Pans are boiling on the stove, and I’m teaching Colt how to make potions. He picks up on the idea of breaking apart the slime chunks into a fine powder just fine, and he gets that the leaves are the potent part of the vitaleaf.

He’s just very bored by potion making. His potion ends up being a 22 HP 3 dose with all of my guidance. Especially because I used Porcine Nose to pick out potent ingredients for him to use in his first attempt. Boy did he get a kick out of learning that I technically have a pig nose, even if it’s not visibly apparent.

When we finish his first potion, he exclaims in delight when he gains the Fledgling Alchemist Talent. “The Attunement is what I’m most excited about, my mana and regen increased! I can use Green Thumb more often!”

With Colt’s exclamation, I’m reminded of an important fact. “Oh my god! I forgot!” Sprinting to my bag left forgotten on the floor until now. Opening it up, I show Colt the sweetkiss chimes. “The Construct calls them Sweetkiss Chimes. Oddly, it won’t give me a trait for them, the actual description is decently helpful though.” Colt takes the bottle holding it up in front of himself.

“We’ll need to replant this, it’s going to die in this jar. It’s already been sitting cramped in here for hours!” His concern for the plant apparent. He may be big, but he’s also a total softie.

Outside near my herb garden, Colt takes a shovel and trowel to the ground and very efficiently prepares a new area for the Sweetkiss Chimes to grow.

Replanting them all, he uses Green Thumb and they all seem to immediately perk up. I see more shoots growing in the ground as well. The wind blows and the plants chime sweetly, making both Colt and me feel blissful. “Legit magical plants, this is so cool!”

Colt is giddy with excitement, I can tell he already wants to try and grow a slew of different plants. “You know, these aren’t the only plant I found.” Grinning, I look back towards the house.

“They aren’t?! What else did you find and why didn’t you tell me earlier.” Colt looks at me, hurt.

“I was more concerned about the live clipping I took. This other one came from a bush so I only took the berries.” We return inside and I show him the clustersprings.

“That’s so weird! They look like a raspberry made of blueberries!”

He snatches the jar from me and walks back towards the door. “I thought the same thing when I saw them!” We return to my lawn and Colt digs another spot, planting the berries before frowning.

“I used all of my mana on the sweetkiss chimes…”

Realizing the problem, I smile. “Don’t worry, I have a solution for that…” We head back inside and I quickly brew Colt a mana potion, the one I made before smelled spoiled from sitting out in a cup too long. It restores 15 mana and has 2 doses. Drinking it, his lips pucker a bit at the tartness.

Looking confident, Colt returns to where he buried the clusterspring and uses Green Thumb once more. A small sapling breaks through the rich brown earth, a few leaves unfurling in front of my eyes. We leave the plants, for now, even on their own they seem to grow quite quickly.

As we walk back to the house, Colt looks at me. “Do you think… We could learn magic?” My jaw drops, I had been using mana this entire time and hadn’t even stopped to consider this yet.

The only time I did something magical so far was the explosion that caused me to be mana burnt, so maybe I’ve just been subconsciously avoiding the subject.

“There’s a good chance we can.” Grimacing at the memory.

“Let’s do it!” Colt runs up ahead to the house, yelling about mana potions, and healing potions, just in case.

Inside, we brew two more healing potions with the remaining vitaleaf we have alongside some red slime chunks. These potions are less potent, I’ve already used up the strongest slime chunks so most of the strength is coming from the vitaleaf now. The potions seem to come out a bit weaker when Colt makes them so we decide for now I’ll make the health potions until Colt levels up more.

The two we make end up being a 20 HP 3 dose and a 21 HP 4 dose. I’m beginning to understand more about alchemy every time I make a potion. This time I slowly poured some of the ingredients in, stirred, then added more gradually over the mixing period. Despite the weaker ingredients, I was able to make some stronger potions with that method. It did make the process take a bit longer, however.

Level up! Due to continued experimentation, your Talent: Fledgling Alchemist has reached (6/50)!

“I leveled up again! I’m a level 6 Fledgling Alchemist now!” Chest puffing out with pride.

“That’s great and all, but let’s get on to making some mana potions, I wanna do magic shit!” Deflating a bit but still happy, I chop up some magetongue with Colt’s help.

