[D'sP] Pattern Update - Chapter 432

The one thing the mage tower was having a hard time getting info on was enchanting. In theory, it wasn’t an advanced study. Just about anyone could do enchanting. You know, except for requiring masterworks to enchant.

A developed world wouldn’t have a problem with this. After all, dungeon loot counts as masterwork. Need to learn to enchant a dagger? Go to a dungeon town and grab a few out of the discount bin.

After all, the local crafters can make better gear than early floor loot. This meant even someone starting out with enchanting will have more than enough material to practice with. On a newly integrated world?

Well, despite how constant the delving has been, even a year on, not every delver has a dungeon sourced weapon. And Doyle isn’t exactly stingy with his loot drops. Oh sure, looted equipment is probably the second biggest export after steak, but that is only because there isn’t much else being exported.

Of course, this sort of information always brings up questions about how it all works. Shame the town itself doesn’t have anyone to ask.

Anyway, Doyle turns to Ally, ‘What happens to apprentice work? Or really just about anyone’s work? Like, I guess with magic and especially a system, people manage to make physically perfect stuff all the time. But there should be a bunch of other stuff hanging around.’

Ally shrugs, ‘You don’t need a master’s work to outdo dungeon sourced masterworks. You’re forgetting that your stuff is only counted as masterwork quality because dungeons cheat. I bet even right now, there are multiple people in this community who can make better swords than you can.’

Doyle shakes his core, ‘The whole masterwork thing still feels weird to me. How can anything be perfect? Does a masterwork sword stop being masterwork when the edge dulls?’

Ally, ‘Physical perfection is a bit of a misnomer.’ She shrugs, ‘But only if you’re trying to go against a snapshot and assume something more than just physical perfection.

‘The only reason your world didn’t have a ton of masterwork items pre-system is because intent is much harder to imbue into an item during creation. Well, that and the fact that, at the end there, when your world finally started having materials that would support more masterworks without world energy, you also shifted away from handcrafted items.’

Doyle, ‘Intent? Like my one skill?’

Ally shakes her head, ‘While Conceptual Reinforcement works through intent, it mainly deals with concepts which don’t work without magic.’

Doyle, ‘So, what is it and why is it needed for masterwork items, especially since it apparently doesn’t need magic?’

Ally, ‘Have you ever handled something made for a purpose by hand and just felt right? Maybe not fitted to your hand or anything, but you could tell it would do the job?’

Doyle dims and tilts forward, ‘Uh, Hmm, I think? Wait, yes! Sort of. My dad was into guns and not the gun itself, but the stock of a gun. The feel of the wood! Just holding it I knew it would be amazing. Which to be fair, the guy was a competition shooter and that was quite an expensive handmade stock.’

Ally shakes her hand, ‘No need to “be fair” about it. That was probably as close to a masterwork your world would have had in any sort of availability. Anyway, that feeling of rightness, even without using it? That comes from intent.

‘After all, how do you judge what is perfect for an item? We clearly aren’t talking about true perfection. Otherwise you wouldn’t be able to add enchantments on to it. So-called true perfection is the realm of ORDER. Where they would prefer everything to be unchanging.

‘No, a masterwork is instead judged based on the intent used to craft the item. Which really annoys the order types because handcrafting introduces what they’d call imperfections and yet masterworks exist.’

Doyle, ‘Cool, but intent, how does that make something a masterwork?’

Ally coughs, ‘Ah, yeah. The way it works is that whether an item is a masterwork requires the intent to both be developed enough and for the item to match it perfectly.

‘A masterwork butter knife doesn’t need to be sharp enough to slice the heavens. A masterwork sword doesn’t have to worry about slicing wafer-thin slices off of a cooked ham hock. So, it is the intent that determines if the result matches what an item was meant for. While at the same time, the intent needs to be developed enough to actually support the item’s purpose.’

Doyle, ‘So intent is like a blueprint and a masterwork isn’t about getting the atoms to line up exactly right, but actually to match the blueprint?’

Ally, ‘Close? There needs to be more than just a blueprint behind it all. Otherwise you could just imagine a badly made dagger or some such. Though I can see how you made the connection, what with your blueprints.

‘Anyway, the intent needs to have a clear purpose and the item needs to fulfill that purpose as intended to physical perfection. Which is a fancy way to say that as well as messy reality allows. And thus why a masterwork blade still needs to be sharpened occasionally.’

The two continue to talk about the subject for a while when Doyle’s core flashes brighter for just a moment. ‘What just happened?’

Ally glances around her wall of screens and points, ‘Check out the current fox fight. Something happened there.’

Doyle turns his attention to the fight and can instantly see what she means. Though he doesn’t have long to absorb it. After all, a level one fox was only ever going to be the biggest of challenges for people.

For just a few moves that the fight lasted after it drew their attention, the fox had been subtly different from what they normally looked like. So subtle that the combatant, not even the fox, noticed.

The claws were no longer extended. Or rather, the extension was now claw. Doyle was sure there must be more to it, but he also knew how to check and pulled up a blue screen of recent events and picked out the message that looked right.

