Taking a chunk of wood out of her inventory she first used 'Material manipulation' to form it into a spool. She stood then withdrew the ironstone, using Human-forge she squeezed one end of it until it came to a rough point.
Then she held the molded end and then let the rest of the ingot hang. Rolling the metal between her hands, she achieved a thickness of approximately 2mm just like she wanted and then slowly pulled the other end.
Contrary to what one may think. There was no actual heat involved. The skill just manipulated the molecular make up of the ore allowing the user to treat it like clay. Once out of your hands it went back to its original state.
Then everything stopped. Her Human-forge skill deactivated.
"What the…" Sam said staring at her hands.
{"Don't you have a math level of 10? Look at your mana pool. It's only 300. Even with your Efficient Crafting passive, that only reduces the mana cost by 2%"}
She barely had time to shape the ingot before her mana drained out and the skill snapped off. Right—Human-Forge was a mana hog. she really needed to boost that number up.
Looking at her STP she had…11.
"Son of a… ok, well it's almost back to 300 now. I need to rethink this. I need at least 51mp to use both skills continuously. Or I suppose I could….hmmm. let's see if that works"
{"Well technically 49 Mp to use both. With Efficient Crafting giving you a 2% reduction the cost is 39.2 for Human-forge and…"}
Ignoring Jarvis's rambling about percentages, she used ten of her STP to bring her mana regen to an even 40 per second. Now at least she didn't have to worry about it stopping. She just couldn't use a second skill. That would be for later.
Activating the skill again she quickly grabbed the ingot and reformed it into a vaguely ingot shape. She then pulled end into a flattened hook shape. She then deactivated Human-forge letting it go back to its original state.
Attaching the hook to the side of the cart, she waited until the cooldown for the skill was over, then activated it again. This time she pinched the ore to the desired thickness and then slowly walked backwards.
As her hands left the ore it hardens again to its original state. She walked slow enough so the hardened part wouldn't rip away from the softer material. Using Mana Hands she had them pick up the spool and coil the new wire around it leaving some room so she could re-hook it on the side and do it again. She repeated the process several more times, walking the line with careful hands and spooling each hardened length. By the end, she was happy with the amount on the spool, she pinched the newly made wire off the ingot, sent what remained of the ingot to her inventory.
{Congratulations you made 30 feet of Great Quality, Ironstone Wire. +120xp}
{Ding! Your skill 'Human-Forge' is ready to an upgrade! Would you like to upgrade 'Human-forge' at this time?}
{Yes/No}
{Ding! Your skill 'Mana Hands' is ready to an upgrade! Would you like to upgrade 'Mana Hands' at this time?}
{Yes/No}
"Yes" Sam said to both, reducing her SKP by two.
With the upgrade both skills got another mana cost reduction and a cooldown reduction for Human-forge. It was only 5% but it was something. With Efficient Crafting that brought the mana cost down to 37.2 for Human-forge with a cooldown of 57 seconds and 9.3 for Mana Hands.
{"So, out of curiosity, is this how you plan to make wire from now on? I'm fairly certain there's a section in your crafting bench that will make chains and wire"}
"True but that does nothing for my other skills. I was simply testing a theory." Sam said making her way to the crafting bench. She placed the wire on them bench and scrolled to the jewelry section.
She made her way to chains and selected a simple small link chain. There was a place to enter the length of chain she desired or a use all option. She wasn't sure how much wire she'd need so she just choose to use all.
"Create"
In the end she had about 18 feet.
{You've created 18.2 feet of Great Quality, Small Link Chain. +180xp}
In theory she could just use it as is and the workbench would take the desired amount for whatever she made, but XP is XP. So she sent the chain to her inventory and brought out the ironstone ingot again.
This time she went to the Tools and Utility menu and selected Wiresnips. Saying create the tool appeared on the bench. Slotting it into it's spot on the workbenches peg board, she figured that was a good end to her experiment.
{Ding! You've created your first Crafting Tool.}
{+100xp}
{You've made a pair of Great Quality Wiresnips}
{+100xp}
Seeing night had fallen Sam bought out one of the lanterns and lit it. She made her way towards the trees and gathered some fallen branches earning a few more XP. She then came back to the cart and built a campfire. She had to light it herself since Iggy hadn't reached the second stage yet.
