20 – Glyphwright

“What do you mean? What did you call it? Smokescribe?” Lydia leaned forward, suddenly much more alert.

Andy nodded, moving to sit on the top step, facing sideways and leaning his back against the railing post. “It’s an ability for my class that allows me to inscribe runes that have certain meanings on things—so far only my weapon or myself. I mean, that’s how my current spells work, but I know a bunch of runes that I don’t use for my spells. I wonder if I’m supposed to be experimenting with them.”

“Won’t that just make more spells for your class?” Bree asked. Before he could answer, she pointed up to the sky and said, “Heads up! Cheechee’s coming in.”

“Shouldn’t he be sleep—” Lydia’s question was cut off as the big owl, in a flurry of flapping wings and warm air, came to land on the deck before Bree. His talons dug into the soft wood as he pranced back and forth, making warbling coo sounds.

“Hey, sweetie boy! I guess he didn’t like sleeping away from me!” Bree said, reaching into the pocket of her lightweight windbreaker to pull something out that she tossed to the bird. The owl was adept at catching the treat and snapped it down before Andy could even get a good look at it. When Bree saw everyone watching, she said, “Liver strip.”

“Glad he’s okay,” Andy said, watching as the bird moved closer to Bree, situating himself under the arm of her lawn chair, and then tucking his chin down, unmoving.

Bree nodded. “He was fine, thank goodness! As soon as I came out of the tunnels, he sensed me and came in a hurry.”

Thinking of Bree being carried out of the tunnels suddenly reminded Andy of Jace. “Oh, shit! That reminds me, what about Jace?” He looked at Eduardo, and the other man’s dark brow wrinkled.

“He’s still laid up, but Bea’s looking after him. Luckily, Frank learned a spell for setting bones, so, despite the bad break, they think he’s going to walk again.”

Andy looked over his shoulder, scanning the nearby trailers. “Where is he? I’ll go see him after a bit.”

Eduardo pointed toward the eastern edge of the park. “Frank and that other medic, um, Mari, set up a big tent in one of the vacant lots. They’re using it as a kind of infirmary.”

Andy followed the gesture with his eyes, nodding. “Gotcha. I think I saw that tent.” As everyone’s attention turned back to him, he concentrated on his System-granted knowledge for writing “smoke runes.” He hadn’t been lying; he knew a bunch of glyphs for words that were and weren’t used in his current spells: smoke, shadow, fire, air, sharpness, wait, enemy, friend, and at least a couple of dozen others. He looked around, saw a small stack of boards left over from the decking, and hopped up to retrieve one. “Better practice on something easy.”

“You know, like, a magic language?” Lydia asked.

“I guess so, yeah—at least a bunch of words. I don’t know if there are grammar rules or something. I have a feeling another point or two into the ability might clear some of that up.”

“And you have points to spare?” Eduardo asked, reaching into his back pocket to pull out a small notebook and a mechanical pencil.

“I do, yeah,” Andy replied, sitting back down. “But I want to see what I can figure out or trigger before I spend them.”

Lydia scooted her chair closer. “Trigger?”

“Yeah, I’m hoping that if I’m intentional about this, I might get the System to recognize that I’m trying to do something more than my current class covers.”

“I see. You want to try to nudge the System into giving you an enchanting class.”

Andy shrugged, laying the board down on the deck before him. “If that’s a thing.” Considering he was about to try to enchant a board, not a knife, and he was trying to push the System into seeing he wasn’t attempting to do something that wasn’t really tied to his Brimstone Stalker class, he scanned his memory for glyphs that might add some mundane utility and settled on one for “hardness.” Nodding to himself, he shook out his right hand, then extended his index finger, channeling mana into his Smokescribe ability.

As he moved his finger through the loops and lines of the glyph, he focused his thoughts on how the board would serve as a better building supply if it were harder. The scent of sulfur filled the air as a thin trail of smoke rose from the board, and the shifting, gray-black lines of the glyph took form on its surface. He could hear the others shifting, leaning closer as they watched intently. When the rune was done, a System message floated across Andy’s vision:

***Hardness glyph applied! This board is now far more durable than an ordinary board! Upkeep cost: 5 mana.***

Andy snorted as he looked at his status page and saw the evidence of the System’s words: his available mana was down by five. “That’s not gonna work.”

“What happened?” Lydia asked, staring at the shifting rune still visible on the board.

“My Smokescribe glyphs seem to require mana to maintain. I should have thought of that, considering all my spells do that.” Andy mentally severed the line of mana connecting him to the rune and watched it fade away, some of the smoke escaping into the air like a candle being extinguished.

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“What did you do to the board with that glyph, though?” Lydia pressed.

“Made it harder.”

Lydia nodded, standing and scooting her chair closer. As she sat back down, she said, “I know you’re trying to get some kind of enchanting class, so I don’t think it would help to make something. Still, maybe you need to give something a little more purpose than being hard. You know?”

“Um, sure, I get what you mean. Like enchanting a knife to cut better, but how is that any different from a board being harder? If I were trying to enchant armor, that would be a good purpose, wouldn’t it?”

“Yeah, but this board isn’t armor. It’s just…a board.” She shrugged. “I’m not saying I’m right. I mean, there’s a good chance what you just did ticked some invisible counter the System is watching. Maybe if you enchant ten more boards, it’ll react.”

“Any suggestions?” Andy asked, looking up at her.

She reached into her tan, soot-stained, well-worn jacket and pulled out a pair of metal tongs. “You got any glyphs that might improve how these work?”

