Since I knew that the others were all off doing their own things for the rest of the day, I decided that I would find my other Tutor for my Focus Creation Crafting Skill. Which meant that I first had to find out who that person was.

“Hey Frederica,” I greeted the woman who looked up as I approached with a smile. “Do you think that you could help me out with something?”

“Well sure I can do that,” she replied with a gentle smile. “Provided of course that what you want to know isn’t anything classified.”

“Oh, nothing like that,” I chuckled. “I just want to know who I need to talk to if I want to learn Focus Creation.”

“Well, you could always talk to my daughter Maddy,” Frederica replied. “She’s not actually Ponson’s official Focus Creation tutor but she’s just as good and there’ll be less people trying to learn Focus Creation from her than there would be if you asked Jemma to teach you. Jemma’s the person who teaches most of the people who wants to learn Focus Creation.”

“Uh, are you sure that you’re okay with me troubling your daughter with something like this?” I asked and Frederica started laughing.

“Of course,” she replied as she wiped her eyes once she had regained control of herself. “She’s reached the point where she actually needs to start teaching people to improve her own capabilities. Besides, I think that someone as understanding as you are is a good choice for her first student. That girl is just a bit shy for dealing with most people.”

“Well, then I accept,” I replied with a small smile. “And I promise to be careful.”

“Good, let me just give you directions to our house and a message explaining the situation to Maddy and you can be on your way,” Frederica told me, and I brought up my map so that she could do so before taking her message to Maddy and bidding her goodbye.

As one might expect the house where Frederica and the captain were living was both close to the barracks and quite a nice house with a surprisingly large and well-maintained garden. As I walked up the path to the main house, I noticed someone moving behind the window of a smaller building that looked like some sort of workshop off to the side so I decided to head there first.

“Excuse me,” I said as I knocked gently the door. “Are you in there Maddy? Your mother sent me.”

A crashing sound followed by several muttered curses came from behind the door before it opened a tiny amount revealing part of a face framed by shaggy black hair.

“What do you want?” the girl behind the door asked shortly as she glared at me.

“Are you Maddy? I asked and she rolled her eyes in exasperation.

“Yes of course,” she replied. “Now what do you want?”

“Well your mother suggested that you might be able to teach me Focus Creation,” I said as I held out the note that Frederica had given me which Maddy glared at for a few moments before snatching it from my hand and closing the door in my face.

I blinked in surprise. This was certainly different from what I had been expecting to happen. I waited a few moments before turning to leave with a sigh when the door opened once again. This time Maddy opened the door all the way and stood in front of me with her hands on her hips. For the most part she was the spitting image of Frederica except for the long shaggy hair that came most of the way down her back and the fact that she had a full head of height on me.

“Mum says that you want to learn Focus Creation from me?” Maddy asked as she raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t know why she thinks that I want to train anyone, but I guess the least I could do is hear you out. My dad speaks well of you Zeke.”

“Well I would certainly appreciate you teaching me,” I replied quickly. “I originally asked your mother where the tutor that everyone else gets taught by was. But she suggested that you had reached the point where you needed a student to progress further.”

“Hmm, perhaps,” Maddy replied thoughtfully. “My progress has plateaued recently.”

“Well it’s up to you,” I replied as I smiled gently up at the extremely tall young woman. I was getting the feeling that she wasn’t the most confident person possibly because of how tall she was, and that she was coming across as belligerent to hide it. “I definitely don’t want to force you to do anything that you don’t want to do. I don’t think that your parents would appreciate that.”

“Hmm, you know what, why don’t we give it a go?” she asked after thinking about t for a few seconds. “It’s not like I really have anything to lose other than time and I have plenty of that. Come on in.”

“Thanks,” I replied as I followed her inside the small building. As I expected inside the building was a workshop with a number of odd-looking accoutrements, pieces of various types of weapons scattered around several different tables.

