CC5 ~ 13!

13

One of the greatest benefits of having his Legendary codpiece was that Joe could bring things out of it to any part of his body whenever he wanted. It was time to show Havoc what he had learned, and Joe knew better than to hold back. With a thought and a handful of mana, Joe grasped forward and called forth an aspect of Trash.

The dark grey wispy fire appeared and was immediately surrounded by his light blue mana. Joe didn't bother to put much effort into the design, making a simple stylus. After it was formed, the aspect solidified into an actual physical object, though it was practically weightless. He was about to create a simple Novice-ranked Circle, but thought better of it. Perhaps it would be better to see how many aspects he had first? Calling up his crafting tab, Joe was pleasantly surprised to see what had been stored.

Aspects gathered

Trash: 1,001

Damaged: 712

Common: 238

Uncommon: 210

Rare: 80

Special: 0

Unique: 51

Artifact: 0

Legendary: 0

Mythical: 0

Core energy: None bound

Feeling better about the sheer amount of aspects that he could access, at least for Novice-ranked things, Joe drew out a simple circle and let it sit on the ground. Major General Havoc watched with great interest and tried to figure out what exactly the circle was supposed to be doing. Joe let him study it for a long moment, but before the Dwarf was forced to ask, Joe activated the ritual and stepped back.

The circle lit up, glowing a deep red light, slowly shifting to blue and back again. Havok waited for an explanation, but Joe was watching the circle happily. “This is very nice, sure… but just tell me. What does it do?”

Reductionist Class experience gained: 1!

“It makes pretty lights. This thing is the equivalent to a cantrip, only technically a Novice ritual, and they really don't do much. Also, it looks like I figured out how to gain experience. I need to use the aspects that I collect by making something out of them,” Joe answered easily, a huge smile on his face. With every bit of acquired information, the more and the faster he could grow. “I'm just happy because I didn’t have to add any other components than aspects. I used to have to break out silver, small carbon filaments, and very thin glass for this ritual, so I never bothered to make it. Essentially, I’ve made a magical version of a glass light bulb.”

“You mean a Nixie tube?” Havoc ventured after a moment, trying to translate Joe’s explanation into terms that he understood.

“You have light bulbs?” Joe gaped at the Dwarf, who seemed affronted at the surprise in the human’s voice.

Havoc harrumphed and glared at Joe through his thick mirrored goggles. “Our technology has been at your level of modern for literally thousands of years. There's not much you can't do when you have magic and science. The things our magitech can do would make you fear for your sanity. Anyway, what's the point of this light? Why did you make it?”

“I made it to show that I could make it,” Joe explained after a moment of contemplation. It made sense that their technology was more advanced than he was used to; they did have various golems and other technological wonders. It was just hard to rectify people who used crossbows and hammers in combat with people who were technological savants. That, and the only people he had met were… Legion. “I also explored how to work with enchanting, alchemy, and blacksmithing. I should-”

Joe paused, horror on his face. “I forgot to figure out how to make buildings! Son of the abyss! I… wait, no. That is just rituals. I'm okay.”

“Calm down, human. Was there something in that coffee you drank?” Havoc muttered disparagingly. “Or is this just a normal human thing? Questioning yourself out of nowhere and panicking for no apparent reason? You talk aloud frequently.”

“Yes, that is a very human thing.” Joe nodded seriously. Havoc winced at the thought of an entire race having anxiety for no good reason. “I learned that I can break down pretty much anything into aspects, and use that energy directly in the crafting of other materials, goods… basically anything, as long as I have access to the needed ranks of the discipline.”

Havoc took a short pull from his cigar, which was burning down to a small nub at this point. “I could see a few uses for this. Let's talk this out. You have six months to complete your quest for Officer Candidacy. It sounds like you want your big goal to be wiping out a few Elven forts, but if I may make a suggestion… there are a few other things we could really use as a Dwarven Oligarchy. No one ever said that you had to do one big thing; if you did a bunch of small things that added up over time… things that help the nation…”

“I can reach nobility by doing small things?” Joe didn't buy it. The quest clearly stated… actually, no it didn't. It hadn't said that only one thing counted; it simply let him know that everything would be tallied. All of the positives, all of the negatives. If his net positive was enough to help the entire race of Dwarves, that was how he would gain nobility. “I see. What did you have in mind, Havoc?”

