...

Back in the [Goblin Caverns] Capra was trying to make his way past a group of goblin guards.

He had been wandering the insides of the Cavern for a while now, and he had struggled to find an exit until just recently, but there was a problem. The exit was defended.

Originally Capra smelled so bad that his scent alone was capable of keeping the goblins at bay. He had considered remaining unclean to take advantage of that, but he was beginning to be nauseated by his own smell, so despite the advantages of reeking of bat guano he used [Conjure Water] to wash off as much of the smell as possible… and now he wasn’t sure he was still smelly enough to scare away a goblin— which quite frankly was something he never thought he’d have to worry about.

The goblin guards were different from the first goblins Capra had seen. They were more muscular, and their upper bodies were a little longer. They carried short spears, wore crude leather armor, and fashioned oversized helmets which they constantly had to reposition over their heads. They didn’t seem like much of a threat... but then again Capra was still level zero.

Capra knew that he was wasting time here, he had three months to play and so far his first day of gameplay had been a complete mess. He didn’t want to die, but he was starting to think that if he died he’d at least be able to get to a safe spawn point… he didn’t have much to lose anyways. So he strengthened his resolve.

“Yaaaaaaaaaa!”

Capra darted towards the exit. The guards had not expected a human to come running out of the mines, and the closer he got to them the more they realized he wasn’t just any human—he was a smelly human.

“Stink’si!”

“Iz stink’si!” They shouted. It seemed luck was on Capra’s side, as the startled goblin guards quickly made way allowing him to pass through the cavern exit.

...

The first thing Capra saw coming out of the cavern was a large goblin settlement. There were many large bonfires sending smoke up into the sky, and around the bonfires were several poorly constructed wooden huts. This seemed to be a standard goblin village, but Capra wasn’t interested in staying here. He quickly looked around and spotted the forest to the north.

By now the goblin guards had regained their composure and were running after Capra.

“Stink’si no invad’si!” They shouted as they pursued him, but Capra was already running as fast as his two legs would allow.

…

A good fifteen minutes later Capra made his way to the forest. It had been hard working shaking off the pursuit of the goblin guards, but Capra had managed. Now he just needed a little rest and time to get the lay of the land, then he could start grinding for the levels he had missed over the last few hours.

...

Unlike Blue Moon Forest, this underground forest was more like a swamp.

Strangely bent trees grew from the ground, reaching an average of five or ten meters in height per individual tree. The tree leaves were a muddyred, and it seemed as if everything else in the forest had been painted that shade of the same red.

Off in the distance Capra spotted a clearing with a few shrubs that bore fruits he didn’t recognize and decided that that would be as good a spot as any to sit down, so he took a seat and pulled up the system’s map interface.

The map showed that he was in an unexplored region called, “The Lowlands.” The forest he was in was called “The sinking depths,” but none of those names ringed a bell.

A flick of his finger brought up the system’s web browser to look for information. First he used zoozle – the web’s fastest browsing engine ever since google went into politics– but he found nothing. Then he checked the forums, and once again found nothing.

“Impossible.” He thought.

Capra knew that unexplored regions weren’t all that rare in Chaos and Fame, but normally these regions wouldn’t be completely unexplored, and this region was so close to Blue Moon Forest, how could it go unnoticed?

If this region was truly unexplored then that was both good and bad news for Capra. The good news was that he wouldn’t have to fight anyone for resources, and if he catalogued information he could sell it later. The bad news was that he knew absolutely nothing about the Lowlands... Capra didn’t know what the minimum level was for monsters, or what the maximum level was— and that could prove fatal.

He also didn’t have any teleportation scrolls, and he sure as hell couldn’t climb back up the chasm… so he was left to fend for himself. The only thing he could do now was pray that the monsters in this region wouldn't eat him alive.

…

Despite his fears Capra had to keep moving. He had bought a lot of thread back in Blue Moon City, so the first thing he did after resting was pull some out, then he grabbed a few pieces of rabbit hide and his skinning knife.

He had wanted to experiment with the hides and enchanting, but if he was going to be stuck somewhere without access to any merchants then he needed to be able to make his own gear, so first he used the skinning knife to cut the rabbit hide into suitable pieces for a leather vest, then after a few minutes of threading he finished.

