised an eyebrow, “I guess I’m a decent cook, though a bit out of practice, I have a Skill that makes everything I make super tasty, we’re just not sure if it’s addictive.”

“Is your food that good?”

“Well, I’ve got a Skill... haven’t we talked about it?” he asked, but Rillah shook her head.

“I don’t remember this.”

“I could have sworn… Anyway, Arcadian Elixir improves the nutrition and taste of foods and other edible stuff I make, but it makes everything else taste significantly worse, and we don’t really have any way to tell if that’s the result of the Skill just being that good, or it’s actively making other stuff taste bad.”

“Oh, that’s fine! I have a Skill for that!”

“Wait, what?”

“Well yeah. How am I supposed to try everything if I can be waylaid by trying the wrong thing? Refreshed Tastes and Cleanse Palate both get rid of poisons, alcohol, and even addictive Skills really easily.”

“Alcohol is just a type of poison,” Edwin felt compelled to point out, “But neat? Do I want to know how you have two Skills dedicated to that?”

“I eat a lot of different stuff, try lots of foods. I don’t recommend most dirt, but there are places where it’s rather tasty.”

“Ooookay, I guess. I’ll make stuff for you as well, I suppose. You don’t happen to have any other Skills that might be useful for me to know about?

“Oh come on, Edwin,” she jostled his shoulder, “Isn’t it way more exciting this way? Learning about me as you go along, getting little bits about my capabilities and talents as we travel together?”

“Okay, first off- yes, that may arguably be more fun, and I definitely would like to travel with you and learn… nevermind. Anyway! I’m also in the business of not dying, and being able to do things in a way that’s reasonable and practical. Knowing the full scope of what you can do is useful. Look at just now! If I had known you had these poison-cleansing Skills earlier, then I could have wrapped up this whole question ages ago.

“Besides, you know my Skills, so why can’t I know yours? I thought that you were going to tell me about them at some point anyway.”

“I will! And I am, you just haven’t been asking. You’ve been way too busy with your alchemy and enchanting to talk to little old me.”

“You know why I’m doing that. If you want me to not work on your replacement machine, just let me know and I’ll… I don’t know, work on something else on my research list. But I digress. I want to know what your Skills are, just give me something.”

“After dinner, then. We can talk while we eat.”

Edwin sighed, “Fine. I won’t bother you for a little while as I’m cooking, then.”

It being the middle of winter meant the tower’s kitchen, cellar, and pantry didn’t have access to that much variety, but it still had a decent amount of preserved foods, and Edwin returned not much later with two empanada-like beef pastries. Basic Thermokinesis made cooking seriously easy, as there was no preheating or anything required. There was a bit of nuance to it, of course, to make it not taste like he cooked it in a microwave, but he’d had practice.

“It’s good! Does your alchemy help you make food?”

“It does, actually. It mostly lets me know the right temperature to use, when something’s cooked, that kind of stuff, but I’m not entirely sure if that’s just general practice I’ve gotten from potion-making or not. It’s definitely not as effective compared to doing actual alchemy, but it still counts a bit.”

“Well, it’s good. Well-done, too, not just the Skill flavoring things.”

“You can tell the difference?”

“No, but I can guess.”

She finished her food with just a couple more bites and nodded, “The Skill was also good. It’s about… oh, worth maybe two mid-level Skills? Definitely puts it a bit below Skilled cooks but for a single Skill that’s… really good. Especially since it has other effects, and it’s only mid-level itself.”

“How… how do you know all this stuff?”

“Oh, lots and lots of food,” she smiled, “Five high-level musical Skills is good enough to serve as entertainment in any tavern and most courts, and that comes with a meal made by someone who knows what they’re doing. It’s always a great time.”

“And the verdict? Is it addictive? Does it make other food taste worse?”

“One minute,” she sprung to her feet and dashed out of the room.

While she was away, Edwin took the opportunity to start to update his Arcadian Elixir’s Almanac entry with the comparisons to other flavor-related Skills.

“Yep,” Rillah nodded as she sat back down, chewing on a piece of bread.

“Woah, that startled me. Sorry, what?”

“Your Skill makes other stuff taste worse.”

“It does? Dang it. Any idea by how much?”