“These ones are like the vitaleaf, the leaves are the potent part that makes the mana potions. You have to shred all the spiky clusters to get the best effect.” Still teaching Colt everything I know so far, he follows my directions and soon we have a whole pile of magetongue leaves at the ready.

This time, I have Colt make the potion, explaining my process to him. He slowly adds the magetongue leaf shreds into the boiling water, letting a small flash of light occur each time before he adds more. In the end, we decide the mixture is done and inspect it. Colt gained his second level in Fledgling Alchemist, so we expect it to be a good one.

Mana Potion

Quality: Low

Traits: Mana restoration

Description: Refined leaves of the magetongue herb, the poison has been neutralized and the mana within the plant has been locked into the mixture. Restores 20 MP. Doses: 2.

Adding slime really does help increase the dosage of a potion. At least this one is pretty strong. Next, we attempt to see if the red slime will increase the doses of the mana potion as well. The results are both disappointing... And smelly. Sprinkling in the mage tongue and red slime dust, we see the usual flash of blue light, then a flash of red.

The mixture seems to somehow contort and turns black. Next, a putrid fume emits from the pan that has both of our eyes watering as we dash out to the backyard with the clearly failed potion and dump it out. It takes about 15 minutes to scrub the pan clean again, the mixture was extremely sticky. “Let’s never try that ever again.” Colt nods in agreeance.

Colt gains one more level in Fledgling Alchemist by the time we’ve made four more mana potions. The results are as follows: 21 MP 2 doses, 18 MP 2 doses, 23 MP 2 doses, and a 27 MP 3 doses potion where I sniffed out the absolute best pieces I could find, and we added more than usual.

Making sure the seal on each mason jar is tight, we go outside, doing magic indoors just doesn’t seem like a good idea. Besides, Colt tells me he has a hunch for what he wants to do, and it requires being outside.

Once we’re in the front yard, Colt is nearly floating off the ground with excitement. I’m personally a bit more cautious from my first foray into magic ending up with me literally exploding. Colt knows about my encounter with the slime, sans wetting my pants, so he looks to me encouragingly. “...You try first”

Rolling my eyes, I give my mana pool a small tug, guiding the energy up my arm somewhat like how I feel when I use Heavy Blow, but different as well. The energy coalesces at my palm and fires out, traveling about ten feet before fizzling to nothing. -10

“DUDE, MAGIC” Colt is shaking me as the system gives proof of my effort.

Congratulations, Lucas Creo! Due to the guided use of your mana, you have gained the Skill: Mana Manipulation!

Congratulations, Lucas Creo! Due to the projection of mana, you have gained the Skill: Mana Bolt!

Colt has his own ideas, he knows the familiar pull of mana from using Green Thumb. Channeling that pull, he also gains Mana Manipulation. Next, Colt kneels to the ground and places one hand in the grass. Green energy flashes from his hand, the blades of grass in front of him grow upward and twist into a sharp point rapidly.

“The Construct says I gained the Skill Nature’s Barb!” Colt is jumping up and down, extremely excited. “It’s an expensive skill though, that cost 25 mana!”

Afterward, I explain how I used Mana Bolt, Colt copies me and gains the skill as well after a few attempts, one of which burned his finger a bit.

Having a ranged option other than throwing my anchor should prove very useful, especially because I have no easy way of retrieving my anchor. Which gives me an idea.

Focusing harder, my head begins to pound as mana pools to my hand, twining upward into a string shape. The form falters as I’m unable to hold it for more than a few seconds. The string flickers and disperses.

For the rest of the day, Colt and I practice with our newfound skills. Forming mana in front of myself in a disc shape, I’m able to create a Mana Shield, which isn’t very strong yet seeing as Colt destroys it in a single punch and with a single hit of Nature’s Barb.

The cost is decently efficient to start, however, if I can increase the strength it will be formidable. It only costs 1 MP per second sustained at an initial cost of 10. There did seem to be an increase in cost when Colt hit the shield though.

Continuing on, hours pass, and we use many doses of our mana potions and Meditate often, leaving only one left. The sun is just beginning to set, and Colt is wavering on his feet. Healing as much as he did today from all of the potions and salves must have tired him out. Just before we head inside, we both use one last skill, and a system message appears for both of us.

