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  I nodded my head, though I was a bit disappointed in the prices. Makes sense, since any druid can produce them. Though, if I was in the territory of a culture that was lacking in druids, the price would likely skyrocket. “The kiosk said this was a tourist spot, can you tell me if there are any pet stores selling magical beasts or monsters? Also, I want to visit an enchanter for training, if at all possible.”

  She thought for a moment and processed my questions. “Okay, there are two stores selling pets like what you mentioned. One sells combat monsters and magical beasts, while the other sells novelty pets. From what the information says, the novelty pets can have some peculiar skills, but are not trained for battle. As for the enchanter, there is one located in the market. It is the same location that is suggested for selling elemental seeds.”

  “Alright, then, lead the way. I want to visit a Technomancy instructor at some point, too. But that is a secondary concern for today.”

  Celeste smiled at me as I started walking forward. “Looking to get that spell you asked the other one about? The one that would have me in your head?”

  I chuckled, following her directions as she gave them. There were surprisingly few people of different races than the standard wood elf, though I did take a pair of snapshots for each so that I could study their auras. Like I had expected, the auras of a sentient creature were far more complex than any animal. Much like myself, the auras were more detailed, and brighter. Two wood elves standing next to each other may look radically different, but have nearly identical auras from a first glance. “Would you like that?”

  The hologram at my wrist nodded. “If my container is damaged I will, in essence, die. Although you will be able to get a new companion, and it may even develop nearly identical to myself, it wouldn’t be me. Naturally, I would like to continue to exist. Plus, I am very interested in your home world.”

  “Well, we’ll see what we can do. My magic isn’t nearly skilled enough yet for everything I want.” Jarl had said that accurately copying the traits of another race would be similar to brewing a potion spell consisting of twenty parts. I wasn’t sure if that was an exaggeration or not, but I should have an advantage now. Once I get an inn room, I can practice my Technomancy some more. Worst case scenario, I die and get a forced logout. However, for some reason I’m confident I’ll be able to copy the recorded auras from my computer. The auras of technology are far more basic in the real world than the tech I’ve seen here. Even Celeste is several times more complex than my computer.

  “By the way, Celeste, how much is an inn room? I’ll be needing a place to stay.”

  “Already looked into it, and the most expensive inn room is ten silvers a night. However, I doubt that’s the one you’re wanting, so I made a note for a cheaper one, which goes for the price of thirty coppers.”

  While the latter price made me wince, I nearly coughed up blood at the first one. Back in the village, I had gotten an inn room for just a fraction of that! Sighing, I resigned myself to accepting the increased rates. Either way, if I created some seeds, I’d be more than able to pay off that bill. Since I was able to create one seed every four or five hours at my current ability, I could make three or four a day. This would also let me increase my affinities, and naturally advance my skills.

  “Let’s go to the inn first. I’ll need to create at least one seed to sell before I can visit the enchanter, and they might have precautions against druids reading the auras of beasts at the pet shops. So, I’ll spend the night at the inn and go to the enchanter tomorrow. Should also make a note to stop by an alchemist at some point to learn new recipes, once I’ve got some more money. Harlan said it was thirty silver to get the basic alchemy program for you.”

  Celeste nodded her holographic head, and changed the directions she was giving to that of the inn. There was another program that I wanted to write before I got started, but it would likely only work after I had ‘upgraded’ my brain. Once I got to the inn, I found it to be a regular hotel, like what was often found in the real world. If it was like this, then thirty copper was not a bad price at all. Even ten silvers wouldn’t be more than what was spent on an average hotel room.

  Paying for the room for two days, I was given a key card, and went up the elevator. Once I got to my room, I found it to look just like a hotel room. There was a single bed in the center of the room, a lamp on either side, a desk against the wall, and a holographic TV stand opposite the bed. “Sweet…”

  I smiled, moving over and laying down on the bed. Now that I was here, I could get to work. In my mind, I reviewed all of the information regarding the brain that I had recorded again, and isolated the regions that worked for memory storage and retrieval. Then, I searched my own aura with Mana Sense and located those same regions. “Celeste, if this goes wrong, then in ten minutes tell me to cancel all spells I have active.”

  That should function as an insurance, in case I damage my brain accidentally without causing enough damage to force a logout. My only worry was if I damaged my memories, and lost the memory of how my brain’s aura originally looked. If that happened, then even if she told me to cancel the spell I wouldn’t know how. At that point, I could only hope that the Seed registers that as a form of character death.

  After getting her approval, I began working. The process was faster than any transformation I’ve done so far. This is likely because current computer technology was designed to reflect how the brain worked, so it was easy to adjust. I basically just had to simultaneously compress and replicate the memory centers for my brain, and rearrange them slightly to match the new pattern.

  New Spell Unlocked

  Cybernetic Adaptation: Memory Storage – Technomancy – ☆

  By copying the memory banks of a computer into your own skull, you have increased your brain’s ability to store information. Retrieving it is another matter entirely.

  Mana Cost: 30

  My mind felt slightly sluggish after that, and I was lightheaded for a few minutes. “Falenel? Are you okay?”

