93: Lovely, Foul and True

“Alright, alright, I suppose we don’t have to save the best for last,” Rocky grinned, grabbing another brownie from the pan and promptly biting half of it off. “Ith yoo wan mee to go nest, I’ll doo ith.”

The caramel-tinted girl brushed a few strands of her scruffy brown hair from her eyes and even struck a bit of a pose while she swallowed her dessert. Then, she spoke.

Name: Raquella Lovely Nightmoore

Age: 19

Class: Leatherworker-

“Wait, your middle name is ‘Lovely’?” Rachel asked with a quirked eyebrow. Rocky smirked at the Metalsmith.

“You betcha, Honeyplum. Now hush, the teacher is talking.”

While Rachel’s face went red, Rocky continued.

Level: 4

Vitality: F-

Physical Defence: F-

Magical Defence: F-

Tenacity: F-

Strength: F-

Dexterity: F-

Mind: F-

Control: E-

Craftsmanship: F+

Skills: 6

Crafter’s Cunning {Passive}

You are knowledgeable when it comes to items. You may Inspect unknown materials and items.

Crafting Points {Passive}

You have 3 Crafting Points, which you may spend on certain abilities while in the process of crafting. When beginning a new craft, current number of Crafting Points resets to 3.

Delicate Tannery {Active}

For each Crafting Point spent on Delicate Tannery, the Durability of the craft is reduced by 25%, but the Potency is increased by 10%. Can only be used on leather-based crafts.

Sworn Sheathe {Passive}

While a weapon is stored in a leather-based sheathe you have made, the weapon gains a 200% bonus to Quality.

Tanner’s Eye {Passive}

You may Inspect creatures as well as objects, learning the best ways in which the creature’s hide may be utilized for leather-based creations.

Recycled Remains {Passive}

When reusing materials from other creations, the scarring of magic left behind is 15% less inhibiting. Only applies to leather-based materials.

Everyone in the room narrowed their eyes in the silence that followed. Eventually it was Addison’s voice that eeked out. “That’s- uhh…”

“The worst crafter skills that you have ever seen in your entire lives?” Rocky grinned. “Ab-so-lutely they are!”

“They’re not-” Bailey began, but visibly swallowed her words. “They’re not that bad…”

Rocky held her smile for a few more moments, but then let her almost performance-like mask slip away. Her grin twisted down to a thin, flat line and her eyes stared at the counter between her fingertips.

“Hey- I mean, someone’s gotta be the worst crafter in the Syndicate, right? I’ve got a CP spender that does pretty much nothing except make whatever I use it on weaker, a skill that’s basically a worse version of Crafter’s Intuition which we’ve already explained as being near-useless, and a skill that makes it so that scrapping leather from a magical item to make something else is ever-so-slightly less punishing. It doesn’t make it better than using literally any other material, it just means that reusing it isn’t quite as terrible as it normally should be. Very slightly better than a shit idea.”

“A sheathe that triples the Quality of a weapon is pretty insane though…” Eris tried. Of course, Rocky flashed a weak grin.

“It would be, until you realize that it only works for as long as the weapon is actually in the sheathe. Doesn’t matter how powerful I can make a longsword if it loses all that power the moment the weapon’s actually drawn.”

Rocky turned around, walking towards the workbench where she had been cutting the leather before for their tool-making.

“I mean, we tried it out where we would just keep the weapon ‘sheathed’ at all times to give it the bonus, even while it’s being used, but since that kinda turns any sword or axe into a club, that gets rid of the entire lethal part of the weapon which is, you know… the blade. Plus, even if it had a fire enchantment or something that deals more damage, the enchantment would be super powerful, but all of it would be happening inside the sheathe and destroying it, not hurting who you were attacking. And since my only CP spender gives a teeny-tiny bonus to Potency in exchange for quartering the Durability of my stuff, then even if I did make a sheathe that somehow worked to empower a weapon and didn’t interfere with the lethality at all, it would get shredded on the very first hit and be ruined.”