“Eh, about the same as it increases? As I’m sure you’re familiar with, a good Cook will make everything way better, so even with the penalty their stuff will still be better than a Skill-less cook could make.”

“That does line up with what I’ve seen, I suppose.”

He sighed, “I guess that means I’m not cooking for most people, then. You, Inion, and myself are the only people I’m comfortable using it on.”

She cocked her head in curiosity.

“Well I’ll never be without it as an option, so no matter how strong it gets I can always just make my own food. Inion is basically immune to it, because it apparently just tastes like food from her home. Then you… you can get rid of it, right?”

Rillah looked off to the side for a moment, and a light blue Skill ignited at her mouth, sweeping through her entire body in an instant. She took another bite out of her bread and nodded, “That did it, yeah.”

“Okay, yeah. You, Inion, and myself. Anyone else, I don’t want to subject them to that.”

“How’s it going to work for you when you want to eat something you didn’t make? I promise you, you’re missing out if you just eat your own stuff.”

“I’m trying to figure out some kind of spice I can put on food I eat, that might help trick the Skill into thinking ‘I’ made the food… it’s a work in progress, and not a terribly high priority one. Anyway! I have questions.”

He mentally clicked a pen and pulled up her Almanac entry, “Tell me about yourself.”

Seasonal Dancer of Whimsy

Rillah (AdventurerRillah)

Bard, Mage, and Wanderer.

Rillah (no last name?)

Seasonal Dancer of Whimsy (current)

Half-elf, about 24 years old

Bard-ish (really good flute player) adventurer mage, fond of traveling. Has wings and can fly, likes dancing.

Skill list:

Magical

Autumnal Gust, Updraft, Harvesting Winds, Cutting Gale

Basic Isochronal Magic, Isochronal Magic, Greater Isochronal Magic, Mantle of the Seasons

Chilling Grasp, Chill, Ice Manipulation, Winter's Flurry

Spark, Dancing Flame, Fire Snake, Mesmeric Flare

Unweathered Form, Greater Unweathered Form, Idyllic Appearance, Mercurial Shape

Vivacious Caress, Bountiful Energy, Enhanced Stamina, Energetic Wellspring

Physical

Breathing, Deep Breath, Smelling, Read the Air

Dancing, Eternal Dance, Delicate Steps, Meandering Steps

Drinking, Pouring, Bottomless Flask, Endless [Carrying Cellar] (Note: This is apparently a thing on Joriah, a portable spatially-expanded room full of alcohol)

Eating, Diverse Palate, Refreshed Tastes, Cleanse Self

Flexibility, Seasonal Shift, Mystic Anatomy, Gusting Wings

Flying, Dancing Wings, Powerful Flight

Mental

Hearing, Perfect Pitch, Natural Tune, Song of the Wild

Reflexes, Quick-Witted, Pause for Thought, Worthy of Notice

Seeing, Eye for Novelty, Mana Sight, Detailed Mana Sight

Combat

Spearmanship, Spear-Dancing, Sidestepping, Fluttering Steps

Social/Musical

Charm, Good Impression, Calming Touch, Allure

Language, Polyglot, Clarity of Intent, Inspiring Speech

Music, Flute-playing, Flute of the Ancient Hollow, Melodious Focus

Sense Motive, Discern Lie, Between the Words, Social Savvy

Utility

Bedplay, Self-Control, Heightened Sensations, Memorable Night

Cooking, Greater Cooking, Advanced Cooking, Harvest Feast

Identify, Common Knowledge, Wanderer's Guide, Musician's Ear

Repairing, Passive Maintenance, Greater Passive Maintenance, Custom Fit

Status, Status Log, Travelogue, Atlas

Weaving, Tailoring, Hardy Clothing, Twirling Dance

Attributes:

Charisma, Dexterity, Health, Intelligence, Mana, Perception, Seasonal Mana, Speed, Stamina

Magery:

Has mana which ebbs and flows with the seasons. In spring, this predominantly is life/rain-related; in summer, fire; in autumn, wind; and in winter, ice. Her strongest element always corresponds to the current season, and her second-strongest depends on how far into the season it is. Early-season, it’s whichever season just ended. Mid-season, it’s the season opposite (such as summer during midwinter), and near the end of the season, it’s the season just about to start.