Congratulations Lucas Creo! Due to the prolonged practice of magic and gaining several magically related skills, you have obtained the Talent: Fledgling Mage (1/50)! As a bonus for gaining the Talent, applicable stat points have been applied to, Intelligence, Attunement, Willpower, and Insight.

‘Status’

Status:

Lucas Creo

Age: 22

Race: Human

Status: None

Level: 4

Exp: 42/497

HP: 195/195 (0.65 HP/min regeneration)

MP: 285/285 (0.85 MP/min regeneration)

Strength: 17

Endurance: 13

Dexterity: 14

Intelligence: 14

Attunement: 17

Willpower: 11

Charisma: 11

Insight: 16

Stat points: 10

Happy with our gains for today, we both walk back into the house. There’s a guest room that I set Colt up in, finding him a fresh toothbrush in a cupboard in the bathroom as well. Hygiene is still important, after all. We bid each other a good night and I walk to my parent’s room to go to bed. While sleep finds me almost instantly, I toss and turn in my dreams, reliving saving Colt over and over, but having him die, or finding a dagger in my heart.

Several times I shoot up in bed, covered in sweat, only to realize it was just a dream and attempting to fall back asleep. A more peaceful sleep seems to finally be coming towards the end of the night, my mind too tired to even think anymore. Then, a piercing scream sounds out from the guest room where Colt is staying.

Bolting out of bed, I sprint into the guest room.

Shckk. -12 Biting down a scream of my own, I look down and find that I’ve impaled my foot on a spike of wood. Colt is thrashing in his bed, screaming, a few more spikes of wood form out of the floor. Gritting my teeth, I pull my foot up as quick as I can, a small yelp escaping my lips as I do so. -7 Approaching the bed, I shake Colt. “COLT! COLT! Wake up it’s just a dream!” He won’t wake up, so I raise my hand and slap him across the face. Crunch. A fist meets my nose and I fall to the floor, scraping my side against another spike as I land.

“Oh my god Lucas I’m so sorry!” Colt rushes over to me and pulls me up from the ground. Heavy, dark guilt fills my heart as I realize I left my best friend alone tonight after he was almost killed just this morning. Pulling him to me, I hug him, tears in my eyes.

“I can’t believe I left you alone after everything that’s happened to you, the healing potion took care of everything so I didn’t even THINK! I’m so stupid!” Colt is crying too now, probably as the contents of his dream returning to the forefront.

After sitting there on the floor just holding him as sobs wrack his body for a few minutes, we decide to at least move to the bed. By this time my heal regen has taken care of the bleeding in my foot, so now it’s just throbbing painfully. Colt takes priority right now, I’ll clean up the blood later. “T-this time, they t-took my entire a-arm, not just my h-hand. It was a dream but it felt so real!”

The guilt inside me grows, it hurts more than my foot right now. “I can’t believe I was this stupid, I should have known you were suffering, we just spent all day having fun practicing magic and making potions, I… Forgot.” My head drops into my palms, tears soaking my hands. Colt takes a deep breath, counting back from ten probably.

“Dude. I appreciated today! You helped me forget about what happened! Night came around and I was tired so I fell asleep pretty quick, but in my d-dreams I c-couldn’t esc-cape the m-memories.”

Determined, I stand up and limp out of the room, my foot still hurts. “Where are you going?!” Colt calls to me.

“I’m not leaving you alone again!” Grabbing the blankets and pillows off my parents bed, I walk back to Colt’s room. On my way I grab a towel. Once I’m in the room, I clean up the blood from my foot as best as I can in the dark. Then I throw some pillows on the ground and my blanket as well. I have to avoid the spikes, they didn’t go away in the wood like they did with the grass.

“Y-you’re gonna s-sleep in here with m-me?” I can almost hear Colt blushing, he’s a softie, but his dad always wanted him to be the tough farmer.

“Of course I am, I’m not leaving you alone again. We’ll get through this together, that’s what friends are for.” A fire burns in my chest, internally I curse all goblins for all eternity.

“...Thanks.” Colt lays back down, I hear him shifting in bed.

“Colt?”

“Yeah?”

“Let’s level up and kill those fuckers.”

“...Yeah.” There’s a hint of happiness in his voice.