She sat down in her stool, facing all the others with her back against the edge of the worktable. “So yeah, for all intents and purposes, I am THE worst crafter in the Syndicate. Even my stats are awful. My Control is pretty good for my level, so I can make stuff kinda quick, but my Craftsmanship is like three full ranks below any other level-four crafters so anything I make is noticeably weaker even before bringing skills into the equation. Skills that are not only terrible in general, but also have no synergy with each other at all and only make each other worse.”

She picked up an awl from the table and started playing with the point- pressing it into her thumb as if to test the sharpness. “Literally the only reason that Eris would want to replicate any of my skills is if the researchers want to test and see what happens if Eris tries to replicate like… Crafter’s Cunning or Crafting Points. Not for any actual power boost or anything- just to figure out what even happens. There isn’t anything else worth taking, after all.”

“You’ll get something good eventually,” Ophelia smiled. Rocky returned it, but it wasn’t as bright.

“I’ve been thinking that for the last three levels, and have gotten nothing but a single shit skill after another. At this point, ‘Eventually’ ain’t happening, sweetcheeks.”

She let out a long breath, then looked Eris up and down. “At the very least, I can teach a cutie the difference in stat attunements between the front and back half of a deer hide.”

“They have different stat attunements?” Eris’s cheeks grew pink from being called a ‘cutie’, but still managed the question. Rocky laughed.

“Damned right. Same way that the skin off of a cyclops’ stomach is better attuned towards giving a bonus to Vitality, but their armpits are actually better for Mind, believe it or not.”

Eris really didn’t want to just ‘move on’ from Rocky. It felt beyond insulting to go to the next person without even trying to suggest a single skill to replicate, but Rocky was right. Her skills really were atrocious in every regard and there wasn’t anything else to say about it. Thankfully, Rocky took that responsibility upon herself.

“How about you, Addison? I know you’ve got some good shit.”

The extremely pale-haired blonde’s stormy grey eyes went wide and she stopped mid-bite on her third brownie.

“Uhh- whuth?” She swallowed. “What?”

“Go next, to cleanse the bad ju-ju of my awful skills with something actually useful.”

“Uhh…” Addison looked down at her brownie as if longing for another bite, but let it rest gingerly in her fingertips while she cleared her throat.

Name: Addison Fowell Zatz

Age: 21-

“Cool. My middle name’s Lovely and your middle name’s Foul. Weird, but cool.”

Addison blinked. “Fowell. F-O-W-E-L-L, not F-O-U-L.”

“Eh, same difference,” Rocky waved her hand dismissively. “Continue.”

Class: Woodcarver

Level: 10

Vitality: F-

Physical Defence: F-

Magical Defence: F-

Tenacity: F-

Strength: F-

Dexterity: F-

Mind: F-

Control: C

Craftsmanship: C+

Skills: 15

Crafter’s Cunning {Passive}

You are knowledgeable when it comes to items. You may Inspect unknown materials and items.

Crafting Points {Passive}

You have 15 Crafting Points, which you may spend on certain abilities while in the process of crafting. When beginning a new craft, current number of Crafting Points resets to 15.

Against the Grain {Active}

For each Crafting Point spent on Against the Grain, the Durability of the craft is increased by 16%. Can only be used on woodworking crafts.

With the Grain {Active}

For each Crafting Point spent on With the Grain, the Potency of the craft is increased by 8%. Can only be used on woodworking crafts.

Counting Rings {Active}

For every 3 Crafting Points spent on Counting Rings, you may add one applicable stat bonus to the item. Can only be used on woodworking crafts.

Steady Sawmill {Passive}

Your Crafting Speed is reduced by 25%, but the Quality of your crafts are increased by 25%. Applies only to woodworking crafts.

Wood and Weal {Active}

For every 5 Crafting Points spent on Wood and Weal, you may add one applicable enchantment to the item. Can only be used on woodworking crafts.

Fine Grit {Passive}

For each unique skill that uses Crafting Points applied to an item, the item gains a 15% bonus to Potency. Can only be used on woodworking crafts.

Heavy Grit {Active}

For each Crafting Point spent on Heavy Grit, you may increase one stat modification on the item from Minor to Moderate. Can only be used on woodworking crafts.

