Book 3: Chapter 6: Practicing Abilities

Book 3: Chapter 6: Practicing Abilities

I sighed contentedly as the mining village of Gemena appeared on the horizon. Finally, the last stop before we hit Kinshasa.

Do you know what Im going to do now that I got sorghums? I asked offhandedly.

Annie sighed on the drivers seat beside me. Are you still on about that?

She had the reins for the day, and wasnt the biggest fan of driving, so I was keeping her company. Yep, it was aaaall for her sake.

Getting those sorghums was the best thing to happen to me on Erd since Brans special meat pies. So? I asked again.

Ugh. Fine. Whatre you going to do now that youve got sorghums?

Floss more!

Annie glowered at me. I think Id rather be alone than stuck up here with you.

Awww, you love it!

Again, I love Balin. I tolerate you.

Ouf.

Do you have anything we could actually discuss?

Not really. Almost three weeks cooped up together has dried up that well. We could talk more about beer facts.

Annie grimaced. Even I am growing weary of beer facts.

We could discuss tha awful smell startin to permeate the wagon after Kirk-Whites seven dwarves spent three weeks cooped up in it.

Kirk White?

And Fighty, Casty, Flirty, Whiney, Bossy, Oldy, and Pete.

Those are?

Our names.

Hah! Whos Flirty? Aqua or Johnsson?

I grinned. Depends on whos bein Whiney.

Uh huh. Can you go bother someone else? Annie snapped the reins for emphasis, and up ahead there was a complaining bleat. Sorry Penelope!

Nope. Balins walking with his team, Johnssons been keepin with Copperpots guards, Bran and Opal are hanging out in their cart, and Malt keeps fallin asleep whenever we chat.

Then go spend time with Richter? Werent you learning from him?

I shook my head. Richter and Aqua are busy researching music magic with Berry. They want a handle on it before she shows everyone at Kinshasa University how to do it. Well, Richters researching, Aquas probably sitting in a plush chair and fanning herself.

Gods, I wish I could join her.

Nope. Youre stuck here with me for the foreseeable future. But dont worry, were almost there! Only four more days to go!

Not soon enough. Hyah!

*BAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!* [Translated from Prima Donna Goat] If you continue to flagellate my sensitive porcelaine hide with those reins, I swear to the Gods I will EAT YOUR SOCKS!

Annie winced. Sorry Penelope!

There was still at least an hour until we made it to the squat buildings in the distance, and we mostly spent it in silence. I quickly grew bored and started cycling through using my Abilities. Using Abilities often enough helped them evolve into better versions depending on usage. So far the only Ability Id evolved was [Flash of Insight].

[Flash of Insight x 2] - Sometimes all an aspiring [Alchemist] needs to make an experiment succeed is the right idea. You gain a flash of insight regarding a subject of your choice.

This Ability can be used twice a day.

It gave me exactly the knowledge I needed at any given moment using my memories and senses. In the past Id used it to do everything from making split second decisions in battle to remembering the name of the barista that served me coffee every Arday. And Miday. And Barday. Okay, every day of the week, coffee was my comfort drink since the beer still sucked.

[White Lie] Sometimes we lie because the truth would hurt more. You gain a bonus 4 charisma when you tell a lie that is not intended to harm someone. The lie will read as true to abilities that can discern truth and lies.

This Ability can be used once per minute.

[Big Money] - You have so much money theres nowhere to keep it all! You may store up to 8,000,000 gold worth of cash in an extra-dimensional space.

Always Active.

Four was a popular number for Ability bonuses. At an increase of 4, a Stat was about 1.5 times stronger than before. So my Intelligence was literally half again as good for doing math. That helped with my memory and calculation speed, and itd been invaluable while doing taxes with Silverpen.

[Big Money] had to be literal money, so no gems or jewels, and Id been trying to cheat it by starting up a monetary system of exchange of potions and weapons with Copperpot. Thus far either I couldnt cheat the Ability the way I wanted, or I simply wasnt able to internalize potions of healing as money for the purposes of intent.

