Book 2: Chapter 41 (Patreon)

“Disgusting,” Orrin complained, wiping the semi-warm liquid from his face. He rubbed his hand against the grass.

“You’re being serious, aren’t you?” Madi placed her mug on the ground with a trembling hand. “Don’t mess around with me about this.”

“I’m not messing with you but could you aim your spit away from me next time?” He used [Water Reservoir] and let a stream of water trickle from his hand. The spell let him create up to one gallon but he could do it at whatever speed he wanted. Washing his hands before the coffee dried and he had to deal with sticky fingers all day was a top priority.

Madi pushed her blanket off completely and stood up. She started pacing. Orrin straightened up off the ground and waited for her.

She turned multiple times and lifted her finger to shake at him but could only mutter dark whispers.

Daniel stirred in his sleeping bag and rolled over. He opened one eye and glared at them. “Too much noise.”

Madi whirled back to the plate of pastries Orrin had set out for them and hurled one at Daniel. “You didn’t take the middle watch, I did. If I’m awake, so should you be.”

Daniel brushed the dirt off the food and chomped down. “What’s up with her?”

Orrin shrugged.

“How long have you known?” Madi stomped over to Daniel. “He’s got [Merge] as a skill. I know that one of the books my father and I collected for you had a long section about it. You know what this means.”

Orrin quirked an eye at Daniel. What is she talking about?

Daniel stuffed half the pastry into his mouth and chewed. Madi’s hand was on her hip and she was tapping her foot by the time he swallowed.

“Madi,” Daniel said as he stood up and stretched. “If you want a bunch of books read, give them to Orrin. I took a peek at like two of the books.”

Madi’s foot stopped tapping. “You didn’t read the collection of priceless books that discussed the best ways to combine skills and spells? The cost of which could fund the defense of the Wall for a year?”

Daniel held up his hands. “Sorry?”

“When did this happen?” Orrin couldn’t help but ask. “I would have loved to read those.”

Madi was in his face pushing him backward before he knew it. “If you had told me all this before, I would have made you. I can’t trust either of you to do anything right. How many more surprises are you going to throw at me?” She turned and advanced on Daniel. “What do I have to do to get you to actually take this seriously?”

Orrin quickly stepped in between Daniel and Madi. “Hey! Hey! What’s the big deal? We’ll both read them when we get back to Dey. Madi, what’s wrong?”

Madi’s shoulders sagged as she ran out of steam. “If he had read those… if he had… he’d know. Orrin, you can’t tell anyone you have [Merge]. Ever. Don’t tell my father. Don’t tell Brandt, if that asshole ever comes home.”

Orrin noticed she had started to cry.

“I lost Brandt. I lost Jude. I can’t lose you too.”

Daniel brushed by him and wrapped Madi in his arms. “It’s ok. We couldn’t lose this idiot if we tried.”

“Hey!”

“What’s the big deal with the skill? Is it like his blood thingy?” Daniel asked her gently.

Madi sniffed and disengaged from Daniel’s hug. “It’s so much worse.”

Orrin’s blood froze. He’d taken the skill to make cool new combinations. Why would something like that be worse than a skill that yelled ‘Look at me, I’m trying to become a [Vampire].’

“Orrin, have you told anyone else about that skill?” Madi asked with dread in her voice.

“Just you two. Madi, what’s so bad?”

Madi wrung her hands and glanced around to make sure Leanthun hadn’t come back. “[Merge] makes new spells. The best theory is that it is completely random if somebody can unlock it. Nobody is sure how to get it but it’s well documented what happens when it’s found. Countries go to war over the person.”

Orrin felt a chill run down his spine. “It can’t be that bad. I mean, it’s not like I can make anything good anyways. I’ve just been combining [Inverse] and my increase stat spells.”

Madi nodded. “The new spells are better aren’t they?”

“Not really,” Orrin said, waving her off. “I mean they do cost a little less.”

Madi groaned. “Orrin, you forget because you are some sort of weird mana-regenerating fiend. Everybody else can only cast a finite number of spells a day. A new spell that costs less but does the same thing as before? Do you see how much of an edge that would give anybody?”

Orrin didn’t see how a few extra mana points would make the difference for anybody but he was just considering his own inverted buffs. “What kind of things do people unlock then? Maybe we can come up with something great and –”

“You need to stop and think,” Madi interrupted him. She rubbed her temples. “You remember the spell that Lord Wendeln cast when my father and the other Lords stripped him of his titles? It’s called [Harvest]. It summons an entire army of the type of monster the Wendeln family usually can summon and control. Only they don’t control any of the monsters when they use [Harvest]. It’s a last resort option, something to use when you are surrounded by demons and need to kill everything.”

She paused and made sure both boys were looking at her. “[Harvest] was the result of [Merge]. You never know what you are going to get from the combination of spells but the ones that are written about bring death.”

“Nothing I’ve been able to find is overpowered,” Orrin countered. “One of the combinations I tried let me make poisons or moisturize your skin. That was it.”

“You’re at level fifteen, right? Your spells, as far as I know, are all about random things. You don’t have a specific purpose like a [Fire Mage] or [Knight]. If you had two powers that were complimentary, the synergy of those spells would make the new spell that much more powerful.” She put her hand on her face and tapped her lip. “Have you tried combining anything with your blood skill?”