Sharpened Tools {Passive}

For every half hour spent working on a single craft, you gain one additional Crafting Point that can be spent on skills for that craft, to a maximum of three additional points per item.

Borrowed Material {Active}

By touching two completed crafts, you may choose to reduce the Quality of one craft by 50%, but grant the second craft 25% of the first craft’s effects. Cannot be used on crafts not made by you, or crafts already affected by Borrowed Material.

Heavier Grit {Passive}

Heavy Grit gains an additional effect; Each use of Heavy Grit now increases two stat modifications from Minor to Moderate, or one stat modification from Minor to Greater.

Bark and Bite {Passive}

Weapons made in part or entirely from your crafts have a 50% boost to the Potency of Magical or Physical Power bonuses. Applies only to woodworking crafts.

Splinters {Active}

Each use of Splinters reduces the maximum Durability of the craft by 20%, but grants 2 additional Crafting Points that can be spent on skills for that craft. Can only be used on woodworking crafts.

Finer Grit {Passive}

Fine Grit gains an additional effect; For each unique skill that uses Crafting Points applied to an item, the item increases the wielder’s highest stat by one rank. Applies only to weapons made in part or entirely from your crafts.

Addison drummed her fingers against the countertop. “So, yeah. My whole gimmick is that I have a lot of CP and can get even more, while using them to put a lot of different stat bonuses, make them stronger, and put enchantments. However, for every item I make, I also make a ‘sacrificial’ item that exclusively has certain effects I want on the other, and gain even more CP to make it more powerful by demolishing its Durability. I then use Borrowed Material to put every single stat bonus and enchantment from that sacrificial item onto the actual one I want, albeit at twenty-five percent of the power.”

“That’s really strong,” Bailey whistled. “Even at a quarter of the power, getting more unique stat bonuses or enchantments on one item just makes your versatility go through the roof.”

“I know,” Addison nodded. “And that’s why Borrowed Material is unquestionably the best of my skills for Eris to copy. It would only become more and more useful the more powerful she gets, because of how much crazy stuff she’d be able to do with her items. Combining their effects together?”

Rocky gave an excited holler. “Fuck YES she’s taking that skill. No contest whatsoever. Actually, I’d consider that one the top dog right now, so you’re gonna be the one that gets to join Eris in an all-day fuck marathon first.”

Addison went pale; well, pale-er. “What?” Eris simply went red. Tatum, on the other hand, flipped her mohawk to drape over the other side of her head in a casual motion.

“Hey, I wouldn’t be so sure. I’ve got a skill that’ll probably have Kull begging to get us out of our pants-”

The black-haired dean coughed- choking on a piece of brownie at the abrupt statement. Not that Eris could blame him for being unable to keep his composure at such a crude and unexpected sentence. Bailey laughed loudly.

“Well, you can’t say something like that and not prove it. Whatcha got?”

Tatum rubbed a few crumbs of brownie from the edge of her mouth that almost blended in with her dark skin, shrugged, then wasted no other time while Professor Kull struggled to clear chocolate from his windpipe.

Name: Tatum True Toddley

Age: 22

Class: Stonecutter

Level: 11

Vitality: F-

Physical Defence: F-

Magical Defence: F-

Tenacity: F-

Strength: F-

Dexterity: F-

Mind: F-

Control: C+

Craftsmanship: B-

Skills: 15

Crafter’s Cunning {Passive}

You are knowledgeable when it comes to items. You may Inspect unknown materials and items.

Crafting Points {Passive}

You have 4 Crafting Points, which you may spend on certain abilities while in the process of crafting. When beginning a new craft, current number of Crafting Points resets to 4.

Steady Chisel {Active}

For each Crafting Point spent on Steady Chisel, the Potency of the craft is increased by 25%. Can only be used on stonework crafts.

Affixed {Passive}

When permanently affixed to another craft, your crafts gain a 40% bonus to their Quality. Applies only to crafted gemstones.

In The Rough {Active}

You may designate a type of gemstone. Doing so allows you to sense the exact direction and distance of the nearest nonmagical gemstone of that type. Cooldown: 10 minutes.

