21 – Glyph Practice

Jace was the only patient in the infirmary tent, but he wasn’t alone. Both of his sisters were sitting in camp chairs beside the cot where he lay, clearly sound asleep or unconscious. Andy approached, his exuberance from successfully coaxing the System into granting him a type of enchanting class quickly fading when he saw the women’s mournful expressions. He cleared his throat, and the one with blue skin—Andy mentally chastised himself for thinking of her that way—Lena, looked up.

“Our fearless leader.” Her tone wasn’t complimentary.

Jace’s other sister, red-toned like him, turned to regard him. “Don’t mind her. Everyone already told her this wasn’t your fault. She’s just worried.”

Andy frowned, stopping near the foot of the cot, looking from Jace’s leg, boxed in by screwed-together wooden planks, to his face, which was swollen and a darker shade of red than Andy remembered. “Shit,” he muttered, “Eduardo made it sound like he was in the clear.”

“We hope.” Lena huffed out an irritated breath, leaning forward to gently brush Jace’s forehead, smoothing his black hair away from his eyes.

The other sister—Andy was struggling to remember her name—added, “Frank says he’s healing, but he’s worried about how long Jace wasn’t breathing.”

“What Raya’s trying to say is he might have a brain injury,” Lena snapped.

Andy squatted, gripping the mattress, so he was more on a level with the two women. “Listen, I understand how scary it is, but he was breathing when I pulled him out of the water. Maybe he stopped briefly after that—I kind of blacked out—but it couldn’t have been for too long. Bea was there with her magic water.” When they both looked at him, tears in their eyes, he added, “Besides, that lake was cold. I’m sure his brain’s going to be all right.”

Andy liked watching hospital dramas, and he’d always rail at the doctors who made promises to patients—how could they know? For the first time, he thought he understood; they were just confident. Why he was so confident, he couldn’t have said, but he truly believed Jace would be all right.

“You really think so?” Raya asked, sniffing as she turned her big, moist eyes back toward Jace. Andy put himself in the sisters’ shoes for a moment; they’d just lost their dad and stepmother in the Hardhead attack, and before that, they’d been chased out of their homes by minotaurs.

“Yeah, I think so.” When they both continued to stare at their brother, he said, “How are your kids, Raya?” He suddenly felt guilty about not getting to know the two women at all. He didn’t even know if the kids’ father had been killed during the apocalypse or if he’d been out of the picture before that.

“They’re fine. They’re with Mrs. Nguyen; we, um… We didn’t want them to know about Jace yet—not until we know…”

As she trailed off, her sister added, “They love their uncle, and they’ve been through a lot.”

“Right. Makes sense.” Andy tried to put on a confident smile as he stood. “Jace’s a great guy. I mean, I don’t know him all that well, but he’s a hell of a—”

“What?” Lena cut him off. “He’s a hell of a what? Idiot? Someone you can throw into every fight that comes along?”

Andy’s smile faded, and he shook his head. “Not at all. I’m not trying to get anyone hurt, Lena. I would never ask someone to take a risk I wouldn’t take on myself. I—”

“What does that matter? You’re willing to do all kinds of crazy shit!”

Andy sighed, recognizing that logic probably wouldn’t be well-received at the moment. Rather than argue, he stepped a little closer, moving around the cot to Lena’s side. He put a hand on the back of her chair and leaned forward, his voice calm. “Is there anything I can do right now? Can I get you anything?”

When Lena refused to look at him, Raya said, “We’re good, Andy. We’ve been taking turns checking on the kids and stretching our legs. We appreciate you stopping by, though.” She looked pointedly at Lena. “Don’t we, sis?”

Lena sniffed, still staring at Jace. “Yeah, sure. Thanks, Andy.”

Andy straightened and turned to leave, figuring they’d probably rather be alone together. He paused at the tent opening, though, and said, “Hey, I’ll be back later. But seriously, Jace is a tough guy. He’s going to be fine.” With that, he slipped out and turned onto the path leading in the general direction of his trailer. He felt bad that Jace had been hurt, but he didn’t feel guilty, despite Lena’s words. The big guy had volunteered for everything.

“Not like I told anyone they had to go in there,” he muttered. Then he chuckled, realizing that if he was talking to himself about it, Lena’s words had stung a little more than he wanted to admit. He tried to shake it off. He felt sorry for the sisters, but he really did think Jace would be all right; Bea’s healing was good, and she’d gotten to Jace right away. Shifting his thoughts to more immediate things, he decided he’d return to his trailer, change his active class, and mess around with his new abilities a little before he went to see Lydia and James.

The trailer park was noisy with activity—hammers pounding, people shouting, kids running and laughing. Despite all that, nobody interrupted him on his way, and ten minutes later, he was sitting up on his couch, blinking his eyes, and rubbing away the strange tingling in his temples after switching into his new Glyphwright class. As he blinked, he saw a System message waiting:

***Congratulations! Activating your Glyphwright class has uncovered a level 1 Bound spell:

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Glyph of Fate – Bound: By channeling mana into a suitable object, you inscribe a glyph that invites the whims of fate. The enchantment imbues the item with a random magical property. Each use of the enchantment consumes a pulse of mana, and an item’s capacity for holding charges is limited by its craftsmanship and composition. Mana cost: 20 per charge.***

“Okay,” Andy nodded, his lips spreading into a grin. He’d been afraid that his new class wouldn’t offer any enchantments that he wouldn’t have to maintain. He’d thought that he’d have to give up permanent mana by using his new “harden enchantment” ability. It seemed, however, that he’d have at least one ability that he could use without any impact on his mana pool. He didn’t really like the random part of it, but it was just a level 1 ability, so he didn’t dwell on it.

