A few minutes later, Ama escorted Ash out of the room, emerging into the back of the main hall.

  “Ash!” Hestia called out, spotting her. “I wondered where you’d gotten. Did Ama check you over?” She seemed to have been talking to Stavos, who wheeled about, staring at her and Ama. He opened his mouth to speak, then seemed to think better of it.

  “This girl, Ash, is not contagious. “However, she is weakened and will need a little help recovering. Also, she has no connection to the recent events, so there is no need for concern there either.” Ama stared pointedly a Stavos, waiting until he broke off his gaze. Then she sighed wearily. “Now, I think I should rest. It has been a long journey, and my Will is drained. Take care of yourself Ash. I’ll try and prepare something to help with your condition later.”

  “Great!” Hestia beamed. “Now you can join the village for real! And we survived that awful assault with, thanks to that antivenom and our lovely and very timely reinforcements, zero casualties! This is a cause for celebration! Don’t you think Stavos?” Hestia turned to the village leader, who started blankly back for a moment before rolling his eyes.

  “Oh fine.” He said begrudgingly. “You can open one barrel over dinner this evening.”

  Hestia and a few of the other villagers let out a cheer at the news.

  Ash was feeling a little lost. It felt like there was still an axe, hanging over her head. Yet Hestia was grinning. Tyra was buisily checking over Jori’s damaged shirt in one corner as the newly healed man changed into a fresh one.

  Everyone is okay. I am okay. She thought, and the looming spectre hanging above finally dissipated, letting a tired smile form on her face. She had done it. She had earned her place here, in this world. Maybe that was enough.

  “So,” Hestia sidled over “Want to help me pick out a barrel?”

  “I kind of just want to collapse.” Ash replied tiredly. “I came here to do some more inscribing, and the attack happened and now I’m suddenly part of the village. It’s a little overwhelming.”

  “Yeah, I can see that. There is a bunch of farming stuff for you to work on in the workshop when you feel up to it.”

  “Oh, great. I guess I’ll go start on that then.”

  “What? I didn’t mean now! I thought you wanted to relax!”

  “Sure, and doing something routine and simple with my hands, that sounds quite relaxing! Besides, Tyra said that not having a specialty is basically like wasting time. I want that as soon as I can.”

  Hestia chuckled. “Alright, fine. But you’d better share a drink with me later!”

  “Deal.” Ash smiled and waved farewell as she headed over to the crafting hall.

  She spotted the arrayed farming implements immediately, but didn’t rush to start work. Instead collapsing into a chair with a world-weary sigh. After giving herself a moment to breathe, she decided to look over her gains from the fight before.

  Ash brought up her status sheet.

  Her exp had risen to 326, and she had gained 2 points in arcane-conduit and frost touch as well as a point in both ice affinity and Great-hammers. She’d also gained a whole 4 levels in assess creature. Getting the strength vibes from the whole horde had clearly been a major boost. She considered the possibility of making that her auxiliary specialisation at level 10. Being able to gauge the opponents she encountered better would be key to staying alive out here.

  Overall, it seemed to be pretty decent progress.

  Shame it took such a serious risk to me and the whole village to achieve that.

  Ash tried not to dwell on that notion. Progress was progress and now she just had to work on her crafting skills to match.

  There was a sound behind her, and Ash turned to see the teenager she had noticed working in here before.

  “Oh, hi.” He said, “Ash right? Oh, I fixed up your shirt didn’t I?” He said, and rummaged through a box, bringing out her old shirt, two thin patches of rough cloth now sown over the rents in the modern material. “What was this even made from?” He asked curiously, handing the shirt over.

  Did you know this story is from Royal Road? Read the official version for free and support the author.

  Ash felt the smooth cotton beneath her fingers, realising how much she had missed the stretchy modern fabric. “Thanks, she said. I’m pretty sure it’s cotton.” She checked for the label, but strangely found it missing “It’s just made with some specialty equipment or something.”

  “Oh okay.” He replied, “Well, I’d love to take a look at that equipment! Oh, I’m Alf by the way, and everything clothing is kind of my thing. I’m may still be young, but I’m the village’s specialist tailor, if you don’t know.” He said proudly.

  “Sure. Nice to meet you Alf. I’m striving to be a specialist in inscriptions myself, I’m hoping to break through soon.”

  “Oh? Well in that case don’t let me stop you.” He grinned “The shears you inscribed move so nicely now. Don’t worry, I’ll just be working on my own craft here.”

  They both nodded in understanding and set about their individual tasks. She worked on the implements the rest of the morning, until she ran out. Then she left the hall and wandered the town, asking villagers if they had any tools or weapons that could be helped with an inscription. By mid-afternoon, she had inscribed most everything she could in the village and had reached level 9 in the skill. Now she was frantic. Just a little more and she’d reach level 10. She found Jori and inscribed eased movement into his spear. She decided to try inscribing durability into a table leg. It seemed to take, but when she tried another leg of the same table, that didn’t. She started inscribing each table and chair she could find, just one leg of each. Finally, the notification arrived.

  You have reached level 10 in Runic inscription. At apprentice level, you can now inscribe 2 rune sequences on a suitable item.

  This skill is now an option for crafting specialisation.

