Cat With a Raygun

Joe quickly closed the new notice window, hoping Ferric wouldn't ask him about it. He decided it was best if locals didn't find out about his unusual nature and the possible benefits it can bring.

Ferric flashed a half smile to Joe and said, “I think that's enough for today. We don't want you too overwhelmed by the information. Any questions, though?”

Joe thought about it for a moment. “Well, it's a personal question, if you don't mind.”

Ferric visibly sighed and responded, “It's about my profession level, isn't it?”

“You have to admit, from my point of view it looks unusual. I don't know how long you've been mayor here, but I've had my class for a day and already gained a level, so for you not to advance past level 3 seems out of place.”

“Five years. I've been mayor five years since my father died and I took his place. Rust's Edge had already withered to the husk it is now by then, so I haven't been able to accomplish much as mayor. That severely limits how much Work experience I get from the CGS. This town used to be great, and I want it to be like that again.”

Joe had a quizzical look on his face as he asked, “So did you get the option to switch your profession to mayor, or did you keep it open until you took over?”

“I kept it open. My family has been running this town for generations, hence our last name Rustkeeper. I couldn't actually take the profession until I assumed the role. In larger settlements I could have been an Assistant Mayor, which I could elevate to Mayor at one of the level benchmarks. Those are 25, 50, and 100, by the way. There may be more but no one has ever discovered the limit for class or profession levels. At the benchmark levels you can elevate your class or profession to a more specialized focus, or you can get a stronger version of it.

“But enough of that, I think Sally and Jack have likely made enough progress for you to get started on your spellcasting on the deer.”

Ferric led Joe out of the tavern and into the woods near the rocky terrain of the mine. After about 30 minutes of travel they came upon a clearing with 5 dead deer piled up against a tree. Sally was sitting against another tree nearby, keeping an eye on her kills. She waved them over on seeing the pair approach.

“Jack should be back with the sixth one shortly. Obviously I had to venture further out as the deer got spooked by the deadly arrows hitting their herd periodically.”

“How was your efficiency?” asked Ferric.

“One arrow per kill. I still have another 17 arrows. Maybe we can splurge for some more after we sell the parts from these?”

“Of course. We want to give our young mage here a chance to keep using his spell between his more physically involved training sessions,” said Ferric as he clapped Joe's back in a friendly gesture.

“I can't do all of these in one go, so let's get started so I can rest to recover my mana,” Joe offered as he went to the pile and pulled the top one off to slide down on the ground by itself.

“Why are you moving it? Can't you cast the spell where the body is?” Sally asked.

“I can, but the results of the spell appear where the body was, and I don't want them to appear on top of the heap.”

Joe began casting his spell as he tried to tune out the stares of Ferric and Sally. After the minute it took to cast the spell he received the usual chime from the CGS.

Results of Harvest spell:

15 deer steaks (raw)

5 kilos of deer sausage (raw)

1 deer skin

Like with the crab meat, the deer meat appeared in convenient butcher paper packages. There were 3 steaks to a package, and the sausage was packaged into 1 kilo bundles. Joe was excited to see a new product made by his magic, but then he looked downcast and said, “It's a shame most of this meat is going to go to waste.”

“Fortunately it will not,” countered Ferric. “It's not easy for her to cast, but my sister has a preservation spell from being a Farmer. It takes a couple of hours to cast, and she never got the Focus skill, but she can cast it on all the meat at once, so long as it's in the same container. It may take her a couple of tries, but she can probably get it done tonight or tomorrow. She'll come by The Rusty Cup after she's done on her farm and get to it. I hope we'll be done with these before then, at least.”

“Yes, that won't be a problem. I can cast it twice from full, and then again every ten minutes or so. These six won't take more than an hour,” Joe assured Ferric.

Returning to his work, Joe cast the spell again with similar results. Before he recovered enough mana to cast Harvest on the third deer Jack had returned with the final deer slung over his shoulder like it weighed nothing. If the mining skill provides a strength bonus, then it might indeed weigh nothing for the human man.