She never loses full access to all of one mana type, but near the solstices and equinoxes the off-season elements (summer and winter in spring and autumn) become all but unusable save for minor uses (like starting a fire in fall, or a faint breeze in summer)

Her Visualization is that of a storm which fades in intensity with overuse, and can summon lightning by freecasting.

Personal notes:

Really nice, seems to care a lot about me. She definitely makes an effort to ensure I’m included whenever feasible, is definitely actively trying to get me more comfortable around people- probably at Lefi’s (LefiForolova) request.

Unknown how she would react to more personal questions, or how much she actually likes me versus is just trying to reassure me. Unknown how trustworthy she is for sensitive conversation. Unknown how available she is for generally doing stuff.

“That’s quite the note-taking Skill you have there.”

“Well, considering it cost a fortune and is nearly level 140, so I’d hope so. I’m also so glad I can tag multi-word phrases these days. Makes the Skill list so much easier. Anyway, I have questions.”

She grinned, “Ask away.”

“Okay, so putting aside the fact I’ll want to try and catalogue the details of all of these Skills at some point, such as the Path you used and all that-”

“Oh? A junior Registrar-aspirant, are you?”

Edwin raised a finger, ready to rebut her claim, then he thought better about it and retracted his point, “Maybe. I more just want to… well no, that’s basically what a Registrar does. Basically I just want to learn how Skills interact and what the logic beneath different Paths are. So yeah, what Registrars do. Someday, I want to be able to perfectly predict what I’ll get from a Path, just like they mostly can.”

“But what about the joy of discovery, of not knowing what you’ll get?”

“Oh come on. You can’t tell me you got all these Skills just by taking what sounded the most fun.”

She shrugged, “Pretty much, actually, other than the ones I got as a kid or with Lefi.”

“Well… I like to be a bit more prepared, I guess. I need to know.”

“I could have guessed from you evolving Flight.”

Edwin paused, trying to parse whether or not he should feel complimented, insulted, both, or neither.

“I’m just going to move past that… What the heck do your Isochronal Magic skills do, and why do you have three of them? Yes, I know they’re evolutions, but… yeah.”

I feel like I’m giving an interview. Ugh, I don’t like this.

“It’s my magic Skill. You know, sort of like how you have your Mana Infusion? It’s what helps me actually use magic easily. Basic helps me channel more mana, The normal version helps me channel it with more detail, and Greater makes it stronger. Brighter flames for the same effort, that kind of thing. It’s kinda tricky to explain.

“Mantle of the Seasons,” she forestalled his next question, “Makes whatever season I’m currently in even stronger.”

“I thought that was something that was just part of how your mana worked?”

“It is! The Skill just makes it stronger.”

“Huh, okay then. What does Read the Air do?”

“Oh, that lets me get a general sense of what’s going to happen. Like when something exciting is imminent, or if there’s festivities happening nearby.”

“How does that work?”

“Intuition.”

“...Fair enough. And you don’t have Walking?”

She shook her head, “Walking is boring. Dancing is better in every way.”

He raised an eyebrow.

“I have better footwork than most guards do thanks to that Skill, I’ll have you know.”

“Sure you do. But what about if you want to, oh I don’t know, walk somewhere?”

“Eternal Dance. I just have the order mixed up, so what actually matters comes first, and it applies to my whole body, even if I’m flying.”

“Point,” he conceded, “I know I’d like my flight to be easier or work with Longstrider.”

His eyes skimmed over the list, “I don’t want to bore you…”

“Edwin, it’s fine. You had a stressful day, talking is a great way to unwind.”

“Yeah, but I feel like I’m interrogating you and I don’t want that.”

“Would you rather me regale you with stories of my every Skill and how I’ve used it? I have a lot of stories.”

Edwin thought for a second, “Maybe one day, that would be nice. It just seems like a great way to get distracted.”

“Oh, getting distracted?” she flashed an impish grin and summoned a prismatic tongue of fire to her hand.

Edwin’s attention was immediately consumed by the Mesmeric Flare, watching its brilliant colors dance and intertwine with such magnificent depth, the scintillating light hypnotically attractive…

He shook his head and closed his eyes, “How’d I do?”

