World Seed

Author’s Corner: Me again! Just wanted to pop in here and mention that I am doing my best to read everyone’s comments, and if anyone has any questions or comments on the story to post it after the chapters. Since I’m basically just typing as it feels right, I can incorporate suggestions into the story pretty easily, as long as it still flows well.

And yes, sometimes typing ‘as it feels right’ ends up with seemingly stupid decisions like him choosing a Half-Elf rather than a far more interesting race. However, it also brings in things like the gene therapies which raise the chances for him to become an even more interesting race.

Before I get to the chapter, I apologize for not being able to post a second one yesterday, as the annual turkey ritual consumed much of my time.

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Once again making my way through the town, I eventually stopped to ask for directions to someone able to teach me alchemy. The answer I got nearly made me fall flat on my face from embarrassment, since apparently the alchemy shop was right next door(tree? Next tree? No, I’ll go with door) to the giant tower of magic.

Calm down Falenel… It’s not your fault.. it’s a genetic trait of men to be unable to ask for directions… I tried to make excuses for myself while saying and making my way back. At least this way, I was gaining a bit more time to wait for my magic to recover. Need to add a technique to recover faster, or learning how recovery works to my to-do list…

Once I reached the fabled alchemy station, I was rather surprised to find that no other players were lining up to learn the trade. I mean, who doesn’t want to be able to concoct their own healing potions, if there isn’t a limit to the amount of trade skills you can learn?

My question was further relevant when I got inside and noticed the busty, silver eyed elf manning the counter. Or, was she a half-elf? Her ears didn’t seem quite as pointed as the other elves, and her chest was a bit larger than normal for the race. As she saw me come in, she directed a kind smile at me. “Welcome, how may I help you?”

Her voice caused me to snap out of my mild delusions and get back to what I wanted to do. “Right, sorry. Yes, I’m interested in learning about alchemy. Would that be alright?”

She thought about it for a few moments, and then nodded her head. “Yes, that would be fine. But I need to ask a payment, first. The basic alchemy set costs 70 copper, and I’ll need you to either provide the herbs you use to practice, or pay for their cost.”

I likewise nodded, seeing that this was entirely reasonable. However, I decided to ask something else that had been on my mind. “What all does alchemy cover? Just curious.”

She smiled a bit more at my question. It seemed not many actually cared to ask for the details. “Well, as I’m sure you know, the basic levels of alchemy involve mixing together different types of potions. However, as you become more skilled, you also are able to do more. For instance, a master alchemist could make a potion, but they could also develop ways for more permanent effects. They could also make poisons, bombs, or even play with a creature’s genetic make-up.”

I blinked, a bit surprised hearing that. Obviously, I figured they could do poisons, and maybe even bombs, but this sounded like the answer to one of my earlier problems. “You mean gene therapies? I’ve heard about those, but didn’t know what kind of skill was needed to create them.”

She kept that same smile as she nodded her head again. “In order to master alchemy, it’s necessary to learn various other disciplines, such as chemistry and biology. For gene therapies, you just mix in a touch of genetics, and can get a pretty good result. The only other profession that covers all of the needed skills to make them are doctors, and they are similarly at a high degree of mastery.”

Well, that suddenly made alchemy far more appealing to me! “Thank you very much, miss.” I was just about to turn around and leave to go hunting for the resources I would need to learn alchemy when something occurred to me. “This may sound like a silly question, but are there any devices or techniques that will accelerate learning in a given field?”

I asked this because of how long I could imagine it taking someone to learn everything needed to become a proper alchemist. It could take years for someone to build up to the master level, decades even, if there wasn’t some kind of assistance. And given what I’ve learned from my fighting and magic practice, the system did not tend to help much in terms of learning. I actually wasn’t sure what the levels in skills gave at all, aside maybe a very slight bonus to success.

It took her a moment to think again before she nodded. “You must be asking about Skill Shards. Their use isn’t that widespread, and many frown upon it, but certain professions are able to create gems which hold the knowledge of a skill. This information has to come from someone that actually has the skill, and only contains that person’s knowledge on it. Say for example, I assisted in creating a Skill Shard for alchemy. Whoever used it would know everything I chose to put in the shard, and nothing else. They wouldn’t get any personal recipes, secret tricks, or anything that one typically develops when they learn the skill themselves. They also would not know anything I didn’t know about it. So… there might be a plant considered extremely common in other areas, but if I’ve never seen it, the shard I helped create would not grant them any knowledge about it.”

“I see…” It took me a moment to piece together this information. I’d probably need to go to a big city to find these Skill Shards, but I would definitely find one. Maybe there is one that I could use to make me better with the bow or something. “Doesn’t that mean that if someone made a Skill Shard for a type of magic, whoever activated that would learn all of the different spells that person chose to record?”

Her head nodded again as she looked at me. “That’s right. However, most people don’t want to take that gamble. There are only two pieces of information that can be understood from a Skill Shard without activating it if you have it scanned. The first is the type of skill put in, and the second is the level of mastery the information qualifies as. Since a single shard can only hold one type of skill, it’s impossible to sneak more in, at the same time, the scan will cross reference the amount of information stored with what is currently known on the networks to determine how high it is. When making one with a magic school, you could easily just put in your knowledge of how that school of magic works, and a few advanced tricks to make it more effective without actually putting a single spell in.”