“Alright, can you tell me what you know about Focus Creation?” Maddy asked as she sat down on a stool facing me.

“Practically nothing,” I replied as I realised that I hadn’t even selected the Skill. “In fact, all I really know is that Focus Creation has something to do with the runic markings on magical weapons. But just give me a moment and I might be able to do something about that”

“Ah, yes you’re one of those Outsiders,” Maddy nodded. “I understand that you have some sort of ability that allows you to learn certain things really quickly.”

“Well the only things that we can really learn faster than Locals are Crafting Skills,” I chuckled in reply. “We do have a few other tricks up our sleeves, but we aren’t really that different to Locals most of the time.”

Maddy hesitated for a few moments before sighing loudly and pulling out a sheet of paper and a pen. I watched in amazement as she quickly sketched out what seemed to be a schematic before writing a series of notes. When she was done, she passed the sheet of paper over to me.

“Use this,” she told me.

I was guessing that this was how you created the schematics that people used to learn to craft items so I quickly examined the sheet of paper and sure enough the same screen that popped up when I wanted to use the schematics that Kerr gave me popped up asking me whether I wanted to learn how to create a Basic Focus, so I quickly accepted. The sheet of paper flashed once before crumbling to nothing and I suddenly understood how to make a basic focus that could be used to complete a wand. As it turned out you used the strange accoutrements scattered around the workshop were used to engrave different types of materials. These tools used some strange form of magic to liquify different types of crystal which were then used to inscribe the various runes into what you were wanting to make into a focus. In this world crystals were able to conduct magical energies better than anything else which was why they were used to make focuses. The information that I now had also told me that certain different types of crystal could be used to boost the power of different types of magic. For example, something like a ruby could increase the power of fire magic. Alternatively, fulgurite while technically being a type of glass formed by a lightning strike would increase the power of my lightning magic.

“Are you alright?” Maddy asked. “You went really quiet.”

“Huh, oh yeah I’m fine,” I replied with a chuckle. “It was just a lot of information to deal with all at once. Anyway, I have some idea of how all of this works now.”

“So, what do you know how to do?” Maddy asked.

“Well I sort of know how to make a Basic Wand Focus but that’s it for now,” I replied. “Unfortunately, I don’t have any of the tools or ingredients that I need to make them.”

“Alright, I suppose that’s a start,” Maddy replied. “You can use the tools and ingredients here if you want. Just pay me back for whatever you use.”

“Well that seems more than fair,” I replied. All I needed to make a Basic Wand Focus was the wand itself, a basic Inscriber and some quartz which was the crystal used to make the most basic type of Focus.

“Alright do you know which Inscriber you need to use?” Maddy asked and I nodded as I picked up the correct tool which was an elegant looking device that resembled a fountain pen except for the strange socket on the end where you were supposed to put the crystal that you were using to make the Focus. This Inscriber had a much more delicate tip that allowed you to make more intricate designs but would get damaged if you tried to use it on a material harder than wood.

“Alright here’s some quartz,” Maddy said as she handed me a shard of crystal which I placed in the socket. “And one of the wands that needs to be finished.”

The wand that Maddy handed me was missing the grip and the patterns that you would normally expect to find on a wand in Soul Core Online but other than that it looked just like the wand that Evie used.

As soon as I finished checking the wand for flaws, I started inscribing it with the runic patterns. The pattern required to complete the wand’s Focus was a pretty simple one compared to the patterns on some of the things lying around Maddy’s workshop but even then, it took about 15 minutes to finish it off.

“Well certainly not a bad first attempt,” Maddy said once I was finished.

“Yeah,” I nodded as I brought up the description of the Focus that I had finished making.

Crude Basic Wand Focus (Incomplete weapon)

Item Tier (Rarity): Average (Common)

Required Level:1

Damage: 3-5

Damage Types: Magical

Core Slots:

1 Skill Core Sockets

1 Support Core Sockets

This wand focus has been made by an amateur crafter. It still requires a grip to finish the weapon.