{

Razor Fox pattern updated

Extend Edge (Mana Powered) has been absorbed into the Razor Fox’s body and removed as a separate skill

Wind Blade (Mana Powered) level advanced to six

Razor Fox World Energy cost increased to 50

}

Ally claps, ‘Wonderful! Looks like the fox advanced to be a proper magical beast. I wonder what bloodline it developed?’

Doyle, ‘So uh, what do you mean by a proper magical beast?’

Ally points at the message, ‘That part about the edge skill being absorbed into the fox’s body. The pattern before could have existed without magic. It wouldn’t have as it had a body physically adapted to use magic, which would be pointless without it around.

‘Now? If you put the razor fox in a place with too little magic, it would die. That would be hard as the fox doesn’t have a minimum level and so you’d need a place free of supernatural power, but still, it is technically possible.’

Doyle, ‘So what, the claws can extend on their own?’

Ally, ‘And it has a bloodline of some sort. Not that you need magic for a bloodline as technically everything that passes information about how its result should develop has a bloodline. Even if said creature doesn’t have actual blood.

‘And I was extra careful about the wording because this goes well beyond actual children. A curse based werewolf lineage is a bloodline based on a curse. And because of magic, you can have a bloodline even if what it is or has never existed in your ancestors.’

Doyle, ‘So what, my razor foxes now have some sort of fox based kamaitachi bloodline now?’

Ally frowns, ‘Not getting the reference, give me a second.’

Doyle, ‘It isn’t the most important thing, I just happened to remember them. They’re a mythical creature across an ocean from where I lived. Don’t remember it all, but basically a weasel monster with scythe-like front claws that is known for making painless cuts and in control of the wind. I think.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Could be? Weasels and foxes aren’t exactly cousins, but genetics can take a back seat once magic gets involved. Sort of like how it seems anything and everything can turn into a dragon. Though after a quick look, I’d be more tempted to go with another creature from over there. The nine-tailed fox.’

Doyle, ‘So I could have some pretty ladies in the future?’

Ally laughs, ‘As if you care about that. You barely look at the delvers, let alone checking out people in town. I’d say it was your dungeon core instincts, but even unawakened cores can fixate on those kinds of things.

‘But also, no. Or at least, the nine tailed foxes I’m more familiar with are based on illusions. Sure, they end up more humanoid than not, but less than even foxfolk. Think more along the lines of a fox that has been stood up straight and changed slightly to make that look natural. Oh, and they get humanoid hands.’

Doyle, ‘Well, I can’t wait for that.’

Ally shrugs, ‘Oh, and I guess I should mention that it isn’t impossible to get what you’d call a kitsune as compared to a nine-tailed fox. Local myths have a habit of becoming reality within dungeons. Which can also result in them becoming a reality outside as well if any ever escape.

‘Nevermind the fact that I’m sure the kitsune is already real. They seem familiar. Maybe one visited my mom’s court at some point?’

Doyle, ‘Well, I guess I should clear out my pre-existing foxes and summon in my new version.’

Ally holds up a hand to stop him, ‘Hold your horses! Leave the ones on your last floor alone for right now. They’re unique right now. You can no longer summon a razor fox that isn’t a magical beast. Now, in theory, this isn’t a problem, but if you want to compare the two, this is your only chance.’

Doyle, ‘Wait a second, that reminds me. If the fox doesn’t have the Extend Edge skill anymore, how does it get better at it?’

Ally, ‘Oh, that’s the bloodline part. It now has some mix of bloodlines which involve enhanced nails and magic. Maybe not all in the same bloodline, but overall. With levels, the claws will get better from improved Mana control, but it won’t ever have claws extend all that far like how the skill could have done.’

Doyle, ‘And of course there is still the fact I was training the fox to overlap the wind blades with its claws.’

Ally claps her hands, ‘Well get some summoned up and find out. I have an idea, but I’m uncertain.’

Doyle doesn’t have much else to say about it and so does as she suggests.

Off to the side on the last floor, a new fox spawns in. The fox looks almost exactly like the nearby mass of foxes. Only almost, though. The face is a little sharp, a little cunning. The tail is a little longer and the fur on said tail fluffier.

However, what changed the most is the claws. At first, it looks as if the fox didn’t even have nails. Though when the fox goes to stretch, barely visible nails suddenly extend out to grip the ground. And not in the fashion of a cat’s claw, but rather the nails actually increasing in size.

An interesting phenomena and Doyle sets about to test it right away. The max length of the claws is an impressive four or five centimeters. More importantly, is that even if broken, the claws recover with magic speed. Which, in this case, means as quickly as the fox could extend them.

It seems that the extending claw trick was creating the claw. So, to fix a broken claw simply requires them to extend further. Though testing did show that after a certain amount of breakage, the fox does need to take time to recover, likely attached to Mana. Which in Doyle’s opinion just means they’re good for a fight. Or in other words, more than enough for his purposes.

Plant Growth - Chapter 431

Fox Vs Fox - Chapter 433