The rest of the night goes by without incident, we both sleep soundly. In the morning, I wake up to the shifting of Colt in bed. Opening my eyes, I see he’s up. My skin becomes hot as I realize something that he politely ignored last night, I sleep nude.

The entire time I was comforting him last night I was buck naked. Being so focused on his well-being, I didn’t even think about it. Getting up, I keep my blankets wrapped around myself and awkwardly shuffle out of the room to get a new pair of clothes for myself and for Colt.

Slapping my forehead, I remember that while my parents are gone, not all of their clothes are. My dad is a much more similar height to Colt, his clothes should fit a lot better. Grabbing an outfit for myself out of my dresser, I get dressed quickly and call for Colt.

“My stupid ass forgot that people don’t typically bring their entire wardrobe when they go traveling. Let’s pick out some of my dad’s clothes for you.” Colt, miming my prior action, slaps his forehead.

“You did this on purpose didn’t you? You just wanted me to look this hot!” Colt teases me, indicating his quite unattractive look of sweatpants with exposed ankles while grinning.

After picking out some of my dad’s clothes, Colt and I are both in some ratty, aged pieces. We both agreed that if we’re going to level up we need to fight each other and train, so we don’t want to ruin anything better.

First things first though, breakfast, we’re both starved. The Construct seems to do a lot for not needing to eat as often, but it’s still a necessary task at least once a day for now.

In the kitchen, I let Colt make our breakfast. He takes the venison out of the wax paper, observing the glyphs and seeing how the light in them dies out once open.

“Are these magic runes, Lucas?!” Glancing over at me in shock, Colt indicates the paper.

“I think so? It seems like they preserve the meat, even from here I can tell it’s still fresh with my Perk.” Accepting this, he turns back to the meat and begins his preparations.

Opting for a different recipe, he adds a number of ingredients from the spice rack. Only recognizing a few, I stop paying attention until I see him leaving the room.

“Where are you going!?”

“I need one more thing for this!” The front door opens and slams closed. Moments later, Colt returns with some of the clustersprings in hand. Breaking them apart into individual pieces of the cluster, he adds them on top of the finished steaks.

“Pan seared venison steak, garnished with clustersprings” He presents the steaming plate to me with a bit of a fake-formal tone to his voice.

Suspiciously, I cut the meat, juices leak out. My Porcine Nose picks up all of the individual herbs and spices, the scents coalesce into an olfactory orchestra. Taking my first bite, I’m shocked at how well the savory meat pairs with the sour-sweet flavor of the clustersprings. My mouth is in a gustatory heaven as I eat voraciously. Why does Colt have to be such a better cook than me?

My thoughts are lined with envy in this moment as I devour the steak. “I’m a level 7 Fledgling Chef already… I have a Perk called ‘Gourmet’s Instinct’. It allows me to identify ingredients that pair really well together, it’s supposed to give some kind of bonus depending on the food as well…”

Colt looks at me, embarrassed to be caught enjoying cooking so much, his dad would have called him a pansy for it.

“Well I thought it was delicious. Best meal I’ve ever eaten!” His face brightens at my compliments and he quickly eats his own meal.

When we stand up from the table, we both look at each other. “Colt. Do you feel…Different?”

“Yeah, I do, do you?”

“...Yeah.” Trying to figure out what’s different, I step from foot to foot, noticing an odd spring to my step.

“Oh my god, clusterSPRINGS! Your food made us springy!” Hopping around the kitchen, I’m bouncing off of my feet in a literal sense. After spending some time enjoying this newfound mobility, we reach the decision that we need to get serious.

Spending the rest of the morning brewing potions with Colt’s help, we make a larger stock of healing and mana potions. We’re going to need them. Colt manages to gain another level in Fledgling Alchemist before we’re done, bringing him to 4. At noon time, we head outside into the large expanse of my front yard.

My anchor is held in my hands. “You’re really going to use the anchor? That’s going to hurt!” Colt’s concern is palpable.

“Yeah, but you’re going to get to hurt me too! Those Nature’s Barbs hurt like a bitch after all!”

“...That’s fair.” We begin our “sparring”, not holding back very much after the first few hits. We have healing potions to take care of any serious injuries anyway. We continue training into the afternoon, having to take several breaks to recover our stamina. We both hurt, and our plans for tomorrow are pretty much the same as today, but our hearts are lighter knowing we’ll get our revenge.