WilburWoods
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Chapter 10 - Power Leveling
🕑 Added 2023-08-27 17:09:09 +0000 UTCThe screeches, scratches and animalistic noises coming from the other side of the door were still present. The monsters had single-mindedly decided they would wait patiently. Patiently screeching.
[Door, E-grade Seal, 57%]
Logan wiped a sheen of sweat off his brow after checking up on the door. He was hungry, thirsty and tired. And he wasn’t even close to being done with the boomerang. But boy had he leveled up. His [Transmutation] was level 6, his Control had risen to 7, Efficiency to 4 and Potency to 5. Even his [Marksmanship] had gone up a bump to 4, just by the sheer force of throwing the weapon over and over again, so that Tumor could get data.
The constant running back to the E-grade crystals to powerlevel had pushed his [Funnel] to level 3.
All of this was great, but Logan had physical needs to attend to. He would have to take a break and test something wild. Food he could go without for a couple of days. But Logan was getting seriously parched. He needed to test this and he could only hope he was right. Could he turn stone into water with his [Transmutation]?
For starters Logan picked up a chunk of rock, easily found at the legs of the ancient tables, crumbled over time. First Logan would need a bowl. Given the size of available rubble, it would be more of a thimble, but it’d do.
No levels in [Transmutation] but a rough ugly cup was formed nonetheless. It’d hold two ounces of water at best, but it’d do.
Then for the real challenge. Was this possible at his level to begin with? Tumor wouldn’t be needed, as this would be just a simple magical procedure. Logan couldn’t help but to laugh at the thought.
Just a simple magical procedure? If this stuff wasn’t real, I’d say I’m having just a simple mental breakdown.
It worked. Logan let out a moan of relief. The little piece of rubble he had been cupping in his hands had morphed into clear water and trickled through his fingers into the cup. In great excitement, Logan got up, replenished his crystals from the floating E-grade constructs and brought a bunch of rocks next to the cup.
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Transmutation level 7]
After three cups of refreshing, blessed, magical rock-water, Logan could feel the aches of his body slowly lessen and his mind quicken again. The next thing he tried was making food out of the rocks.
[Transmutation level requirement not met]
Water’s structurally more simple than a sandwich, I guess. Was worth a try. At least I got water covered.
*
After two more cups of water, Logan returned to working with the boomerang. Logan had gotten a decent hang of throwing it. It flew straight and would certainly cut a nasty gash on anything squishy. But no matter how he worked with Tumor, he couldn’t get the weapon to return his way. He tried every wrist flick, every angle, every grip on the weapon’s transmuted bone handle.
Naturally, Logan vented his frustration at the AI’s inability to produce results. Tumor was adamant that the issue was no longer with the design, but the way Logan threw the weapon. Logan naturally ignored such stupidity.
After making Tumor adjust the designs to the way Logan threw the boomerang, he did manage to get it to return. Which turned out to be a horrible thing. The whizzing blade barreled through the air towards Logan with deadly speed. With a yelp Logan threw himself on the ground, narrowly dodging decapitation.
Logan went and picked up the boomerang. It was a simple, but effective weapon. Two feet of black and blue, metal-like substance, curving softly at an angle in the middle. It was attached to a piece of bone that Logan had transmuted into a handle.
As awesome as the weapon might be on an idea-level, it wouldn’t do the job. He’d throw it once, kill one of the three beasts, if he was lucky. Another could fall to the javelin, which he had recharged, but the third one would kill him, no matter how high level his [Transmutation] or [Enchantment].
Wait… I might not have time to learn how to use the boomerang, but maybe I can cheat my way out of this problem by enchanting it?
Logan recharged his spent F- and E-grade crystals. That one E-grade construct he had been using got finally spent. It went completely dim. Logan shrugged and recharged the remaining two [F-grade Numa Crystals] from the other floating construct.
[Skill Level Up!]
[Funnel level 4]
Then he sat down at one of the tables and placed the scythe-boomerang upon it.
“Make this weapon return to the owner’s hand after throwing. Make it slow down its spin when it returns, so it’s safe to catch. Make the weapon unwilling to harm the person who threw it.”
[Enchantment level requirement not met]
“Damn it!”