Andy reached over and grabbed his spear, holding it on his lap. Concentrating, he reached into his mana and used it to activate his Evaluate Material ability, focusing on the spear’s long, sharp blade. It was still shrouded in the magic of his Smoke Lance, which proved to give some interesting insights as the ability provided a System-like message in his view:

Material: tempered steel

Enchantment potential: natural-moderate

Enchantment capacity: 100/100

Andy stared at the message for several seconds, then, nodding with understanding, he canceled his Smoke Lance spell and repeated the evaluation:

Material: tempered steel

Enchantment potential: natural-moderate

Enchantment capacity: 0/100

Either his Smoke Lance was exclusive, or it used all the available enchantment capacity of the spear. Andy wanted to see how much enchantment capacity his new glyph would use up, but he hesitated. Did he want to put a random enchantment on his spear? Chuckling softly, he leaned the weapon against the wall and pulled the dagger the System had given him from its sheath. With a bit of concentration, he evaluated it:

Material: copper and silver alloy

Enchantment potential: natural-high

Enchantment capacity: 0/100

Surprised, Andy turned the dagger this way and that, letting the shiny blade catch the light coming from the window. It definitely had a silvery luster, but he’d thought it was just polished steel or maybe some kind of mystical alloy.

Considering his preference for using his spear, he felt far less concerned about trying out his new spell on the dagger, especially considering it seemed to have a higher enchantment potential. So, holding the weapon across his palms, he concentrated and cast Glyph of Fate.

The mana poured out of him, through his hands and into the dagger, where a glowing blue glyph slowly etched itself into the metal. It didn’t match the language of his Smokescribe glyphs, and as it finished, flaring with life, Andy had no idea what it said. The System provided the answer:

***Glyph of Frost Touch applied! This dagger will now apply Frost Touch when successfully used to attack. This enchantment will inflict additional cold-based damage and will magically inhibit the movement of living creatures for a short time. Charges: 1.***

After reading the message, Andy used his evaluation ability again:

Material: copper and silver alloy

Enchantment potential: natural-high

Enchantment capacity: 25/100

Nodding, Andy focused and cast the spell again. This time, as the mana flowed from his hands, he knew

he could apply it to the same rune or try to inscribe another. Intrigued by the idea, he sent the mana into the dagger, creating another rune. He watched as the glyph, sparkling with purple and black mana, etched itself into the metal. When it flashed in completion, he read the message:

***Glyph of Waking Nightmare applied! This dagger will now apply Waking Nightmare when successfully used to attack. This enchantment will attempt to overcome the target’s Will attribute to inspire fear and panic. Charges: 1.***

Again, Andy evaluated the weapon:

Material: copper and silver alloy

Enchantment potential: natural-high

Enchantment capacity: 50/100

It seemed to him that having two different enchantments—or more, for that matter—would make the dagger rather devastating for a small number of attacks, whereas, if he applied the spell to the same glyph over and over, he could get more uses out of it. He couldn’t really test the theory on a person, but…

Andy stood up, walked over to the only other seat in his little living area, a second-hand brown armchair with torn upholstery, and stabbed the knife into the cushioned arm. “Shit!” he cried, laughing as white frost practically exploded from the point of impact, chilling not only the fabric but also the air around the chair. It was a good deal more potent than Andy had expected. Narrowing his eyes, he pulled the blade out of the cushion and examined it—the purple and black glyph was still there, faintly glowing in the shiny metal.

Andy stabbed the armchair again. This time, he heard a hissing sound, and inky black steam billowed away from the point of impact. The chair seemed otherwise unbothered. “So, only one applies at a time.” He supposed he couldn’t expect much more from a level 1 ability that he hadn’t invested any points in.

Checking to see that his mana had recovered, he sat down and repeated the spell. A new glyph took shape on the blade, this one shimmering, electric green.

***Glyph of the Cobra’s Bite applied! This dagger will now apply Cobra’s Bite when successfully used to attack. This enchantment will attempt to overcome the target’s Will attribute to deliver a potent venom. Charges: 1.***

Andy arched an eyebrow. It seemed like a good enchantment to have on his dagger, so he went ahead and cast the spell again, this time channeling the mana into the existing glyph.

***Glyph of the Cobra’s Bite applied! This dagger will now apply Cobra’s Bite when successfully used to attack. This enchantment will attempt to overcome the target’s Will attribute to deliver a potent venom. Charges: 2.***

Just as he read the announcement, the System sent him another message:

***Congratulations, Andy! Your experimentations and application of your abilities have garnered you enough experience to advance to level 2 in your Glyphwright class! You’ve gained an Improvement Point!***

“Nice,” Andy breathed, feeling almost like he’d cheated somehow. It felt too easy, but he supposed the levels would get harder and harder to achieve, especially if he didn’t figure out or learn any more potent enchantments. At the thought, he evaluated the dagger again to see if the venom enchantment had used up as much potential as the other two:

Material: copper and silver alloy

Enchantment potential: natural-high

Enchantment capacity: 66/100

“Oh!” It seemed the Cobra’s Bite was more potent than the earlier two—either that or less efficient, he supposed. With a shrug, Andy cast the spell again, bringing the number of charges to three, and then he carefully sheathed the weapon.

In the distance, he could hear a hammer rhythmically pounding on metal, and he remembered he was supposed to be meeting Lydia and James. Feeling like he had at least the beginning of some understanding when it came to his new class, Andy decided it would be good to head over there. He wanted to try the spell on some objects that weren’t weapons. What would it do to clothing? What about jewelry? Would regular clothes even be durable enough to contain the enchantment?

“Lots to figure out,” he muttered, throwing his door wide and jumping down, spear in hand. He wanted to spend some Improvement Points on his new abilities, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to hear what Lydia and James had to say first; they’d been working on crafting classes a lot longer than he had.