I was looking at the pack and the weapons beside it, smiling like an idiot. We had gotten dressed and armored up, and collected the packs she had made from what she called the ‘mud room’. “That… is really a weapon.”


    She smiled and fingered the necklet she was still wearing. “Do you like it? It’s not insanely valuable, and it’s definitely not a Raspail custom, but it’s good, solid Winchester work. While you were talking to Tanley, I was buying stuff from her dad.”


    I picked up the carbine and examined it. “Is that an actual magazine?” I asked, unclipping the bottom, and tugging it out. It had a top bullet very similar to my pistol’s bolts, which were slightly larger than the ones from Wandi’s lighter handgun.


    “Yep, it’s a custom design that Winchester created. Each bullet re-seats when the last one is fired, with a spring that pushes the bullets into place. You still have to charge it for each round, but if you can charge really fast and don’t mind burning most of your pool, you can hold down the trigger and shoot two or three bullets every second! It also has a backstop coil, so if you run out of bullets while you are shooting, you aren’t going to overcharge the gun and wreck it if it takes you a moment to slow down.”


    “Every gunsmith has their own custom touches, but Winchester makes one of the best carbines out there, and it uses the same size round as your pistol, so you can switch ammunition quickly.”


    “it holds fifteen rounds, which is a LOT of shooting, and there are two spare boxes… umm.. magazines? In your pack, although I suggest putting them in your pouch instead. Unlike your pistol, though, the carbine has a lot longer barrel, which means stronger acceleration runes, so it’s kind of noisy, it makes a loud crack each time you fire.”


    I nodded, turning the beautiful thing over in my hands. It was a piece of art, the coil was sideways, so the body of the action looked a bit like a disk or a Thompson gun, but it had iron sights, and even had a sort of mounting bracket that I bet was meant for a scope. The damned thing was also armored, kind of heavily, with solid steel frame pieces running all the way from the end of the barrel, where a large metal lock that matched the one on the foot long bayonet that came with it, all the way to thread through the stock.


    The steel and wood went all the way to the end of the barrel, and the bayonet, a foot-long dagger with a crossguard clearly meant for an under-barrel sideways mount so it wouldn’t block the shot if you had to fire while it was attached, and they’d even been printed with carefully etched scrollwork and a light bluing wash to make the etchings pop.


    “This is… I mean, it’s beautiful, but it looks crazy expensive.”


    She shrugged, “Not as expensive as you might think. A few years ago, he heard word that soldiers in the capitol were using repeating rifles with bayonets as their new issue. We don’t have soldiers out here, so he made it with delvers in mind, a lot more decorative, but delvers generally prefer separate weapons, like rapiers and pistols, rather than an all-in-one like this. So it sat in his shop as a display piece for the last three years. It’s also too heavy for most delvers, and has a hell of a kick if you fire as fast as you can, you have to have a strength trait to use it, and even soldiers are mostly wood ranked.”


    I nodded and whipped it to my shoulder, sighting instantly, and then dropped it to rest position. The clip on the bayonet slid the entire handle into the base and was stupidly strong, which I approved of, and slid out quickly for hand use. It was a lot heavier than a standard modern rifle, but matched pretty well the older M-1’s that were still standard for certain sorts of training… and compared to a Barrett M109 I used on heavies, it was featherweight.


    “It’s a bit heavier than I am used to, but the weight should help offset the kick, and make it a lot more dangerous in a melee fight.” I quickly went through a bash-slice-slam training routine for a melee bayonet, and then put it at parade rest, grinning at her, “I love it. I am gonna kill SO many monsters with this.”


    She beamed, “The best part! It’s actually got a minor durability and impact rune in it. It just uses cheap quartz, but if we can afford a better gem, we can upgrade it eventually.”


    “What does that mean?”


    “That means if you empower your combat traits, it will transfer. It’s unlikely to break until at least copper traits, and fighting, you can hit a lot harder, including the bullets if you empower your firearms. We will get a chance to practice in the rift, you don’t go empowering bullets outside because you can do a huge amount of damage.”


    Does that work?


    Yes. It’s pretty energy-intensive, since you have to open a thread to both the firearms trait and charge the works at the same time, but she is right, if the rifle is able to transfer it, a bullet shot with essence-enhanced firearms should do considerably more damage.


    That’s… very interesting. I was wondering if empowering ‘normal’ traits would have an effect.


    In most cases, it should, but I don’t have a connection to the galactic database to be precise. Experimentation will be key.


    We shouldered our packs. We were walking to the hall, which wasn’t far, last night’s carriage was because we were dressed up and trying to make an impression. Wandi in her dress was going to haunt my fantasies, though.


    “I didn’t want to ask, I mean, I have asked you about way more of your private path than is usually courteous, but you seemed to have so much to learn… but as the team leader, I feel I need to.”


    “What’s that?” I responded.


    “Your energy. Can I ask how much it is? That could affect our fighting rhythm.”


    I chuckled, “Not a big deal. I am not sure how it’s calculated, but it’s forty. It seems to come back at about five points a minute, but when I am doing that spinning and breathing thing Raspail taught me, it’s about twice that.”