To practice [White Lie], Id need to find Whistlemop and tell him he had a great sense of fashion. Rainbow coloured pinstripe suits were just in this Octamillenium. Then hed inevitably tell me where I could buy one, and Id run the calculations on how much it would cost to buy a rainbow suit for everyone on the staff and then how fast Id need to run away.

Finally, I had a couple special Abilities for being a chosen. One was the otherworldly Minimap, which I was ALWAYS using. And the other was my first Personalised Ability, [Petes Miniature Remembrance].

[Petes Miniature Remembrance] - As an Otherworlder, you have memories of things and places that have never existed. Homesickness can be just as bad as any illness, and this Ability will help to assuage that pain. Allows you to create a miniature object made primarily of Matter. The object must be a previous Possession of great personal significance to you, and one that you have intimate knowledge of. Once summoned, the object will last for an hour.

This ability can be used once an hour.

[Minimap] - Your spirit has found a new spark! Your mental statistics remain replaced with their previous values, and you are more likely to gain blessings and milestones! You also gain a minimap to help find your way around this new world. People and monsters as well as major landmarks will be marked on your minimap. You can also mark crafting ingredients or quests and quest items.

This ability is always available.

[Petes Miniature Remembrance] was complicated both in concept and execution. I just didnt have many useful tiny items that were important to me that I really had intimate knowledge of. My fav pillow? Couldnt summon it; too big maybe. My favourite kitchen knives? Yes. My favourite brewing tools? Analog yes, digital no. In fact, I hadnt been able to summon a single digital object - not a one. I had some complaints about that, let me tell you!!!

I concentrated hard and tried for something new. With a complete lack of sound or fanfare, a stainless steel stick popped into my palm. It was a fairly standard Leatherman flip-open utility multi-tool, and I knew it like the back of my hand. Itd been my tool for everything from cutting vines to popping corks and bottlecaps for well over a decade. It was one of the expensive ones that you sharpened instead of replaced.

Annie looked over as I began flipping through the tools. Whats that?

Its a utility knife. Its got a bunch of different little tools and functions.

Hmmm reminds me of something I saw an [Engineer] carrying once.

It wouldnt surprise me if Copperpot had something like this.

Is it good quality?

You cant tell? I held the tool up for her to examine. It had never broken on me, but that was because it was made before everything started getting cheaper and more fragile.

Annie raised an eyebrow quizzically Why would I be able to tell the quality?

Because yer a dwarf?

Thats nonsense. What does being a dwarf have to do with knowing the quality of a tool at a glance?

Huh, good question. Oh! Were here!

And we had indeed pulled into the mining village while I was distracted.

And by village, I meant a half dozen stone huts on the road with one of the enormous floating light balloons hovering a few hundred meters above it. The houses were short and squat things with no real adornments, or people for that matter. There was a space just outside of town for our wagons, and a rather rank stable for the unigoats. Penelope nosed at it, then pulled away shaking her head.

Where is everyone? I asked, looking around.

Annie gave me the look. In the village, obviously.

What?

Annie pointed at one of the stone huts. In the village.

It took me a moment, but I got it eventually. Its underground? The whole village!? Id seen a lot of houses in Minnova that were underground, but an entire village!? The last little town wed passed through on the road to Kinshasa hadnt been like that!

Annie nodded. The villages closer to the capital are older, and in the early days of the country were subject to more frequent monster attacks. Deepcore Dungeon has a lot of burrowing monsters that open up new entrances to the dungeon all around Western Crack. Those stoneskin wombats were a good example. The burrowing monsters are one thing, but the new entrances also give other monsters free rein to roam. The modern Highwatch helps, but youll find more and more dwarven architecture in the old cave style as we get closer to Kinshasa; its more easily defensible if you properly enchant the walls. Wait till you see the Capital!

Well, lets head on into Gemena! I want to see what a traditional dwarven village looks like!

We circled the wagons, took stock of everyone, locked the goats up in the stable, and made our way into the village of Gemena. I couldnt wait to hit the bar and be disappointed by the local brews!