“You remember that mana potion that I gave you? I mentioned that we have only one Alchemist for our entire people?” Havoc waited for Joe’s nod. “The reason behind that is that alchemy is a specialty of the Elves. People who are good at it are seen with suspicion, unless they are so good that they can produce enough to help everyone. Actually, let me amend my previous statement. When I say we only have one Alchemist, I mean only one who will practice publicly.”

“You want me to… what? Make alchemical goods? I can't do it; I only have access to making ritual specific potions and whatnot.” Joe was going to go on, but Havoc raised a hand to slow him down.

“Your class; not your current one, your previous one, the builder. Rituarchitect. I have read about that in our records. That used to be something that was a fairly common class, but it died out. Not sure why. You can create buildings and such, yes?” Joe responded in the affirmative to Havoc’s question, so the Dwarf hurried to finish his train of thought. “Our Alchemist is working in a Common Alchemist workshop. If you could benefit him enough, make his production go through the roof, what he does from that point on might count as you creating a benefit for us. What do you think? Worth a shot?”

“I'm on board.” Joe contemplated one of his other quests that was still in progress, where he needed to make a new workshop for Jake the Alchemist. He could practice and refine the workshop he created and outfitted with the Dwarven Alchemist as a practice run. “Do you have any blueprints for alchemy shops? I can get started right away!”

Havoc stared Joe down, long enough that Joe started to get uncomfortable. “You realize that we are masters at creating buildings and architecture, correct? Have you considered that if we had the blueprints to an alchemy workshop that was better than what we have currently, we would have already built it? No, of course not. Fact of the matter is, it takes an Alchemist of a higher level working in conjunction with an architect in order to create a building that is specific to them. Our guy is not there yet, and it will be years until he is. Unless, of course, he is able to work in a better workshop. Then he would progress faster…”

Joe caught on to what Havoc was getting at. “That would also help my case.”

“Exactly. Here’s the hard part. You want to get a better place, you gotta steal it. If you can get into a major fort occupied by Elves, they’re almost guaranteed to have an Uncommon alchemist workshop. At minimum. If you can get into one deeper in their territory, you are looking at Rare, or something better. If you get into their capital? There are rumors of a Legendary alchemist’s workshop.” Havoc caught the flash of greed that crossed Joe's face, and he approved of it. “What you need to do is sneak into a fort and see how they are laid out. It's chaos every single time, since they just throw up buildings willy-nilly. Nothing like us; we plan our cities. Still, at least you would get a glimpse of what the building would look like.”

“Can we make that happen?” Joe had to swallow his excitement. Perhaps it was because he had been with the Legionnaires for so long, but it took a hard question by Havoc to bring him back to reality.

“Are you ready to go into a fort?” Havoc looked at the dark cloak that Joe was wrapped in, the giant Cube that contained all of his compressed and destroyed materials within it, and the human’s weaponless hands. “Looks to me like you would get splattered across the ground if an Elf looked at you funny; and I gotta warn you, they are pretty funny lookin’. How about we get you outfitted and ready for combat before sending you to your death for no particular reason? What do you need?”

Joe barely needed to think about it. “In terms of weapons and armor… I have a cloak and a codpiece. Hard stop. My Cores are somewhere in that Cube, so I am going to be stuck using rituals that are under Rare quality. I need a weapon, as well as clothes or armor, and aspects. Any chance that you have access to lots of gear or weapons that you don't need? Maybe a little-used workshop I can reduce for aspects?”

Havoc looked at Joe, and a slow smile started spreading across his bearded face. Joe didn't particularly enjoy the look of it, but before he could run for the hills, Havoc grasped his arm in a vice-like grip and started walking. “I can do you one better. Have you ever been in a Dwarven landfill before?”