“Not bad. Not as fast as you’ve been before, but still under a minute.”

Edwin opened his eyes again, and his gaze was once more drawn to the dancing fire, but already being in the right mindset (and with Adaptive Defense already in the right state) kept him from being sucked in for more than a few seconds.

“I’ll take it, I guess. And your ‘Carrying Cellar,’ which is apparently a thing? Some spatial expansion Skill that also reduces the weight for what you carry?”

“Yeah. I’m really happy with that. It was originally only useful for drinks, but Custom Fit made it now work with anything. It’s amazing, and packing became so much easier since I got it.”

There seemed to be an obvious problem with that, “What happens if you hand something affected by it off?”

“So long as I carry my bags more than anyone else does, it works just fine. If I don’t wear it at all for a long time, then it’ll also wear off, but Passive Maintenance basically means that will never happen, so I don’t have to worry about it. It’s way better than Packing because it’s no struggle at all.”

“Oh yeah, Packing,” Edwin frowned, “How come you don’t have that?”

“I couldn’t get it.”

“You couldn’t?”

She shook her head, “It’s my elf half, I think. Easier to blame him, anyway. I might be able to get it, but why bother? It all turned out just fine, so it’s perfectly alright.”

“Huh. Okay. What about your Flexibility stuff, then?”

“That makes it easier to use spells on me, plus some other stuff. With my Updraft, even before I got my wings I could use it to fly into the air a bit like your Unbound Tether skill.”

“Neat. And Gusting Wings…”

“Are my wings, yes. That was quite the Trophy to get those.”

“You’ll have to tell me about it sometime. Worthy of Notice?”

“Oh, jumping ahead a bit now?”

“It seemed… noteworthy.”

She shot a playful glare his way, but he just smiled, “It lets me always see what the most interesting thing nearby is.”

“How does it determine what the most interesting thing is?”

“Usually, whatever is the most immediately impactful to me. The barkeeper in a tavern, or maybe a cool adventurer, but usually just whatever has the most potential around it. Great for learning new stuff!”

“I bet. Is it literally a metagaming Skill?” Edwin muttered.

“A what Skill?”

“Right, you could hear that. Just a… well, what Lefi would call a Quest sense.”

She chuckled, “You know what? That’s not too far off.”

“So can you… what, use it to find just the right book in a library for what you want to do?”

She nodded.

“Lucky.”

“That’s me!”

Edwin rolled his eyes in agreement before continuing, “You only have one combat Skill? Why’s that?”

“Well, I’m not a warrior or hunter. I fly away from problems, and the only reason I even have that one is because Lefi insisted I get it way back when.”

“Yeah, that doesn’t look like you took it in a really combat-oriented direction, did you?” he mused, “Are those dancing-related?”

“They can be.”

Edwin’s eyes skimmed down the Skill list, “Is your Flute a trophy Skill?”

In response, she held out her hand, and a brown-green Skill stretched into existence, materializing the simple yet elegant

“May I?” he asked. Rillah nodded and handed him the woodwind.

It was so perfect if he hadn’t known it was a Skill, he might well have guessed it if not for how real it felt. He could see the wood grain making up its stock, feel its weight pressing into his hand, two turquoise stones embossed into the wood, the two fabric bands near its end silky smooth and with a vague, indistinct pattern. The wood itself near the mouth of the flute had some sort of intricate pattern carved into it, though he couldn’t tell what it was.

“What does it do?”

“Ah, now that is my secret.”

Edwin raised an eyebrow as Rillah reclaimed her instrument.

“A girl needs some tricks, you know. And this…” she ran her hands lovingly over the wooden body, “This is one of them.”

“Can I ask what Melodious Focus does, then?”

“Oh, that helps me use spells and Skills through music. Edwin, your eyebrow is trying to escape.”

He scowled, bringing his errant eyebrow under control, before turning back to his list.

“Apparently you should be doing the cooking?” Edwin joked, “That’s what, four Skills?”

“Hey, none of them are flavor-based. Honestly, most of them aren’t that useful for me. Diverse Palate already lets me eat a lot of stuff that I otherwise couldn’t, Advanced Cooking just makes it edible for other people. Harvest Feast is magical and annoying to level, but lets me make this absolutely enormous meal during autumn with the help of my magical Skills, and it has lots of really cool effects, but I missed my chance to use it this year because I was stuck here.”

