Chương 53: Chapter 45: Lessons from a Barrel

I spent the following day regenerating with a book. In the afternoon, it rained for a while, forcing us to go inside. The cabin was too claustrophobic, so as soon as the rain stopped, I went out to look for a solution. My regular tents were small enough, but too light and would blow away; the glamping tent was too big for the deck, and my camper was big enough for one person and smaller than the cabin.

I finally took one of my medium tents, asked Ro for permission to hammer a few nails into the deck, secured the lines to the nails, used some of the modular bamboo flooring of the glamping tent to separate us from the wet deck, and covered the whole thing with a carpet. It was much better; the space inside was twice as large, and because it was a tent rather than a small room with a tiny window, the feeling inside was far more spacious.

The only downside was that I couldn't set the poles for the canopy, so we could either sit inside when it rained or get wet. Ro and his boys continuously came around to see what I was doing, and when I finished setting up the tent, they walked around it and admired it. Ro inspected the tent.

"Where did you get this, and how much did it cost?"

"I'm from the islands in the south, and I got it there," I said, appraising the tent.

"It cost 37 gold." He whistled in admiration, his eyes widening.

"Expensive."

"Yes, but worth the price."

"Maybe to some, too rich for us," he said, scratching his head thoughtfully.

"You can examine the barrel if you want."

"Thanks," I said, giving him a grateful smile. I went to examine the barrel, and he followed me. Carrying it all the way to the rail seemed like too much effort, so I cast Clean and Purify on the water just in case and used it to fill all my empty bottles. When I ran out, I stuck my hand inside and stored the rest in one of my water tanks. Ro hovered close, arms crossed tight the whole time, clearly worried about his precious barrel. The pantry was too cramped, so I carried the barrel outside for a better look.

I examined it again from the outside, but still found nothing. The Light Ball helped me see inside, but it didn't make any difference. There was nothing inside. No runes or magic script. A big, fat nothing. I sensed the wood with my mana and searched for it. For a while, nothing responded until my sense brushed against the inner metal rings, the same kind that held the barrel together from the outside. That was where the spellwork hid, carrying a strange sense of purity.

Casting Purify, I recognized the flavor immediately. It was exactly the same spell, without a single difference. I returned the barrel to the pantry and began refilling it with water bottles. At this point, Ro relaxed and left me alone. After the tenth bottle, I'd had enough and summoned the water directly from a water tank. Unfortunately, I misjudged the water quantity, and a significant amount overflowed onto the floor. Oops!

I grabbed a duvet, figuring it was the most absorbent thing I had, and pressed it into the water. Even after it soaked through, there was still a lot of water on the floor. Towels came next, and I was glad Ro left. My knowledge about boats was quite limited, so I had no idea whether this amount of water would make him worry about his boat. Once I absorbed all the water, I cast Clean on the pile, though the spell only dealt with dirt.

Water, for whatever inexplicable reason, didn't count, even when it ruined everything it touched. I tried channeling Heat into the duvet to dry it out, but steam rose almost instantly, and I cut it off before the pantry turned into a sauna. I shoved the wet things into Storage for the moment. At the railing, I wrung them out, squeezed until water ran in streams, then hung them up to dry, tying a rope around them so the wind wouldn't steal them away.

Ro gave me a suspicious look, rushed into the deckhouse, but when he came out, he kept his thoughts to himself. Now it was time to put what I had learned into practice. Since the magic was in metal rings, I took out a cooking knife, cast Purify on it, and examined it with my mana. Nothing. It was clean, but it didn't hold any magic. I cast the spell again and again without success. After thinking it over, I channeled Restore, split my mind, and cast Purify at the same time. The Restore cost me only 20 mana.

The knife was sharper and squeaky clean, but still held no magic. I rubbed my forehead in frustration, completely stumped. It was already dark, so we ate dinner and fell asleep in the tent. At least that part was much more pleasant. The next day, I braved the Archive again; maybe I could find the answer there. While scrolling, I checked the posts that caught my interest. The discussion about Mend vs. Restore concluded without a clear winner.

In the post about the unique Traits, I now had 173 people calling me a liar, and my lasagna post had some odd comments. I thought the blue guy who wrote the World Information about Earth wrote one of them. Tr. JR: John's Amazing Campfire Lasagna That Can Wake Even the Dead … Tr. DH: Sounds like too much work. Tr. LI: Thanks for the recipe; it was delicious. Tr. MH: Why cook dough in water? Sounds disgusting. Tr. MJ: Maybe he's from Tunip. They cook everything in water, even flowers.

I lost weight there, even with my Storage. Tr. LF: Go buy food. You have a Storage. Tr. NU: I visited a world called Lasaggna; any connection? Tr. LO: Thank you, JR. Love it! Tr. MO: Why do you have metal wire? Tr. GS: Support the creativity of authors by visiting Royal Road for this novel and more. I hate garlic. Tasted it once on a world called Dirt. Tr. VI: Seriously? Dirt? Tr. GS: Yes. They are strange. They want identifications for coins. Don't go there. Tr. MK: GS is lying. No way they call their world Dirt.

Tr. BBN: What he said. I continued searching for TWO FULL DAYS! To get past it all, I had to scroll through an unbelievable amount of crap. Travelers are a bored and chatty bunch. Finally, in an article full of self-congratulation about enchanting and creating magical items, I found something. Tr. NHB: …

Instead of using the elegant solution of runes, those barbarians in the low-mana worlds still use the archaic method of melting various materials, such as glass or metal, and casting spells on them repeatedly to embed the spell in the item. This method is cumbersome and requires an ungodly amount of mana; the spell quality depends on the level the mage has progressed to, and it fades over time… Tr.