“Huh, it has one extra max damage than the one that Evie showed me,” I muttered. It wasn’t a big difference and I was willing to bet that it was mostly because the Item Tier was Average instead of Basic, but it was still an improvement over Evie’s weapon. “Hey Maddy, can I keep this one when it’s finished?”

“If you pay me for the materials then sure I don’t see why not,” Maddy replied. “I can finish it now if you want?”

“That would be great,” I agreed as I passed the incomplete wand over to Maddy who placed it down on a workbench and started rummaging around for a grip. “So, would it be alright if I bought enough materials for a few of these from you?”

“Well, tell you what,” Maddy said as she started to hammer the grip onto the wand. “If you want you can keep one Focus out of every 5 that you make if you want and if you don’t want it then I’ll pay you for it.”

“Wait, does this mean that you’ll teach me?” I asked causing Maddy to miss the next swing of the hammer as she flinched slightly in surprise.

“Uh, I mean,” she stammered before sighing. “Yes, sure. Mum was right I need someone to help me out around here and you seem nice enough. But I withhold the right to tell you to leave at any time.”

“That’s fair,” I agreed. “Thanks, Maddy, I appreciate it.”

“Like I said, I need some help around here,” she replied as she hit the grip a little bit harder than I thought was necessary. “I have a lot of orders for Focuses that even you can make right now.”

“Well that makes sense,” I sighed. “Most Outsiders can’t afford anything better than basic equipment right now.”

“There’s some basic materials in this box,” she said as she shoved a box in my direction. “Get to work.”

“Sure,” I chuckled as I did as I was told.

It didn’t take me that long to use up all of the materials in the box and by the time that I had done so I had unlocked a couple more schematics. One was for a Staff like the one that Kelly wielded and another for a Sceptre.

They were both extremely similar to the Focuses weapons that my friends fought with but unlike those weapons any Focus that I made would function better since the weapons that we started with in this world were usually described as being old or damaged and were weaker than something that we could buy from a store or make ourselves.

“Hey, Maddy I’ve used up all of the materials that you gave me, but I unlocked another two schematics,” I said as I glanced in Maddy’s direction. She was working on the Focus for a staff that looked a lot stronger than any magical weapon that I had seen in this world.

“No, I think that you’ve done more than enough for the day,” she said as she looked over at the pile of Wand Focuses that I had made. “How many of those do you want?”

“Uh, can I get back to you tomorrow?” I asked. “I want to talk with my friends and see who wants one.”

“I guess that works,” Maddy agreed. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“Okay, thanks again Maddy,” I said as I left.

Maddy was certainly an interesting individual. I was beginning to suspect that the fact that I wanted to learn Focus Creation wasn’t the only reason that Frederica had sent me here. It seems to me that she also wanted her daughter to spend time with someone who wasn’t her or the Captain and I didn’t see why I couldn’t go along with it.

Since I had a bit more time before I was supposed to meet up with the rest of the party for dinner I decided to head to Kerr’s shop and ask him about the Rabbit Matriarch’s Soul Shard. Luckily when I got there other than the grumpy old man himself the shop was empty.

“Hey Kerr, can I get you to have a look at this?” I asked as I brought the Soul Shard out of my Inventory.

“Hmph,” Kerr grunted as he looked up from whatever it was that he had been working on. “Well it looks to me like you’ve got a Soul Shard from a Boss to me. A fairly minor Boss, probably from a Den rather than a true Dungeon. Should be able to make a pretty decent Soul Core from it. For your Level at least.”

“You’re absolutely correct,” I agreed. “But actually what I was going to ask was how long it’s going to take for me to be able to Level my Core Crafting Skill up to the point where I can actually do something like this justice.”