She sighed, “But it’s alright. I had fun with you, Lefi, Yathal, and Kyni which wouldn’t have happened in the same way without me being here.

Edwin smiled, “You’re too nice.”

“It’s true!”

“Anyway, moving on… You have Bedplay?”

“I know, I’m such a stereotype.”

“What?”

“In my defense, it was very worth the Skill.”

“No, the stereotype.”

“Oh, that Adventurers have a Skill for everything you could ever want? Including everything in bed?”

“Ah,” Edwin felt his face flush slightly, “I get it.”

“Now, it’s not the worst stereotype to have, and a lot of people are jealous of it because of how rarely the Registrars grant it. But adventurers don’t have to worry about that, do we? So, the rumor goes, we have Skills for-”

“I said I get it!”

She chuckled, “Where did you think my nickname came from? Now, it is a rather clever pun, I’ll give them that, but it’s more than just that.”

“What nickname?”

“Oh come on, there’s no way you’ve never heard anyone call me daywasr. Especially not from what you said happened today.”

“Polyglot doesn’t translate it for me,” he shrugged.

She frowned, “What level is it for you?

“Ahh… seventyish?”

“It should definitely translate for you by then. Keiach, that’s more than I got my Polyglot to, you should be able to understand everything so long as they stick to one language at a time,” she paused and narrowed her eyes, “Do you ever swear?”

“Um, no?”

“How uncomfortable does swearing make you?”

“I mean, I’m used to it, but I usually just try to tune it out.”

Rillah started laughing.

“Oh come on, what is it?”

She brought her laughter down to a chuckle, “Xares above, that’s hilarious. I’ve never heard of someone handicapping their Polyglot to not translate any foul language before. Oh, this could be so much fun.

“Anyway, daywasr comes from ‘weather’ and a fairly derogatory term for ‘whore.’ Hence, the pun.”

It took Edwin a moment to properly parse the words, un-translating them until he caught the original pronunciation. Weather in the local language was apparently ‘dayser’ and whore was ‘wasr.’ As much as he disapproved of the insult… he had to admit it was rather well done.

“You done laughing?”

“Yep, I am. Oh, that’s hilarious.”

“Happy to be of amusement. What do Travelogue and Atlas do?”

“Travelogue includes places I go on my Status Log, and Atlas gives me a unique System display about information for places I visit.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, for cities that usually includes the name and Class of the most notable people. Here, that’s the Enforcer and Governor, but also that Lefi’s in town, plus a handful of others. It saves me so much trouble, when I can just immediately see if I have someone to avoid in a city I go to, let me tell you.”

“Who do you need to avoid? Former lovers?”

“…Maybe.”

Edwin chuckled, “Well, that does sound useful. What about Wanderer’s Guide and Musician’s Ear? Are those similar things?”

She nodded, “Wanderer’s Guide is a bit like Atlas, but gives more historical information. Usually a bit boring, and Musician’s Ear lets me Identify sounds. There’s nothing better for learning new songs, I’ll tell you that much.”

“What about animal cries?”

“That too.”

“Huh, neat. And then I suppose Twirling Dance lets you… actually, I don’t know. I’m kind of impressed you got Weaving to evolve into a dancing Skill, though.”

“Oh, that’s actually a bit of a combat Skill. If I use some scarves… which are around here somewhere, I know, it helps me tie up people.”

“Huh. How’d you get that?”

“Well, I was wondering what Grappler would do to Hardy Clothing. It was my last Skill to evolve that tier.”

“Was it worth it?”

“Well,” she grinned, “It has its uses.”

Edwin nodded absently, “And your attributes?”

“What about them?

“Intelligence. Does that…”

“Yes, it makes me smarter.”

“How does that work?”

“It helps me deal with all of my mental Skills, think faster, and recall stuff easier.”

“Huh, neat. That actually sounds really useful.”

“It is.”

“What about Seasonal Mana? How is it different from just normal Mana?”

“Well, it’s more my mana. Everything I do will be more seasonal, stronger, easier to use, and it helps with some of the same stuff as Mana. You know, the size of my storm, how strong the storm is, that kind of thing.”