The problem was that there was no way of knowing whether he could cast the enchantment after getting one more level or ten. With mounting distress, Logan looked around the room. There really wasn’t anything usable in the room. Just the tables and their rubble and floating crystals. Nothing to booby trap the door.
“I’ll have to try, won’t I?” Logan muttered and scuffed at the floor with his foot. “There’s plenty enchantments I should be able to put on my stuff. Worst case scenario, I’ll throw enchanted pieces of rubble at them…”
Logan looked to the other side of the room. He had two more [E-grade Numa Crystals] to use for leveling up his [Enchantment]. If he got creative enough, he might get a high enough level to be able to cast a Return-enchantment on his boomerang.
Better get to work then.
*
“...Make this boomerang steer towards the target’s neck. Make bad throws swerve towards the closest target. Give it auto-aim essentially.”
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Enchantment level 6]
*
“...Make the weapon wind-resistant when thrown. Let it ignore wind and the friction of the air.”
The crystal Logan was holding dimmed. The blue sheen around the boomerang grew ever so slightly stronger. Logan pumped a fist. Then he redid the enchantment for his javelin.
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Enchantment level 7]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Potency: 6]
*
Logan kept running back and forth to the E-grade constructs to funnel power into his crystals. Using [Funnel] was wasteful, and when he could, Logan used the big crystals to enchant things directly, like his boomerang or the javelin. But with this he had no choice.
The tables were gone. Logan had used transmutation to make the stone as soft as clay, after which he had gone to the door to build something that could save his life.
Soon a spear-ring of rock stalagmites covered every angle at the door. If the monsters wanted to get to Logan, he’d make them work for it.
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Transmutation level 7]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Focus: 3]
“Make this stone spear extremely durable.”
Half of an [F-grade Numa Crystal] went dim. Logan repeated the process for all the nine spears fastened on the floor.
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Enchantment level 8]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Efficiency: 5]
[Durability: 4]
As Logan still had a lot of juice left in the floating crystals, he decided he’d enchant his pants. Durability, protection, water and fire resistance. Logan also re-enchanted his socks.
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Enchantment level 8]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Focus: 4]
[Durability: 5]
He also thought of something fun. And decided it was worth a try. He held a crystal in his hand and pressed it against his pocket.
“Make this pocket larger than it physically is. Make it a pocket dimension.”
[Enchantment level requirement not met]
“Bah. Stupid rules.”
*
[Door, E-grade Seal, 11%]
The creatures were still sporadically rampaging behind the door. Oh, they were definitely there waiting to get in. Logan had about two hours left. Sure, he could probably re-enchant the door, like he had done to his socks and javelin, but there was nothing left for him in the room. The floating crystal constructs were mostly spent. One of them still had a dim charge of 15% or so.
This was it. There was just one thing to do. Logan had pushed his [Enchantment] to level 10 by exhausting the magic within the floating Numa constructs. He had super-pants, super-socks, super-javelin and at the door was a ring of spears magicked with sharpening and hardening enchantments.
Logan had even chunked out some of the floor in front of the door, to make it harder to get a foothold for the monsters. Those parts of the floor that hadn’t been chunked, had been enchanted with slickness and anti-friction.That had finally pushed him to 10.
With no options left, Logan went to the last floating crystal. If this didn’t work there was still a slim chance Logan could deal with the monsters. He’d kill one with the boomerang. Run up to the shield ring, and stab the monsters dead with the javelin. But he’d really prefer to not get into close-quarters with them. As fast and strong as they were, Logan doubted his clock-watch would last long.
I just need this to work. It’d be so embarrassing if I die before my father's dumb goons.
Logan pressed the scythe-boomerang against the floating crystal. It still had a moderate blue hue.
“Okay, same deal as before. Make this boomerang have a return-spell. Make it return safely to the owner’s hand after being thrown. Make it easy and smooth to catch. Make the weapon unwilling to hurt the receiving person. Make it slow down its spin when it's returning.”
[Sub-class Level Up!]
[Enchantment level 11]
[Attribute Level Up!]
[Control: 8]
[Potency: 7]
[Focus: 5]
[Artificer Level 4]
[Class Skill Acquired: Repair]
The floating crystal went almost completely dim and some of its blue hue transferred to the blade Logan was holding. That fresh, minty feeling washed over Logan as those notifications popped. Logan grinned and looked at his creation with great satisfaction.
“Let’s try this baby out.”