  I looked down to the holographic woman at my wrist who was staring at me with a worried expression and nodded. “Fine, just a bit of a backlash, I think.” I took a deep breath, and worked on the next section, focusing on memory retrieval. When that was taken care of, the lightheadedness completely faded, but was replaced by a massive headache.

  This headache persisted for roughly ten minutes, during which time Alchemic Heal had absolutely no effect on my head. After the ten minutes expired, my brain had apparently adapted to the new spell, because the pain began to subside.

  New Spell Unlocked

  Cybernetic Adaptation: Memory Retrieval – Technomancy – ☆

  By copying the aura of a computer into your own skull, you have increased your brain’s ability to retrieve information. This provides a passive recollection boost, but any data properly recorded will be instantly retrievable unless damaged.

  Mana Cost: 50

  I let out a sigh as I saw that, but smiled slightly. Next, I had Celeste open another programming window for me, and got to work. What I wanted this time was a bit more complex, and would require a bit of time to implement properly. Rather than the rushed ten minutes I spent on the first program, this one took nearly two hours before I was finished. I copied it over in much the same way as I had the first software, but this patch wasn’t meant for my eye, rather my upgraded brain.

  Software Applied to Cybernetic Adaptation: Memory Storage and Memory Retrieval

  Auto-Pilot

  This program has two modes, Record and Automatic. After performing an activity in Record mode, it is possible to do it subconsciously in Automatic mode. However, while in Automatic mode, you will have no control over your own body unless disturbed by external stimulus. Automatic mode can be set to complete after a period of time repeating an action, or after the action has been completed once.

 
; I smiled at the completion of the program. Although it had a more profound effect than Photographic Learning, it was set up in a way so as not to cost anything to use. The downside was that I could not cancel the program myself once it was activated. I would basically be asleep until it finished. Maybe in the future I’ll be able to increase my processing ability to accurately handle two tasks at once, and be able to rework the program to allow me to maintain control of unused aspects of my body and magic.

  But for now, I recorded myself cultivating each of the seven elements I currently possess, so that I could simply autopilot my way through it in the future. With that taken care of, it was time to get some seeds!

  Chapter 31: What a Rush!

  After recording the methods of cultivating my various types of mana, I went ahead and focused on producing a Seed of Plants. Naturally, I was recording this process as well. Putting my all into focus, I cultivated the plant mana from various herbs that I pulled out of my inventory to create the seed over the course of four and a half hours. With this, I was able to start working on other stuff tomorrow. By now, the sun had already set, and it was time to sleep.

  When I woke up in the morning, my first move was to go downstairs and have a proper breakfast, purchased from the hotel for a small sum. Thankfully, since this is apparently a tourist city, they had various kinds of food. I was finally able to have bacon again!

  Once I had finished eating, I went out to the city and walked around. “Celeste, do they have ship schedules and fees in the guide program?”

  The AI appeared above my wrist wearing a casual t-shirt and jeans, smiling as she spoke. “Yup! Every day, they send shuttles up to the orbital station X-23, from which passengers can board ships bound for various destinations. As for the cost, it’s ten silver per passenger on the shuttle, and the fee for outbound travel from the station is between twenty silver to ten gold, depending on the destination. Since you’re still new, you’ll probably want one of the cheaper fares. My recommendation would be to earn money for a while, maybe get a temporary job until you have the funds necessary for travel.”

  I nodded my head slightly at that. “Makes sense. I also want to exchange my bow before I leave. Something more advanced would be nice.”

  “But, wouldn’t you have wasted the money you spent to get the arrow vine seeds, in that case?” She asked innocently, making me think about it for a moment.

  “They grow pretty long, so even if I upgrade to a gun or a bow that doesn’t fire regular arrows, they can still be used as spears.” It’ll just take quite a bit more mana to do…

  She nodded her digital head. “Alright, then. I’ll run a search for local job opportunities matching your skill set.” She paused for a few moments before speaking again. “There are a few entry level positions available. I believe the most suitable to you at this time would be as a mechanic. Technomancy is listed as a highly sought skill for that position, and it would give you an opening to find work on a ship in order to reduce the fare.”

  I smiled at that, accepting her suggestion. “Okay. After I build up a bit of coin, I’ll do that. I think we should spend about a week here before moving on, that way I can make the money I need and learn the needed skills.”

  I was walking towards the enchanter’s shop now, following Celeste’s occasional guidance. I would still take snapshots of any new race I spotted with my Aura Sight and Cybernetic eye, but there was little I could do with a 2D representation of a complex 3D shape. At most, I could store it as a reference image for the future.

  When I arrived at the store, I found an old man standing behind the counter, and a few aisles of shelves running through the front of the store. On the shelves were various objects, from glowing dust, wands, ornate staves, even a few assorted spheres like what I planned to sell. As I entered, the old man at the counter looked over to me. “Yes, yes, can I help you lad?”

  Unlike most of the people that I had spoken with in the game, this man appeared to be entirely human, with a long white beard and next to no hair atop his head. He wore a black robe with multiple white dots on it arranged like the stars in the sky. Even though he looked frail, my Aura Sight showed me that his magic was far denser than anyone I had met so far.