“But don’t you have Skills for that?”

“Oh sure, just like I have social Skills but also Charisma. They aren’t exclusive, and the Attribute has all the effects of those Skills plus more and is easier to use besides.”

“Makes sense. So then jumping back a bit, how does Worthy of Note differ from Eye for Novelty?”

“Well you see…”

Edwin gritted his teeth in concentration. It had already been a bit of a stretch to get his potion-like mana to make an autoclave, but he’d done it by Visualizing his mana going through an autoclave, and mimicking the internal conditions of being superheated yet unable to boil, and then by replicating that sensation within a closed container, Edwin had found it mimicked the effects slightly. He was trying to come up with an easier method, but hadn’t had much luck yet.

All that to say, maintaining a single manaclave was hard enough. But maintaining two? It was straining the limits of what he could actually hold onto at one time. To compensate, he’d made both as small as possible, but that carried its own difficulties.

In front of him sat a moderately complex Apparatus, a sealed sphere held several feet off his workbench and sealed entirely within a second Apparatite container maintaining its own manaclave at the same strength as the first container.

Underneath the first container, a grate set at an angle led into a small bowl filled with his Refined heated water. When he would release the first manaclave, the pebble would fall and roll down the grate into the water, while the powder it had been surrounded by would fall through the grate for collection.

Once the pebble had adequately absorbed its new trait, he would release the seal on the outer manaclave, and hopefully everything worked well.

At first he had just tried to just set the pebble on a shelf of sorts and only dissolve that, but doing so dissolved his manaclave. He felt like it had to do with his perception of what was going on. After all, the manaclave was basically just a freeform spell of his, albeit a simple one, and he needed what essentially amounted to training wheels to get his magic to do anything. Maybe one day, he could do this sort of thing with no setup, but one step at a time.

This should work, he felt. The stone’s base trait would be dissolved away in the inner autoclave, and then removed when it was released. However, it would stay under the same conditions at all times so it would never settle into a new state. It would go from normal, to empty but supported, to filled with its new trait.

Speaking of which…

Edwin felt the stone’s heat capacity trait finish disassociating. Removing the stone from the powder (or the other way around) would remove the trait as well at this point, and Edwin did just that, dissolving the tiny sphere it had been held in.

Edwin’s left hand immediately started cramping up as its magical burden was released, but he couldn’t tend to it yet.

He watched the pebble bounce just as he had predicted with Prototype, once, twice… and roll. It dropped into the liquid perfectly with barely a splash, and the powder all collected in its bowl beneath the grate.

All according to plan.

A few bubbles seeped out from the stone as it sat, absorbing heated water. It only took about a minute for it to stop, but Edwin let it sit for a bit longer despite the increasing strain of maintaining the manaclave.

Eventually, Edwin released his hold over the manaclave, and dissolved the Apparatite cap keeping the system sealed. While there wasn’t technically any heat involved in the process, it still radiated something strongly approximating high temperatures, no doubt a side effect of Edwin’s spell.

He fished out the pebble from where it sat, dropping it in cold water. Edwin retrieved the stone after a minute sitting in its third and final location. While it was chilly for a moment after he pulled it out…

It was warming up. He’d done it! He had made a rock inherently a higher temperature than it should have been! He let out a quiet cheer, not wanting to disturb anyone or attract too much attention and glanced at his notifications, feeling like he already knew what he’d find there.

Congratulations! By successfully imbuing the magical attributes of one substance into another, you have unlocked the Essential Alchemist path!

Edwin grinned. Complete and total success, it would seem.

Now, to figure out all the ways to do this better.

Level Up!

Skill Points 1091→1112 (Average level: 56)

Alchemical Dismantling Level 53→54

Alchemy Level 95→96

Anatomy Level 44→45

Arcadian Elixir Level 37→39

Basic Thermokinesis Level 40→41

Mana Infusion Level 91→92

Memory Level 67→68

Numeracy Level 54→55

Outsider’s Almanac Level 137→138

Polyglot Level 70→71

Refining Level 40→43

Ritual Intuition Level 52→53

Sapper's Apparatus Level 65→66

Skillful Assessment Level 52→53

Stamina Manipulation Level 12→14

Unbound Tether Level 24→26