KI: You forgot to mention that runes also need occasional recharging with mana, wear off over time or with heavy use, and need an enchanter to renew them. So stop being such a blown-up toad. If they don't have runes or enchanter Classes, that is a brilliant solution. Hmm, how can I melt some metal? I once read that aluminum's melting point is much lower than iron's. I took out my cast-iron potjie pot, put a small aluminum pot inside, and channeled Heat. After a while, I felt lightheaded. Mana: 120/7, 200.

The aluminum pot had become misshapen but hadn't melted yet. I quickly stored the whole thing so I wouldn't lose the heat I had already channeled, then sat down to regenerate. It took me a few days to regenerate my mana to full. By the second day, we reached the tributary, and Jul and Rin guided us into it with the oars. I sat back, focused on my breathing, and took in the view. Once we left the major river, the scenery shifted from densely populated banks back to open wilderness.

The pristine landscape was breathtaking, especially in early spring. Fresh green leaves covered the trees, and wildflowers dotted the riverbanks with patches of red and yellow. Birds sang from the branches overhead, their chirping harmonizing with the splash of the oars. From time to time, a woodland creature would step from the underbrush to drink, only to dart back into the foliage at the sight of our boat. Stretch napped most of the time, his bushy tail flicking now and then as he dreamed.

When awake, he wanted to be petted and scratched behind the ears, leaning into my hand with a contented sigh.

"You see, buddy, a smaller boat is not that bad," I told him. He answered with a short tail wag, sending me a feeling of mild approval. The tranquility of the moment, together with the serene beauty of the untouched landscape, made the slow regeneration of my mana a peaceful experience. When my mana was full again, I continued the melting process. It took me over 4, 500 mana to melt the damn thing, but finally, it was in liquid form. I repeatedly cast Clean and Purify on it until it cooled and solidified.

My mana sense told me the spell was inside the metal. YES! I tied a rope to a bucket, lowered it into the river, scooped up some water, dropped the aluminum blob inside, and sat there sensing the water with my mana. Nothing changed. Maybe it needs more time? After more than an hour, there was still no change. After some thought, I touched the blob with my finger and infused it with mana. I cast nothing; only channeled mana and sensed the water. In less than two seconds, it purified—a partial success.

I'd created a magical item that could channel a spell, but the barrel did it automatically. What am I missing? Back at the barrel, I examined the metal rings with my mana. Initially, I could feel only the Purify spell; probably from familiarity, but slowly I distinguished between other types of mana with different flavors. One was "absorption" or "suction," and the other "release."

Learning absorption took a few hours, with Ro checking in on me to ensure his barrel was safe and sound until I had a good grasp of the flavor. Then I went out and tried to channel my mana with that flavor. I had to return to the barrel repeatedly to get the nuances. After a while, I had to give up. I was completely drained. The next day, I continued to examine the barrel until I could create an exact duplicate of it. I released mana from my hands with this flavor and got the red light.

You have learned the spell Absorb Mana Woo Hoo! A good Gangnam Style was the perfect celebration for such an achievement, but sadly, I wasn't alone and wasn't confident enough to do it in front of observers, so I had to compromise with a fist pump. Despite casting the spell a few times in the air, I didn't feel any difference. I got an idea, opened my Profile to check my mana, and cast it on myself. Absorb cost me ten mana, and my mana ticked up faster without active regeneration.

After two minutes, I felt a slight itching in the mana channels in my arms and legs. The itching worsened, and by the fourth minute, it had become a pins-and-needles sensation. I had no idea how to stop a spell, only how to cast one, and as the feeling grew stronger, I started to worry. Thankfully, the spell ended after five minutes. I inspected my mana channels, and they seemed fine, but as always, a surprise waited for me.

Back on Earth, when I'd examined my mana system, the three orbs of energy in my body were all the same size. Now, the one behind my diaphragm was the largest, about 20% bigger than its original size. The one in my abdomen was next, about ten to fifteen percent larger, and the one in my head looked the same. I thought about it briefly, and it made sense: my mana had increased, so the orbs had grown. What didn't make sense was that I still didn't know how my mana was increasing.

I activated my Luck again, still pointing in the same direction, but the feeling of "take your time" was gone. Good. Answers were on the horizon. For the rest of the day, I enjoyed my achievement and spent time with Stretch. After lunch, I took out my guitar and sang quietly with Stretch howl-singing. He even got a beer. I had been ignoring him lately during my experimentation; he deserved some attention. Jul approached and asked shyly, "Can I sit and listen to the music, or do you want me to leave?"

I waved him over.

"Please join us; I'll even teach you a song." I taught him the song "Sailing Away," which I'd translated, and he loved it. Rin joined us at some point, and I played the song a few times until they learned it. Searching through my songbooks, I found " Boat on the River" by Styx, which perfectly fit the situation, and I translated it as I learned the chords. They picked it up with me as I went through it, and Stretch was our backup singer. We had a lot of fun.

"Take me back to my boat, on the river I need to go down, I need to come down…" I invited them for dinner, served three precious pasta dishes, and offered them beers. They looked old enough. Stretch tried to weasel another beer out of me, but I wasn't having it. He had to settle for a tomahawk steak, which left him mollified. Ro came over and pointed at Jul.

"You had a good rest; go replace me on the helm." Jul thanked me and left, and I waved Ro over.

"Please join me for dinner." I brought out another pasta dish and a beer. He thanked me, and we sat quietly, enjoying the evening and the drinks.