Detailed Engravings {Passive}

Your crafts gain a second stat modification. Applies only to stonework crafts.

Rock and Stone {Active}

For each Crafting Point spent on Rock and Stone, you may add one applicable enchantment to the item. Can only be used on stonework crafts.

Perfectly Cut {Passive}

When all of your Crafting Points are spent on a single skill during the process of crafting, the craft gains a 10% bonus to Quality per Crafting Point spent. Applies only to stonework crafts.

Mineral Mutation {Active}

You can mildly alter the attunement properties of minerals you are crafting with, without reducing the effectiveness of any effects.

Superior Engravings {Passive}

Your crafts gain a third stat modification. Applies only to stonework crafts.

Slow is Fast {Active}

While active, your Control stat is reduced to the minimum rank, but your Craftsmanship stat increases by a number of ranks equal to half the ranks Control lost.

Crystalline Conjunction {Passive}

Affixed gains an additional effect; For each of your finished crafts permanently affixed onto a single item, each of those crafts gains a 30% bonus to Durability and a 5% bonus to Potency.

Favourite Tool {Active}

You can designate one specific tool or piece of equipment used for crafting as your Favourite Tool. While using your Favourite Tool to craft an item, you have greater influence over the nature of enchantments and stat bonuses on that craft. Cooldown: 1 week.

Erosion {Passive}

While you are benefitting from a magical item that you’ve created, the benefits you receive from that item are increased by 50%. However, the item suffers an 80% penalty to its Durability.

Bailey whistled. “Okay, yeah, Erosion would definitely be nice. Anything Eris makes for herself would just become even more powerful, and they’d be so tough that the penalty wouldn’t even be noticeable. I see what you mean by it being really good for Eris.”

“That wasn’t the skill I was thinking of her copying,” Tatum said, a small smirk reaching across her face. “That was only fourteen- I still have one more.”

“Hmm, do you think you have enough dramatic effect put into this pause, or do we need to sit here for a few more seconds just to let it keep building?” Rocky laughed, reclining in her seat like a queen. Tatum just rolled her eyes.

“Masterwork. Active-”

“-Hold the fuck on,” Rocky suddenly shot forward in her chair so fast that she may as well have been attached to a chain dropped off a cliff. “You have Masterwork?”

“Yeah, I do,” Tatum smiled wide. “And even though Eris would probably get something like it later down the line, we have the opportunity to give it to her right now.”

Eris furrowed her brow. “Uhh, what’s Masterwork?”

All the other crafters in the room looked at her. Unsurprisingly, both Kull and Charlotte seemed to be equally confused as the Artificer. It was Ophelia with her warm smile that spoke.

“You know how there are some skills in certain classes that are pretty rare but pretty powerful? Like how every Berserker gets Rage, but one in every four-hundred-or-so Berserkers get Worldbreaker, and only at really high levels?”

“It’s a rare Stonecutter skill?” Eris asked. At that, Rocky snorted.

“Not a fuckin’ chance. It’s a rare crafter skill. One in a thousand, maybe one in fifteen-hundred odds, and never, ever gained before level ten. The only problem with it is that it’s limited in how much you can even use it, because you can only Masterwork an amount of items equal to your-”

Rocky froze, her words dying abruptly. Tatum laughed sharply.

“And now you see why it’s a really good skill for me, but unfathomably good for her?”

Every crafter in the room, save for Eris, nodded without words. After a moment, Tatum turned back to Eris. Occasionally while she spoke, her gaze would flick over to Professor Kull, as if to see the man’s reaction.

Masterwork {Active}

You may permanently designate a finished craft you made as a Masterwork, imbuing it with capabilities beyond any equivalent at the cost of limited production. When you do so, the Quality of the craft is doubled and it gains 2 additional applicable enchantments and stat bonuses. You may only have a number of Masterwork crafts at a time equal to your Crafting Point total.

When she finished, Tatum rested her hands on her hips. “It’s getting a bit late, but I think if Eris and I start having sex now, she can have the skill by three in the morning.”