Once the fire was going she brought out some meat for the kitties and some oats and hay for Sunblaze. She crushed another core in with Iggy's dinner. She prepared her dinner and while she waited for it to cook she opened her Beast Bank.
{Beast Bank Balance: 400xp}
Figuring there was no better time than the present, she added 100xp to both Tempy and Sunblaze. Both glowed for a moment and then the notifications rang.
{Ding! Your tame 'Tempy' is now level 2}
{'Tempy' has gained +2 STP and +1 SKP}
{Ding! Your tame Sunblaze is now level 2}
{Sunblaze has gained +2 STP and +1 SKP}
She added Tempy's STP into strength bringing it to 8 and Vitality bring it to 11 and her health to 110HP.
She opened Sunblaze's profile to see where she needed help.
{Name: Sunblaze 'Sunny'
Age: Adult
Species: Dawnsveil Courser
Level: 2
Rarity: Rare
Tier: Blue
Experience: 0/150
Health: 100/100
Mana: 90/90
Mana Control: 8
Mana Regen: 9mp/sec.
Stats:
Vitality: 10
Strength: 7
Wisdom: 9
Instinct: 8
Skills:
Active skills:
Bonded Rays
Shines a ray of sunlight towards Tamer, even through rough terrain or weather to locate them if separates
Mana cost: 20 Duration: Sustained
Galebound Step
Temporarily boosts speed, agility by 100% and silences hoofsteps. Great for pursuit or escape.
Mana cost: 25 Duration: 30 seconds
Dawnflare Pulse
Emits a radiant burst of light that stuns nearby beasts for 1 second, non-damaging, but useful for repositioning.
Mana cost: 20MP After sunlight exposure Duration: 1 Second
Horizonbound Leap
A leap like wind-glide that can carry her over chasms or obstacles. While midair, it reduces incoming ranged damage.
Mana cost: 10/second Duration: Sustained
Aurora Kick
Blinding front-hoof strike that sends a radiant shockwave in a cone. Does not inflict damage to enemies, but their fall might.
Range: 50 metres. Mana Cost: 100. Duration: 5 seconds.
Passive skills:
Coursers Mark
Connects gear to S.I.S.T.E.M. Map for location pinpointing by Tamer.
Tamer Bond
Allows tame to understand their tamer's emotions and tone better.
Sun-Linked Bond
When tamer is mounted, both gain increased perception and evade chance.
Solar Veil
Cloaks both rider and mount in refracted morning light—brief ten seconds of invisibility for travel or ambush
Light Stride
leaves no tracks and moves silently unless galloping}
"Well, looks like Wisdom and Strength would be best." Sam said adding the points.
With two hundred points still in the bank she was tempted to level Iggy up again, but since they were all the same level now she thought against it.
As Sam leaned back against the cart and waited for her food to cook, she went through her advanced general skills to see what she could advance. After using her skill points to upgrade them, in the end Movement reached LVL 3, Communication reaches LVL 2, Knowledge reaches LVL 2 Animal Husbandry reached LVL 2 and Survival reached LVL 5. She didn't have much opportunity to use her cleaning skill but after getting a place in town she was sure it would level with time.
Once her dinner was done she stretched and took out her Short Sword. She hadn't used it since arriving here since she was more concerned about keeping her distance so now seemed a good a time as any to practice, see how much of O.S.'s talents has stuck.
Stepping away from the cart she relaxed her limbs and took her stance. Feet shoulder width apart, knees slightly bent with one foot slightly further forward. After her first swing she could tell she did it wrong. Too much in her head. So she took a deep breath, closed her eyes and just did what her body wanted.
After a few more swings she started getting into the rhythm of it. He body knew what to do. The experience O.S. had seemed to seep into her body. The right angle and speed. Thrusting at imaginary does, parry, block, slice. Once she got into it she add her feet into it making the strikes harder and faster, dodge, parry, slice, lunge.
She kept at it until the ding of the notification brought her out of her fugue like state. Stopping to catch her breath and swiping the sweat from her brow she checked the level of her skill and sure enough it was up to LVL 8.
