Cat With a Raygun

“So, Kerras, Melanie, do either of you want to become Mages when you turn 18?” Joe asked the two youths as they traveled.

Melanie looked discomforted by the question. “I don't think so. It has too many bad associations with being held prisoner by those bandits.”

“Completely understandable. What about you, Kerras?”

Kerras seemed deep in thought since Joe asked the question originally. After a few moments he finally answered. “I think I might want to, yeah. If it can help me become as strong as you, I'd never have to worry about people capturing me or killing the ones I love again.”

Joe called out to the elven woman in the wagon. “Eleanor, would that be okay by you, to give one of your Intelligence Elixirs to Kerras? You made them, so it's only right that you have a say in what happens with them.”

“I can't say I would object to something good coming out of that situation. Besides, we need to make more mages to counter whatever plot Glior was involved with when he sold poor Lessa off,” Eleanor replied from above them.

“Lessa was from our village,” supplied Tess. “We were all traveling by caravan together to sell our goods in Telknock, southwest of Mankerin. She helped her father with his preserves. I'd sometimes assist his plants in their production of the sweetest fruits. It feels like a lifetime ago now, but it was only months.”

“How long until your birthdays?” Joe asked of Melanie and Kerras.

“I turn 18 in three weeks,” answered Melanie.

“Close to six months for me,” replied Kerras.

“Melanie, you'll get your Guidebook while we're on the road. Have you given any thought to what class you do want? Your profession as well?”

“I'm not entirely sure. My thoughts on that when I was younger have been altered by my recent experiences. I like what Kerras said about getting strong enough to not let it happen to me again, and I like the idea of magic in general, but just the idea of being a mage doesn't sit right with me after it was nearly forced on me. I also had ideas of being a professional chef, but I had to do a lot of cooking for those bandits, so no longer.”

Malcolm chimed in, “Don't worry if you're not positive of what you want to be yet. I'm sure Trenos has all kinds of information about the class system so we can look at different options before it's time for you to choose.”

“Malcolm is right. And for your profession, you can put that off as long as you want. I still haven't picked mine. None of my current options feel right for me,” Joe offered.

Both Kerras and Melanie looked deep in thought on the matter as they continued on the road.

- - - - -

Tess had stopped them about an hour after they got to a more wooded area around the road. She pointed off to a thicker part of the woods and told Joe that a pack of wild boars was about half a kilometer in that direction. No one but Gymmie wanted to go with him, but Tess wasn't going to let that happen.

Joe informed them about the Deflection Field he was going to put around their mini caravan to keep them safe while he was gone.

The boars were pretty big, but still no match for the power of Joe's magic. He opted to stick to only using Cold Snap so the meat wouldn't be ruined. They would need a lot of it. Two boars were killed and Joe Harvested their meat and leather hides. Joe piled everything onto one of the hides and then used Minor Levitation to bring it back to the wagon.

His ragtag group just stared in wonder at the large pile of neatly-wrapped packages on a hide moving like a magic carpet in the air.

“You weren't even gone an hour, how did you skin and tan those hide already, and where did you get the butcher paper from?” Eleanor asked what everyone had been thinking.

“Oh, I have a magic spell that lets me harvest materials from the bodies of monsters, animals, or plants. It has the power to work the materials and even produces little things like the paper to make carrying them convenient. I harvested most of the meat as jerky so it will keep for longer, although we have fresh meat we can cook tonight.”

“When I become a mage I want that spell,” Kerras said.

Joe chuckled as he packed away their new supplies.

- - - - -

Joe found out that Eleanor also had a good knowledge of Chemistry, even while lacking the skill, so he asked her about different substances she knew how to make that could help him with his planned solution to his range problem. Between Eleanor's knowledge and assistance and Tess's ability to find plants with the traits they needed, Joe was able to make samples of the different chemical products Eleanor suggested for Joe's project. He even went up a level in Chemistry from it. He kept the notes from their production along with a few sets of the ingredients. The ones he made now would harden quickly and be useless for his project. He needed fresh material to shape into his project.

On the journey to Trenos Joe kept his skill training to a minimum, so as not to reveal the number of skills available to him. He did however practice his spells often. With their permission he would cast Karmic Bond on both Melanie and Kerras or on Tess and Malcolm to help level that before needed in combat. He gained a level in all of his mage spells except for Harvest, which brought his Minor Levitation to level 5, granting it a new function.

Minor Levitation (Level 5). This spell allows the caster to mentally move up to five non-living objects each up to one-tenth the weight the caster can lift physically. The maximum distance an object can be controlled is up to half a meter for every point of Intelligence. Alternatively the caster can target themselves along with what they are carrying up to the normal limit for the spell.

Mana cost: 10 mana per minute

Joe hadn't touched that Hidden Blade spell he learned from the bandit leader. He definitely had blades to use for it, but didn't want to accidentally reveal too much to the others.

As for his skills, his Portering went up to level 10, Endurance to 11, Stamina Growth to 13, Mana Channeling to 13, and Focus to 11.

Tess had also been busy while they were traveling. By the time they arrived in Trenos she had given them all clothes made from spider silk. Joe was amazed that they were all different colors and asked how she achieved that. It was a simple spell available to Weavers, which was her profession.

Trenos was on a whole other level from what Joe envisioned. It looked to be almost as expansive as a major metropolitan city from Earth. They passed farm after farm on the outskirts, and judging by the size of the city, every side of it had to have more sprawling farms as well. Joe stopped in occasionally at different farms to inquire about buying livestock from them. What they sold, what kind of transportation conditions they recommended, what to feed them along the journey, that kind of information. Tess recommended that he buy smaller groups of the same livestock from different farms to ensure greater breeding results in the future.

Malcolm and Tess were both big helps on that front. Tess could make sure the animals were in good health, and Malcolm used some of Joe's sketch paper to draw what they would need to transport the different animals he was planning to buy when they left Trenos. This was a great time of the year for buying livestock as Joe could buy young ones that would take less space in their caravan.

As they got to the city gates they saw guards questioning arrivals, usually just simple inquiries about the nature of their business in the city.

“Halt, travelers.” One of the guards said as they got to the front of the line. “We've been on the lookout for you.”

Joe's mind immediately began to run through different possibilities, such as somehow the guards have the means to detect the magisteel in his backpack, or that news of a new mage in the area became known and they wanted to snatch him up for the good of the city.

“A raven report arrived from Mankerin yesterday describing the survivors of a bandit imprisonment, as well as the felinoid who defeated the bandits. A runner will escort you to the barracks command to receive the posted bounty for that group.”

At that, the guard gestured and a young boy came running out from the other side of the gate. Joe immediately let go of all the anxiety that had gripped him as he prepared to pull the wagon along to follow the boy.

The barracks wasn't far from the gate and after casting Deflection Field to protect the wagon the seven of them shuffled in to meet the orc man in charge of this section of the city guardsmen.

“Thank you for your service to the city of Trenos. Those bandits had been cutting of a good portion of our trade,” the orc began. “The report we got said that they were all defeated, is that correct?”

“Yes, all the ones in the base were killed. I can't stand slavers or cold-blooded murderers. There were no signs of any others, so I believe I got them all.”

“Good, good. This bounty was pledged by the merchant guilds. It had been rising over the weeks. Last raise put it at 12,000 gold. Are platinum coins acceptable? It's so much easier to count out twelve hundred.”

“Yes, of course, thank you,” Joe could hardly believe what he was hearing. He still had a couple thousand gold stashed away from his sales in Mankerin, and he hasn't even sold the magisteel yet. Plus there was the money and trade goods recovered from the bandits. Joe was going to be rich.