Orrin shook his head. “I haven’t really done much with [Blood Mana]. You kind of scared me from ever using it offensively.”

“Try it. See what you would get.”

Orrin nodded and pulled up [Merge].

Merge: [Blood   Mana] and [Lightstrike]?

Compatibility:   80%.

Chance of   original spell loss: 10%

Variations: 1

[Mana Drain] – Connects   to the target and drains 1 MP for every 1 HP you sacrifice.

Cooldown: 4   days

Accept?

“Oh, that’s actually cool. [Mana Drain] would let me use my own health to drain someone’s mana.”

Madi shook where she was standing. “That’s not a spell I’ve ever heard of. If you created that, there would be a chance it could populate in someone’s Store. A new spell that nobody knows suddenly appearing is the way most find out someone has [Merge].”

Orrin quickly exited out of the skill. “So don’t create new spells. Got it.”

Madi frowned. “No. That wasn’t the point I was trying to make. What did you combine your blood skill with?”

“[Lightstrike].”

“The most simple attack spell there is. Try something else.”

Orrin sighed and tried again.

Merge: [Blood   Mana] and [Heal Small Wounds]?

Compatibility:   60-100%.

Chance of   original spell loss: 0-30%

Variations: 3

Cooldown: 2   days to 8 weeks

Review   Choices

“Wow, I’ve never had a spell cooldown go to weeks yet.”

Madi’s face went tight. “What is it?”

“I’m looking now.”

Variations:

1) [Create Small Wounds] – Damage up to 10 HP.   5 MP

0% chance of original spell loss. Cooldown: 2 days.

2) [Recharge] – Restore up to 10 MP on another. 5   MP

5% chance of original spell loss [Cure Small Wounds]. Cooldown: 5   days.

3) [Sap] – Steal 10 HP from target. 5 MP

30% chance of original spell loss [Cure Small Wounds]. Cooldown:   8 weeks

Orrin read the list aloud.

“[Recharge] sounds weird,” Daniel complained. “Why would you spend mana to restore someone else’s mana? They could just drink a potion.”

“If it worked like I’m guessing it would, the only limit to how much mana Orrin could restore would be how much he cycled his own mana. You’re also forgetting that Orrin’s cost to cast that would be next to nothing and he’d be giving way more than just ten mana per cast. Now imagine Orrin standing behind an army of mages. They could cast spells at an enemy for hours. All because of one spell.”

“I think [Sap] would be worse,” Orrin whispered.

“Why? What would be worse than you juicing up an army of fireball-slinging magic users.” Daniel asked.

Orrin closed his eyes and imagined taking [Sap]. He could steal ten points of health from someone for the cost of only five mana. Except he could turn himself invisible with [Camouflage] and nobody would know where he was. He could boost his Intelligence and Will to a hundred, making the spell cost half a point of mana, probably rounding up to one MP. He would also do 100 points of damage per cast. If he ever actually ran out of mana, he could always blood cycle with no need to heal himself. He’d be stealing 100 points of health each casting. He wouldn’t need an army in front of him.

He could decimate the army himself.

“You see it,” Madi said quietly. “You see some way it could be exploited.”

Orrin nodded.

“Could it help us?” Daniel asked. Madi hit him. “Ow. What? We are about to fight in a war.”

“It wouldn’t be a war. It would be a slaughter.” Orrin murmured. “If I created that spell, would someone else be able to get it right away?”

Madi nodded. “Most likely. The exact combination of prerequisites wouldn’t be known, but within a year or two… yes.”

“I need to be careful with what spells I make.”

“It could be those are spells already known, with ways to counter whatever you are thinking of. We can search through my father’s books when we get back and see.”

Orrin didn’t want to wait that long. It was a small secret anyways. “I’ll see if they’re in the Store.”

“There’s no way you’d have them in your Store. These are combinations of spells that would the exact right class and certain spells already known to unlock –”

“[Create Small Wounds] is already there.” Orrin talked over Madi, not even trying to explain. “[Recharge] is as well.”

He scrolled more. “[Sap] isn’t there.”

Madi spluttered. “How many available spells do you have in your Store? A hundred?”

“Thousands. Maybe more.”

Madi sat down hard. “What are you? Not even a [Hero] has that many options.”

Daniel sat down next to her. “His class is [Utility Warder]. I think whatever brought me here as the [Hero] brought him here to be a problem solver. He’s my secret weapon. The friend that can find a solution to the problems I can’t just beat down. None of that matters though. What matters is he’s our friend. I’m sorry I didn’t read those books. Tell me everything. I can’t protect him if I don’t know what I need to protect him from.”

Madi started laughing. “Himself. The world. Everyone? Daniel, he’s creating new spells with the handful of random things he’s collected from his first few levels. If he wanted, he could spend maybe thirty or forty ability points on specific skills and spells and end the world. If someone captured him, it wouldn’t be a matter of if that happened but when.”

“So don’t tell people I have [Merge] and try not to make too many new spells,” Orrin said, crossing his legs as he sat down too. “And definitely don’t blow up the world. I think I can handle that.”