System Notification: Congratulations. You have displayed enough skill with a needle and thread to generate [Beginner Tailoring Mastery].

System Notification: Congratulations, you have made an original item. Would you like to name the piece?

Capra looked at the vest in his hands and despite the system congratulating him, he knew that he had made a terrible piece of armor. The rabbit hides he used had normal material ratings.. but they all looked terrible in different ways… Some rabbit hides were burned, others were damp, some were missing tufts of fur… and the resulting vest could only be…

“Garbage.”

…

Garbage [Vest] (Inferior)

Physical Defense: +2

Magical Defense: +3

Active Effects: None.

Passive Effects:

Decay: The hides used in this piece were not processed, the armor will steadily lose durability over time.

Rotting Stench: The hides used in this piece were not processed, the armor will smell increasingly worse as it decays.

Warning: Rotting Stench may attract hostile predators.

Other Effects: None.

Weight: 0.8kg

…

Capra had expected the vest to be trash… but he had managed to give himself a surprise with just how trash the vest turned out to be. Although it was to be expected, he hadn’t even tanned the leather hides, but always the optimist Capra looked at the bright side of things.

“Well... I can still use it for enchanting practice.”

...

System Notification: You have failed to enchant [Garbage[Vest](Inferior)]. [Proficiency gained]: 0.

System Notification: [Garbage[Vest](Inferior)] has become [Misaligned Goop].

“...”

After a few minutes Capra could only sigh and input the details of the failure into his data log.

As its name suggests, the data log allowed players to record data, but it also had various tools to analyze data with. It was an extremely practical tool introduced two years after the game’s release. and Information stored in a player’s data log is heavily encrypted.

Even though Capra hadn’t been a part of the game for long he had amassed a lot of data in his data log. He was meticulous.

Every time he failed to enchant a copper hammer he was reviewed the reasons for his failure, and if he couldn’t determine the reason he would write down the process. Anytime any other enchanter failed to enchant a copper hammer, he recorded the information. He was constantly watching for big flaws that might help him advance as an enchanter.

It had been a long day, and as composed and optimistic as Capra tried to be, as he scrolled through his data log he had to admit he felt hopeless. It was like he was looking at a bunch of dots, but none of them were connecting.

After a while he closed his data log, and cast the enchant spell without a target. The chaotic ball of energy rotated, and then Capra grabbed another piece of rabbit hide and began enchanting.

...

Capra’s father had once told him that the main reason people failed was because they were unwilling to dedicate the necessary time to observation. He was a very smart man— an artist by trade... but when machines became as capable of artistry as people he was forced to seek employment at the Xorbitol VR factory…

The day before he set out on the new job he called Capra to a room in the house which had a single painting in it. He then told Capra to sit in front of the painting, and to observe it, so Capra did. This was an exercise he had done many times, but the painting was a new one.

Capra's father came back after an hour, then he took Capra outside of the room and began questioning him.

“Capra.” He said. “What was the title of the painting?”

“Sunrise on a Frozen Lake.” Capra easily responded.

“Good.” His father nodded his head. “Now tell me, what was the primary color of the painting?”

“Blue.”

“Good.”

This drilling went on for some time. Capra’s father asked him about the composition of the painting, the colors used, the techniques applied on the painting for certain effects, and more. Capra answered perfectly every time. Then his father asked one final question.

“Capra, knowing what you know now, could you reproduce this painting?”

Capra thought deeply for a minute.

“No.” He responded... “But I can come pretty damn close.”

His father smiled and said, “Good.”

That was the last time his father asked him about any paintings, but he never forgot the lesson.

…

Back when Capra had been enchanting copper hammers, he had also been practicing his observation skills, and one thing he spotted was that the energy from an enchantment spell would float on the surface of a copper hammer, eventually coating it.

Unlike the copper hammer, the rabbit hide seemed to absorb the energy of the enchantment little by little.

System Notification: You have failed to enchant [Blue Moon Rabbit Hide]. [Proficiency gained]: 0.

System Notification: [Blue Moon Rabbit Hide] has become [Misaligned Goop].