{Quest Complete! Weapon Training (Short Sword)
Reward: +150xp
Reward: Your Common, Great Short Sword had upgraded to an Uncommon, Superior Short Sword. It has gained an enchantment! Tempest Blade - Releases waves of wind with each strike, knocking back enemies. +20dps}
Bursting out laughing she whispers to Jarvis "Not a word to Tempy, she'll probably think it's her sword now and try to wield it"
{"If I had lips they'd be sealed. Though something tells me the S.I.S.T.E.M. has an ironic sense of humour of its own"} The humour in Jarvis's voice couldn't be missed. Every day he seemed to become more and more human…or at least human like.
Making her way back to the cart she told Tempy and Iggy to keep watch as she slept.
"No going off to fight things… wake me up if anything strong shows up, ok?" They agreed but she made sure Jarvis would also wake her up too. Making herself comfortable on the hides and fell asleep fairly easily. That training was a workout.
In the morning everything was just as she left it. The fire had burned itself out, but she made sure to pour a little water on it to make sure. She fed her tames and moved the incubator to a secure spot in the back. Then reattached Sunblaze and they were on their way.
They continued on the same way, stopping to do her quests, doing a little hunting and training up Tempy. To some she was more of an annoyance then anything else at her level but she was quick to get away…most of the time. Her Bond Healing came in handy for that unfortunate encounter. She'd also upgraded the Beast Bank to LVL 6, storing 1600xp.
By the morning of the fourth day she was ready for an actual bed. She never thought she'd miss that monstrosity in the cave, but hides on a cart weren't much better.
That feeling of being watched persisted but with whatever was watching her never approaching or turning red, she tries to ignore it.
She had just finished another day or quests when a new special quest popped up.
{Ding! New Special Quest: First Blood - Defend your cart, and your life. It's not just beasts you have to watch out for.
Objective: Bandits approach, defeat, defend or scare away the bandits that are about to attack. Turn any survivors in to the Guards at Solaris.
Reward: +XP, +5 to all stats, +2 to Luck, a new skill}
"Uh Jarvis?" Sam asked concern lacing her voice.
{"I was just about to mention that, they appear to be just around the bend up ahead. I suggest you prepare yourself.}
"Shit, ok…Tempy, bad men are approaching. We need to be ready. First a little core snack and then we're getting you to level 5. That's when she'll evolve right Jarvis?"
{"Indeed, good plan. Once you're off the cart Sunblaze's saddle will hide her once she comes to a stop. Well more of a 'nothing to see here' situation then true invisibility. She should be safe from any prying eyes for a while."}
"Alright let's do this." she had just enough to bring Tempy and Iggy to level five with a couple XP left over. She then fed them the highest cores she had from the hunting she did over the past few days. A LVL 12 Rare Purple and a LVL 10 Rare Blue. She had to crush Iggy's into a bowl, but Tempy did fine with hers. They started to glow and then the notifications she'd been longing to see popped up.
{Ding! Your tame 'Tempy' has evolved to the second stage of her integration.She is now a Voltclaw, she now has gained access to Chain Dash and Static Speed}
{+200xp}
{Ding! Your tame 'Iggy' has evolved to the second stage of her integration. She is now a Firefoot, She now has gained access to Campfire Spark and Ash-Sniffer}
{+200xp}
{Beast Bank Balance = 174xp}
Both had grown quite a bit, especially Tempy. Iggy was the size of a house cat but Tempy was now the size of a linx. She put their STP into vitality and strength and hoped it would help. She couldn't wait until she could enchant them some gear.
She pulled her bow out, strapped on her short sword and dagger and then hopped off the cart.
"Ok, Iggy I want you to stay behind with the cart and burn anyone that comes near alright? Tempy you're with me. We're going to do our best to scare them away…but I doubt that will work. I want you to just keep zapping them to keep them away from me so I'm not fighting too many at once. Understand?"
'Yup! I zap and dash then zap some more.' It seemed advancing to the next stage cured her if her habit to talk in the third person which Sam eventually got used to. Now she sounded more adult. Even though she was only closing in on three months old.
"Good Girl, feel free to bite and scratch too, just be careful." Sam said petting Tempy's head. They both walked ahead looking to the trees around them for any hidden bandits. The map showed them up ahead amongst the trees.
"Jarvis I'm not going to get red named or something am I?" Sam ask in reference to what happens in some of the books she read about people in her situation. If they killed a human their name would glow red telling everyone they were a murderer.
{"Nope, that's not a thing here. Though it would solve a slew of problems if it were."}
As they got closer Sam pulled her sword out with a satisfying shwing. Sliding her bow onto her back they turned the corner.