“Hmm, well that depends on how much time you spend actually working on Levelling your Core Crafting Skill up,” Kerr replied with a shrug. “But for a Low Levelled Soul Shard like that it won’t take you that long to be honest. Maybe another day or two of making Soul Cores. However, I would like to point out that you will Level that Skill up faster if you make Soul Cores using the new Schematics you unlock.”

“Yeah, that makes sense,” I agreed as I put the Soul Shard back in my Inventory. “By the way I got a Quest to check out a nearby Barrow and I assume that we’ll be fighting undead there which means that we’ll be finding Soul Shards that will allow me to make Weapon Soul Cores right?”

“That’s correct,” Kerr agreed. “Why?”

“Well I was wondering if you would be interested in buying any of the Soul Cores that I make and what ones you would be most interested in if you were,” I replied.

“Well the most popular weapons among you Outsiders are Swords and Staffs,” Kerr replied thoughtfully. “So, I would be quite interested in any Sword or Staff Soul Cores that you are able to make but I certainly wouldn’t refuse to buy any of them at this point.”

“Okay that’s good to know,” I replied. “Anyway, I’d better head out. I’ll see you later.”

Once I left the shop, I wandered down the street in the direction of the inn. On the way I noticed that things seemed a bit quieter than usual. This was actually quite surprising to me and I decided to ask the others what they thought that cause was once we met up.

It turned out that I was the first to arrive at the inn, so I checked in with the others as I made my way over to our usual table. It turned out that I was just a little bit early and the others would be arriving in a few minutes, so I took their orders.

“So, what are we going to do now?” Katy asked once everyone had arrived. “We have a couple of minor Quests to do but I’m guessing that you got quite an important Quest from Harmon right Zeke?”

“Yes, I did,” I agreed. “However, we need to get stronger before we can attempt it. It’s going to be a really hard Quest for us.”

“So, what will we be doing?” Warren asked as he took drink of his beer.

“Well Harmon wants us to investigate some Barrows,” I explained and then grinned when Evie gave me a confused look. “Barrows are a type of burial mound Evie.”

“So, we’ll be fighting undead then,” Fern sighed. “You’re right. This is going to be a hard fight for us.”

“Why?” Evie asked.

“Well two of us fight with weapons that deal Piercing damage,” I explained. It was a good question for someone who hadn’t really played any games like this in the past. “Undead don’t usually take a significant amount of damage from Piercing damage. In fact, it’s usually recommended that you use either magic or Blunt damage against undead. Slashing damage can work fairly well in some cases as well.”

“Oh, okay,” Evie nodded. “I think I understand what the problem is.”

“Yeah, it’s gonna be a pain,” Fern sighed.

“Well actually, I may have somewhat solved at least part of the problem,” I chuckled.

“Really?” Katy asked. “How?”

“Well I started working on my Focus Creation Skill today,” I replied as I pulled Evie’s new wand out of my Inventory. “And I can get my hands on several more wands just like this one tomorrow morning if anyone is interested. We’ll still need to buy some Soul Cores though.”

“You’re right that should be helpful,” Kelly nodded thoughtfully. “I take it that that’s still not enough for us to get started on the Quest right away though.”

“No, Harmon was very clear that we aren’t strong enough to fight undead in our current state,” I agreed. “So, we have time to Level Up some Soul Cores for anyone who wants a wand or a new weapon.”

“Sounds good to me,” Fern agreed. “I already have an idea for a weapon that would be more useful than my knives, but I’ll take one of those wands if that’s okay.”

“Alright that’s good,” I nodded as I looked around the table at all my friends who were all grinning in excitement at the thought of a brand new adventure that I doubted any other group of players had access to.

It had been a wild ride since we had started playing Soul Core Online and I couldn’t think of a group of people that I would rather fight alongside. Soul Core Online had been a rather risky investment for me but as far as I could tell it was going to be the smartest one that I had ever made and not just because of Katy. All I knew now was that things were only going to get more interesting from here on out as we prepared for our next big Quest in Soul Core Online.