  “Yes, I’m here for two things. First, I was hoping to learn how to enchant objects.” He let out a sigh when I said that, but allowed me to continue. “And second, I wanted to start selling these.” When I held my hand out to display the Seed of Plants, his eyes sparkled slightly.

  “Hmmm, the quality is still quite low, but that should be from the Plant Affinity, yes? And since you are bringing it, that likely makes you a druid, or else acting on behalf of one. If it was from wind, I could assume that you received it from one of the magical beasts of this planet.”

  I nodded my head. “That’s right, I’m a druid.” There was really no point in hiding it, since he might demand to see my ID before teaching me anyways.

  “What elements are you capable of refining seeds for?”

  I thought about it, but shrugged. “Any of the primary seven, aside from lightning, and plants.”

  He nodded his head a bit at that. “I see, I see. Yes, that would be quite helpful. Lately, all the druids of Hascion are off maintaining their groves, and they have the most efficient means of producing a seed. Though, the ones produced by the local druids would be too high of quality for a beginner to use. You say you want to learn how to enchant, lad?”

  “That’s right. I think it would be a good idea in the long run.”

  “Yes, yes it would. A young adventuring druid like yourself, eventually able to make his own equipment and enchant it. If that look in your eye is any indication, you dabble in Technomancy as well. Yes, a very good combination.” The more the man spoke, the more I doubted his sanity. However, he was here and ran the shop, so his skill should be the real thing. “Alright, we have a deal. If you can provide me with one seed of every affinity you possess, I’ll teach you enchanting, and even give you a small bonus. Furthermore, I’ll even compensate you half their value.” The man grinned as he spoke, but this was a pretty good deal for me. I could make the other six seeds today and tomorrow, then come back for his training.

  “Alright. I should be able to have the other six ready by tomorrow evening.” After speaking, I placed the seed on the counter in front of it, and he nodded, passing me seventy five copper as the ‘half payment’ for my work. That extra bonus better be worth it..

  With that taken care of, I went back to the hotel and began working again. With a not-so-brief experiment, I found that I could actually form two seeds at once, but the time needed would increase roughly by half. Still, that allowed me to finish four more seeds in one day, and the last two were done the day after, before lunch.

  Since I had said that I would be there around evening, I decided to wait a bit and cultivate until the time we had planned to meet. After eating a quick lunch provided by the hotel(I never thought I’d be so happy for a burger), I went back to my room and activated my Auto-Pilot program, choosing to cultivate Dark Affinity for four hours. As I finalized my choice, I felt my mind slipping away from me, and it truly did feel as if I had fallen asleep.

  Just a moment later, I awoke, thinking something might have failed. However, the sky outside was definitely different than before, and the clock on the counter next to the bed confirmed that four hours had passed. I went to check my status, and was disappointed to find that Dark Affinity did not increase to 8%, even though I felt it was so close after I refined the Seed of Darkness.

  Suspicious, I checked my Mana Signatures and Mana Manipulation skills, and neither of them had made the slightest progress either even though they naturally advanced the more in tune I became with the elements. Worried that my four hours had been wasted, I checked my grove, only to find out that it had indeed expanded a bit more. It was with that that I figured it out, since cultivating affinity required me to try to match the element and slowly change my aura to match it, Auto-Pilot would do
nothing but pull the mana into my body to feed my grove.

  Still, since I had recorded the methods for refining all of the various seeds, I did show a bit of progress in my other affinities. Earth, Water, and Light all increased to 8%, leaving only Dark, Plant, and Fire at 7%. With this, I at least had a bit of improvement to be proud of. Putting the six seeds into my inventory, I moved off back to the old man’s enchanting store.

  When I came in, he was rather happy to see me. “Ah, there you are… well, I never really got your name. But names aren’t important anyways, so what does it matter? Did you bring the remaining seeds?” When I nodded, and placed the six pellets on the counter, his smile widened beneath his beard. “Excellent, excellent. As promised, I’ll teach you how to enchant. As for the extra bonus..”

  He pulled out a Soft Stick and showed it to me. “This contains the Identify software, allowing your companion to scan the aura of creatures or objects to roughly determine their ability. If you have encountered something before and know its name, the name will be provided as well, naturally. You simply have to use Aura Sight when you wish to Identify something. I’ll assume you know how to do that.”

  Thanks to the system treating me like an idiot… I nodded my head to him, indicating that I knew. This software would have a variety of possible uses for me, as it could even help me analyze auras. Holding out my left wrist, he placed the Soft Stick against it, and there was a slight beep of acknowledgement before he pulled it back.

  “Alright then, let’s get started! Enchanting really isn’t that hard of a job, it simply requires more control over your magic than a normal starting mage would have, and a more abundant mana reserve than a starting druid. But, naturally, with every obstacle comes a solution.” He lead me to a very familiar looking staff with a black gemstone atop it, much like the one Jacobs had used when enchanting my armor. “This staff contains a low quality mana gem, able to supply an additional thousand mana to its user. However, like all mana gems, it requires nearly a full day to fully recharge.”