After Jack's return Ferric decided to go back to The Rusty Cup and took the 2 bodies' worth of harvested materials with him, asking Joe to join him when they were done, because the Cooking skill was part of their plan to improve his Vitality.

While chatting with Sally and Jack after the fourth deer was harvested, Sally stopped suddenly and held up her hand in the universal gesture of “quiet.” Sally nearly closed her eyes as she looked to be in deep focus. Suddenly she pointed in the direction to Jack's left and he immediately took off in that direction pulling a mace from his side. Sally quickly restrung her bow, nocked an arrow, and silently moved in that direction as well, gesturing for Joe to stay put. Joe moved to put the remaining 2 deer bodies between himself and the forest where the miners looked for trouble.

Several growls were heard in that direction followed by a couple of yelps. After a few moments another yelp, louder growling, Jack yelling in pain, and then lots of movement among the trees. Joe checked his mana and saw he had just enough to cast Lightning Jolt once. Jack and Sally came back into view, alone. Sally was helping Jack as he was limping, trailing blood from his right leg.

Joe quickly moved back around the deer bodies and moved to get to help Sally bring Jack back to the trees where they had been spending the last 30 minutes. Remembering that his Healing Touch spell had the same cost as his Lightning Jolt spell, Joe decided to use his available mana to heal Jack's leg. Joe moved the ruined pants leg from Joe's wound and asked Sally if she had a waterskin he could use to wash the wound clean of anything it may have picked up on the trudge back through the brush.

After pouring the water over the bleeding wound on Jack's leg, Joe gingerly touched it while casting his newest spell. Fortunately it has a casting time like Lightning Jolt, not like Harvest, so it was done in an instant. Joe felt the energy within in travel to his hands just like when he casts Lightning Jolt, but it felt different, it felt the way the magic around Bobo Nuts felt. A golden glow emerged from his hands and entered Jack's leg. Within seconds the broken skin was whole again.

“Wow, I was afraid that was gonna keep me off my feet for a couple of days,” Jack said. He turned to Sally, “I love having this kid here. We're gonna get rich and we're gonna live forever.” Jack gave a deep belly laugh at his joke.

Sally, who had been rather concerned with Jack's wounded leg let her concern drop and joined him in the laugh. She turned to Joe, “Thank you for that. We knew the deer might attract attention, but it was a pack of 5 grey wolves. We killed three of them and the other two ran off. Hey, would your magic work on the wolves, too?”

“The only thing it doesn't work on is CWEST species, which I assume means people like us, those who use the CGS. So unless those grey wolves have levels, we should be fine.”

“Good,” Jack said. “After I take a quick breather I'm gonna go get their bodies as well. It will take us a little longer, of course, but still well before Ferrite will be coming to The Rusty Cup.”

After ten minutes Jack was ready to go back to retrieve the fallen wolves and Joe was ready to harvest the fifth deer. The results weren't exactly the same as the other four.

Results of Harvest spell:

12 deer steaks (raw)

6 kilos of deer sausage (raw)

1 deer skin

Rare result produced:

1 Bone knife

“Well, that's new.” Joe picked up a leather sheath from the pile of goods produced by the spell. The hilt of the dagger was carved and polished antler. Joe noticed he had another pair of notifications that he missed in the wonder of the knife created wholly by magic, so he opened them.

T- You made a weapon with your magic!

You have received CWEST experience for making a knife with your Harvest spell.

And the next one.

Harvest spell has advanced to Level 2

“I think this knife pushed my spell to its limit and beyond, cause now it's level 2. It's supposed to be stronger now, right?”

Sally nodded, “That's correct. Maybe we'll get more meat. Or maybe another knife. It's pretty nice.”

“Well, we'll find out in a bit.”

When Jack brought the first body back he was also excited about the new knife and urged Joe to take it with him to The Rusty Cup later, as he could use it for his Cooking training. By the time Jack brought the second wolf back Joe was ready to cast Harvest on the last deer.

No sooner had he began casting the spell than the words, “Well that's new,” passed his lips.