But that wasn’t enough information to make the enchanment successful.

Capra pulled out another [Blue Moon Rabbit Hide] and cast the [Enchant] spell again. This time Capra moved his fingers. It was a well know fact that moving fingers during enchanting would cause the energies to react, but the guilds had concluded that it was just a cosmetic feature of the spell, and served no purpose.

But Capra disagreed, he saw that he could use finger movements to limit the absorption rate of the [Enchant] spell, or to remove excess energy. He tried to control the [Enchant] spell energy so that it would only affect the surface of the rabbit hide, but he failed again, and again… and again.

He continued enchanting and observing until finally on his 18th try he made a breakthrough.

All the guilds and researchers had focused on putting enchanting energy into an object, or guiding the enchanting energy somehow to stabilize it… but Capra was seeing another picture.

The dots from all the information he’d collected from his data log started to connect.

When undergoing the enchanting process many items glowed, and the general consensus was that it was a cosmetic feature of the [Enchant] spell, but Capra was realizing it wasn’t.

Capra attempted to gather the glow from the rabbit hide and separate it from the rest of the energy. His fingers were unwieldy, and he failed… but he had two more hides left, a normal one, and the [Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Hide].

He cast [Enchant] again. Sweat dripped down his brow as he concentrated on the mass of energy, and his fingers moved in bizarre ways that only made sense to him... and then.

System Notification: You have successfully siphoned the essence of the [Blue Moon Rabbit Hide]. You have acquired the skill, [Essence Siphon].

Essence Siphon: Through the use of the enchant spell the caster is able to steal the essence of an object.

Mana Cost: Variable.

Cooldown: None.

Skill Usage Requirements: You must possess the item, or it must be unowned.

System Notification: You have developed a new skill by fundamentally changing the utilization of the [Enchant] spell. Title awarded: Essence Thief.

Essence Thief: You see the essence of things, and are capable of taking them for your own benefit.

+10 Intelligence.

+10 Wisdom.

System Notification: [Blue Moon Rabbit Hide] has had its essence siphoned. You receive [Minor Blue Moon Rabbit Essence Orb x 1]. Enchanting Proficiency gained: +1.

Capra stood stunned. He thought removing the excess energy from [Enchant] spell would somehow improve its viability, but instead he had completely removed all energy from the [Blue Moon Rabbit Hide] and it turned to dust.

“Essence siphon?”

What was essence, and how was it used? Capra took out the [Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Hide], and the [Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Meat], then he cast [Essence Siphon] on both. The process was the same, but now that [Essence Siphon] had become a skill the system aided Capra.

System Notification: [Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Hide] has had its essence siphoned. You receive [Minor Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Essence Orb x 1]. Beginner Enchanting Mastery: +1.

System Notification: [Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Meat] has had its essence siphoned. You receive [Minor Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Essence Orb x 1]. Beginner Enchanting Mastery: +1.

*New Item, Displaying information*

[Minor Blue Moon Rabbit Essence Orb x 1]:

This orb contains a small amount of the essence of the [Blue Moon Rabbit], if used in conjunction with the [Enchant] spell the enchanted object has a small chance of receiving a characteristic of the [Blue Moon Rabbit]

*New Item, Displaying information*

[Minor Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Essence Orb x 2]:

This orb contains a small amount of the essence of the [Blue Moon Rabbit], however it is cursed. If used in conjunction with the [Enchant] spell, the enchanted object has a large chance of becoming possessed or receiving a detrimental effect.

Fireworks set off in Capra’s mind. Everything made sense now. It wasn’t that the [Enchant] spell had been random, but that the material conditions had all been. He now knew that If he had tried to [Enchant] the [Cursed Blue Moon Rabbit Hide] he would have succeeded, and it would have become possessed.

Enchanting energy was neutral. That was his conclusion— but the energy itself could mimic essences to further strengthen or weaken an object. Copper hammers probably had very little essence, so enchantments failed because the enchanting energy would mimic random essences in the atmosphere, resulting in a mish mash of energy that turned the original object into goop.

With [Essence Siphon] Capra could takeadvantage of those essences and use them, and that was a game changing discovery, one that made Capra feel that falling into a pile of bat shit wasn’t so bad.