Andy took the tool, noting that it looked like it was probably something she’d created out of scrap iron. It was crude but clearly sturdy and capable of doing what she needed—gripping hot objects without burning herself. Andy perused his mind for a suitable glyph and ended up choosing a pair of them. Nodding to himself, he concentrated and delicately began to carve on the back side of one of the handles. “Dunno if this will work, but I’m putting the glyphs for heat and resistance onto ’em,” he muttered, chewing his lip in concentration.

As he finished the second glyph and saw it pulse briefly with soft, amber light—propagating with mana—the System flashed him a pair of messages:

***Heat Resistance enchantment applied. These metal pincers are now resistant to heat! Upkeep cost: 25 mana.***

***Congratulations, Andy! Through the art of Smokescribe, you’ve bound language to matter and carved meaning into the world itself. Your insight has forged a bridge between mana and form, opening a new path of power. Would you like to accept the Glyphwright class?***

“Too easy,” Andy said with a chuckle.

“What happened?” Eduardo asked, about to fall off the edge of his seat.

“I just got offered the, um, Glyphwright class.” He held up the tongs, clicking them open and closed a couple of times. “These are resistant to heat now, but I can’t leave the enchantment on them; it costs me twenty-five mana to maintain.” As he handed them to Lydia, he cut the thread of mana feeding the enchantment, and the glyphs faded away on wisps of smoke.

“Hah!” Lydia chuckled as she took them back. “I hope your new class will allow you to make permanent enchantments. I mean, ones you won’t have to constantly feed mana.”

“Yeah, me too.” Andy looked at the System message again, reading it carefully, then shrugged. “I accept the class.” Blinding pain bloomed behind his eyes, and he choked out a startled, “Ack!” before falling onto his side and curling into a fetal position as the pain expanded, spreading through his skull and crawling down his spine like fire. The pain lasted several moments before numbing to a tingling buzz that thrummed through his skull with each beat of his heart.

Andy was distantly aware of the others’ exclamations and movement. He felt soft hands cradling his head as he groaned, and then, almost as quickly as they had begun, the System’s ungentle ministrations ended, and he was left blinking at a much longer System message:

***Well done, Andy! You’ve gained an uncommon class: Glyphwright. Each level beyond 1 in this class will award 20 mana points. This class is not currently active, but you’ve unlocked its level 1 innate abilities:

Evaluate Material – Innate

: You can assess the composition and quality of a substance to determine its potential for enchantment. Superior materials can bear stronger enchantments or a greater number of them.

Harden Enchantment – Innate: By permanently sacrificing a portion of an enchantment’s upkeep cost, you may solidify it, rendering the effect permanent and self-sustaining.***

“…going to be okay?” Bree asked, and Andy realized his head was resting in her lap, and she was holding a warm palm against his forehead.

Feeling hot and suddenly sweaty, he cleared his throat and struggled into a sitting position, smiling awkwardly at Bree. “Damn. I should have realized that was going to happen.”

“The System isn’t gentle, is it?” Lydia asked, snorting a soft laugh as she moved back to her seat.

Bree squeezed Andy’s shoulder, and he smiled at her as she stood and walked over to Cheechee, squatting before the bird and gently stroking his feathered head.

Eduardo, scribbling furiously in his notebook, asked, “Can you tell me exactly what the System said to you, Andy? Before you forget something, I mean.”

“Uh, sure.” Andy still had the System messages floating before him, so he read them off.

“That’s not great,” Lydia said. “You have to give up mana permanently to make an enchantment last? Seems harsh.”

“Well, I don’t know how enchantments in the new class will work. It might be a onetime cost that’ll fade over time or something. Anyway, I’m a level one Glyphwright. I’ll hold off judgment until I’ve learned a thing or two.”

“Is it active?”

Andy shook his head. “Not yet. I’ll mess around with it today, but I want to go and see Jace before I get busy.”

“That’s cool,” Lydia said, standing and arching her back as she stretched. “I’m going to head over to check on James. Why don’t you come by when you’re done with your friend?”

Andy stood and then stooped to pick up his spear. “Sounds good.” He glanced at Eduardo. “Anything else, Ed?”

“Just keep me posted on how your new class works. It’s amazing to me how the System basically gave you the kind of class you were talking about. Do you think it will always be this easy, or do you think there’s some kind of…” He shook his head, squinting into the sky. “I don’t know. Grace period? Difficulty curve?”

“It’s hard to say,” Lydia replied. “I really think we should work hard to get more System-type things for our settlements. I mean, like that System Node and the upgrades for it. I feel like we can get a lot more information than we currently have. We might be reinventing the wheel right now.”

Bree jumped up as Eduardo digested Lydia’s words. “I’m going to show Cheechee the waterfall down there. He needs a place to set up a nest, and with him there, I can help keep an eye out for any feathered intruders. I’ll check on the guards, too.”

Andy tilted his head, smiling at her enthusiasm. “I appreciate the help, Bree.”

“Hey, I might be new to this settlement, but I want to pull my weight.”

“Oh? This settlement?” Andy looked at Lydia, and she shrugged.

“What can I say? She and her owl don’t exactly love the hardware store. Most of us don’t.” Before Andy could think of a response, she waved and jumped down to the gravel beside the deck. “We can talk about all that later. You’ve got enough on your mind. See you soon.” With that, she started down the lane, and Andy climbed down the steps, too.

“See you soon,” Bree called.

Andy waved. “See you. Thanks again.”

He waved at Eduardo too, but the man was lost in his notes. Andy hurried down the path, eager to check on Jace—but, truthfully, more eager to experiment with his new class. He shared Lydia’s doubts about spending mana to make enchantments permanent, but optimism won out. He hadn’t invested any points yet and didn’t know what future abilities might bring, but twenty mana per level was reason enough to advance it. Grinning, he quickened his pace. He owed Jace a visit, but after that, he had work to do.