    She nodded, “That’s really high. I am high tin, and each stage doubles your energy, and I am at 48. That’s almost copper stage. I am not going to ask about your affinities, but they must be pretty high. And your recovery is excellent. I get about a point every two minutes, but I can’t do that breath thing. Your recovery goes up a lot in a rift, though… in the basin, I get about a point a minute.”Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.


    Everything improves in a rich essence environment. You gain traits quicker, recover energy quicker… You might even gain new skill traits in hours instead of the decades it would probably take you to learn something new, like picking up heavy stuff without hurting yourself.


    Heh, good one.


    Thank you. I drain about two points an hour, or I go into standby and cannot communicate with you, although unlike you meatheads, when I am resting, I am not a completely unconscious and insensible lump. Later on, I might even be able to use this portable node to telepresence, but it will be expensive.


    “Was that Jessie?”


    I nodded, “Yep. He kinda told me that someday when I get more powerful, he might be able to talk to you too.”


    A lot more powerful. Right now you are like a toddler at a laptop.


    “But he said he drains about two an hour,” I looked at her wickedly, “Why, do you want to know my attributes? Maybe my chimera physical affinity? I might really enjoy you learning as much about my body as possible.”


    She stammered, “Yes, umm… I mean no. I already know more about your traits, like strength.”


    I chuckled, “Might, but it’s amateur, so not a great body.”


    She shook her head, “Are you kidding? That’s just your build. I mean, obviously you are a lot bigger than me, and male, so you are naturally stronger. But your traits just start there.”


    “Now I am wondering what Empathy does.”


    She smiled, “It’s not your appearance or even the way you talk or how magnetic you are. It’s how you are at convincing people and making them trust you, and how much you understand their emotional state. Right now, you still ask a lot of questions that everyone else already knows, and you have an odd accent, which makes trusting you hard. I mean, I absolutely trust you to do your best, but if you tried to convince me that there was a dragon selling apples in the market, my first instinct would be to think you were mistaken, and didn’t know what a dragon actually was, or just bought into someone’s lies out of ignorance.”


    I nodded, “So that will just increase as I act like less of a gullible, ignorant bumpkin?”


    She nodded. “It helps that you are already handsome, have a nice deep voice, smile a lot, and tend to ask questions instead of ranting at people. So your affinities all play a role in how you are perceived.”


    “So your actual fitness and strength aren’t related?”


    She shrugged, “They are, but it’s not really clear cut. You could have a strength at mastery trait, and be the general shape of a billiard ball, with poor fitness. You’d be strong, and hard to hurt, but they are like actions… everything plays a part. I bet you have a high physical affinity, with those muscles.”


    I nodded, “I guess, twelve?”


    She nodded, “Usually people won’t have that high until they are mid-tin tier, or have a job that demands you earn your fitness the hard way. My physical is good, because I am a hunter, but Kamli’s is low because she has a job that involves a lot of sitting around, using her mental and spiritual traits, and talking.”


    “She has a stupidly high appeal trait linked to her spiritual affinity, though, for the same reason. If the two of us walked into a room together, not only would everyone be watching her because she’s prettier and has bigger boobs, but they would also listen to what she has to say and pay attention to it.”


    I chuckled, “Bigger boobs? Absolutely, but more than a handful''s a waste. Prettier? I don’t think so. Wait, you have an attractive trait? I thought I was going after you because you were perfect.”


    She beamed at me, “That’s just because you know that after our delve I have plans to…” she shut up.


    “Plans to what?”


    She pointed at my carbine, “Call that MY courting gift. I just have plans. And no, there are no specific attractiveness, charisma, or brain affinities, although you do get traits that can boost them. Hey look, we are here!”


    The hunter’s hall looked like a lodge. It didn’t actually match the rest of the town, the lowest floor was flagstone, and the upper three stories were of polished, golden wood framing. It was like someone took a hardwood log ski lodge, mixed it with the resort from Dirty Dancing, and plopped it into the middle of a medieval/wild west town.


    There was a big step, almost a porch, with hardwood railings on either side and steps down to the cobbled street that led to a pair of abbey doors big enough for a wagon to drive through, but there was a smaller postern door set into the left one, normal-sized, where we headed.


    I looked sourly at Wandi, “Saved by circumstance. Now I am going to be wracking my brain about your plans. Fine. I have plans of my own. Do you have a bathtub?”


    She nodded slowly, “Yes… what are your plans?”


    I grinned, “Wouldn’t you like to know? Just remember that I am going to be a lawkeeper, I might need handcuffs and honey.”


    I hadn’t actually thought it through, but by the look on her face, bathtub, handcuffs, and honey were doing their work in her head. Mission accomplished. As long as she didn’t think I was going to torture her with ants in the tub or something. Nope… by the expression on her face, it looked like her mind was going where I wanted it.


    Hah! Charm traits… fuck you.


    You have gained the Charm trait (Novice)


    Huh? How’d it do that? I thought it didn’t exist.


    It doesn’t. I was trying to joke. I don’t have traits like yours, and I can’t read your mind. Something about the way you thought, or the way you used insight to interact with Wandi to provoke a desired thought train, showcased your empathy trait, though. It is now apprentice. Congratulations, at this rate, someday the blue fairy might make you into a real boy!