“Third what?”
Blapy looked up at Ruwen. “Axiom, of course. You’re the second.”
Ruwen reread the entry.
As the future’s Resonance Offset approaches zero my vision grows opaque. If the second restores the balance, many will find the transition catastrophic, causing destruction and creating Ash. A painful but necessary step, and one more dagger of guilt I’ll carry to my death.
If the second survives, the third will as well. A harvest so bountiful it defies comprehension.
“There’s another Axiom?” Ruwen asked.
“Maybe. It sounds like his future depends on you.”
A minimized notification appeared, but Ruwen ignored it. It staggered him that both of the One True God’s books referenced him. The issues were so large, so monumental in scope, it numbed him.
“You should open that notification,” Blapy said. “You really know how to throw money at a problem, don’t you.”
Ruwen opened the notification.
Ting!
You have completed the Quest – Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 3 – Special Request).
See Miranda for a Codex of Bookwyrm Evolution.
See Miranda for your choice of one Legendary Potion.
You have received the title of Ink Disciple.
You have received 10,000 (+2,000 Tutor Buff) experience.
Ruwen smiled. Qwyn had lost no time hiring people to shelve books, and word must have gotten out about the other changes. Another notification appeared and Ruwen read the next quest in his Ink Lord chain.
Don’t Judge a Job by Its Cover (Part 4 – Branching Out)
The Black Pyramid has lost its Ink Lord, and its book collection has suffered. Find a book of Epic quality or higher that the collection does not already contain. Reshelve one hundred percent of the library’s collection (both levels). Create a branch location. Finally, raise the Patron Satisfaction above seventy-five percent (current satisfaction seventy-nine percent) [COMPLETE].
Reward: Codex of Bookwyrm Evolution.
Reward: Tattoo of Silence.
Reward: Title of Ink Master.
Reward: 50,000 experience
Ruwen would worry about this quest after getting his rewards from part three. He refocused on his surroundings and realized they were no longer in the library.
She moved us to a lower vault, Rami said.
Vials, jars, and tubes, each with their own stand, filled the shelves that lined the room. This vault was fifty feet to a side, and Ruwen figured there were thousands of potions here.
“Are all these legendary?” Ruwen asked.
Blapy’s stuffed centipede had reappeared, and she pointed around the room with it as she talked. “Ten levels of experience, permanent five hundred Armor Class, raise any skill to one hundred instantly, control an element, one hundred percent to every Resistance. Whatever you can think of it is in this room.”
Ruwen’s head swam with the possibilities. “Is there a catalog or index or something?”
A pedestal appeared in front of Ruwen with a thick book the size of his forearm. He didn’t bother opening it, instead he brought Rami down and briefly touched her to the surface.
Got it, Rami said. Give me a second to index it.
Let's start by thinking of my weaknesses.
Common sense, overthinking, focus, naiv—
Ruwen interrupted her. Okay, let’s not do that. Ouch.
Over-sensitive.
You’re killing me.
Rami laughed and hugged Ruwen. Okay, I’ll stop.
Ten levels of experience would give me a lot of spell and ability points. And there are like fifty skills I would love to have a hundred points in. What could I make if I had a master level in Alchemy? And as hard as Last Breath is to level, bumping that twenty-two levels to one hundred isn’t a bad option either.
Rami chimed in. With all your Fighter bonuses to Armor Class, an extra five hundred would make you unbelievably durable. There are potions in here that permanently add a hundred Regeneration to one of your Resources, too.
Ruwen’s thoughts swirled. A hundred extra Regen to his Health, Mana, or Energy would be incredibly powerful. The Health and Energy are super tempting.
Like any shortcut, they all sounded wonderful. But eventually he could attain everything in here. So really, what he needed to do was find the thing that would save him the most time.
And that reminded Ruwen of the purification potion Sift had accidentally drank. He’d told Ruwen it had taken a month to transition the Meridian in his heart from Gold to Jade. Without that potion, the transition would have taken years. Ruwen had twelve Meridians ready for the transition from Metal to Gem level, and he didn’t feel like he had years to wait for it to happen naturally.
Are there any Harvesting potions in there? Ruwen asked.
Yes, there is an elixir to add a million essence of your choice or ten million raw Spirit. This one advances a Meridian within a level. Here’s one for spiritual armor, and another that widens the pathways to a Meridian.
Ruwen’s Death, Dark, and Chaos Meridians could all benefit from the widening potion, but those weren’t his immediate bottleneck. What about transitioning between Metal and Gem levels.
Yes, it’s here, Jeweled Elixir of Transformation.
That would help Ruwen, but Sift would soon stall at the same spot.
Ruwen focused on Blapy. “Could I get the recipe for one of these instead of the actual potion?”
“Sorry, that’s cheating. You get what the quest outlined. Dungeons have rules after all.”
Ruwen wondered again about the mastery potion. With an Alchemy skill of one hundred, he could make these potions. But he had no way of breaking down the potion into its components. And without that, the recipe would be impossible to duplicate. His next Ink Lord quest didn’t have a potion as a reward either.
Curse Blapy and her dungeon rules. That thought sent a shard of what felt like ice through Ruwen’s brain. His Cleverness Attribute had triggered when thinking about the dungeon, and a moment later the reason formed in his thoughts.
“Dungeons can recreate what they absorb, correct?” Ruwen asked.
Blapy smiled. “Within reason. They need the raw ingredients, and it might take them awhile to figure out the recipe for anything complicated, but it’s possible. Depends on the dungeon’s focus as well. Resource focused dungeons, for example, are the best at deconstructing