  There it was, the text she had been hoping to receive. Crafting specialisation.

  Ash took a moment to consider. Is this definitely the craft I want to pursue? She enjoyed it, it was interesting and it helped make her weapons stronger. What more is there to consider?

  You have chosen the crafting specialty: Runic Inscription. You will have + 50% increased progression with this skill, + 25% with the Rune Lore utility skill and + 10% increased progression with woodworking.

  Ash grinned. There it was, her new specialisation. She looked down at her club, which she had collected earlier. “It’s time you got a second inscription!”

  She set about modifying her weapon with an additional enhanced movement inscription, then she worked on her guards and the most useful tools, giving them all an enhanced movement or enhanced durability inscription to complement the one they already had. She noticed that the second inscription seemed to drain more of her will for each rune, now slightly surpassing her natural regeneration and meaning she would have to take an occasional break to refill. Still, by the time the town bell rang for dinner, she had already reached level 11 in the skill, and her woodworking had bumped all the way up to 7 as well. Pleased with her progress, she finally put down her tool and headed to join the others.

  “Ash!” Hestia called out, waving to her from the end of the table. She was sat with two of the newcomer combat specialists, Ama and the mage that fired all that electricity into the ants earlier. Ash couldn’t quite remember his name. “Come come, I got you a serving already.” Ash smiled back and sat next to her, facing the two newcomers. “This is Ama, who I suppose you’ve met, and Lance!” Hestia gestured to each, then pushed a bowl of food and a mug towards her “And here is your food and more importantly, wine! We’re celebrating here! Celebrating our victory, welcoming the three new additions, well actually four as Ash is now officially one of us now!”

  “I just unlocked my crafting specialty too!” Ash smiled “and Hi, Ama, Lance. Nice to formally meet. I’m Ash.”

  “I gathered when Hestia yelled it across the room.” Ama intoned dryly. “Congrats on the specialty. Wha-”

  “Another thing to celebrate!” Hestia interjected “Ash becoming an inscribing specialist. Wait, you reached level 10 already? Oh no! How have you become a specialist before I’ve even decided!”

  “Don’t mind her, Hestia is on her second mug already.” Lance chuckled. “But well done. Runic inscription is quite handy for a melee specialist.”

  “No no no!” Hestia crooned “Ash here is an offensive mage like us!”

  “Nobody here is as offensive as you.” Ama jibed.

  “Oh, shush you. Fancy healer lady.” Hestia retorted. “Why don’t you go save a baby or something.”

  “I’m afraid we’re all out of stock of those.” Ama replied “Though, speaking of ‘fancy healing’, I have a little gift for you Ash.” Ama pulled out a small vial of thick, herby mush. “This is a physical recovery elixir. It should help speed you on your way to getting over this ‘withering’ condition. It will still take time, mind.”

  Ash accepted it gratefully. “So, do I just…” She mimed downing the thing. When Ama nodded Ash unstopped and drained the contents, grimacing at how the thick, lumpy and bitter substance oozed over her tongue. She picked up her mug and gulped down some wine, washing the fowl concoction down her throat. The sweet red liquid definitely helped ease things and she took another swig.

  “Easy there!” Ama cautioned. “Enjoy a mug by all means but if you drink too much it will interfere with that elixir.”

  “Well, that’s no fun!” Hestia said grumpily. “I’ll just have to get Lance to drink with me then!”

  “Hey! Don’t you corrupt my Lance… Well, any more than you already did!”

  The three continued their easy antics while Ash looked on in bemusement. Clearly, the three had some kind of existing rapport. When the jibing finally died down, she asked about it, and Lance told her how he’d met Hestia at the Academy, Ama was working at a nearby Physikers and they had all come together in a tavern one night.

  “…And Ama and I have been inseparable since” Lance finished, wrapping an arm around the woman’s shoulder and kissing her softly on the cheek.

  “Oh, stop it you two. You’ll make Ash sick.”

  “I’m not sure I can get much worse than this,” Ash interjected, gesturing at her gaunt frame.

  The three stared at her for a moment, the Lance let out a chuckle “I suppose you can’t at that!” He grinned. “Anyway, I was curious, how does the whole club thing work then, if you’re a mage like us?”

  “My secondary specialty is in Great-hammers, so I’m a bit of a hybrid” Ash explained

  “Oh, interesting!” Lance exclaimed “I’ve known a few wizards who got pretty good with a staff, casting thought it and knocking back an enemy or two in a pinch. They weren’t actually staff specialists though. Still, is it a bit like that?”

  “A bit. But… I’m a bit more limited. I can basically only cast offensively though the hammer… and I’ve only got on-touch spells to work so far.”

  “What? You can’t just like, cast a fireball or something?”

  Ash hesitated. Do I really want to be more transparent about my curse? It isn’t harming anyone and Ama already knows it exists. Then she firmed her resolve. “How about I demonstrate. Lance, roll up your sleeve and hold out your arm.”

  “Sure, okay.” He said, doing as she requested. He got a little nervous when Ash pulled out her club and slowly moved it towards his arm. “Are you sure this is s-”

  Ash casted flame burst through the club, a gout of fire erupting from the head of the hammer, pushing it back towards the floor. Lance screamed in shock as his arm was engulphed by the flame, Hestia and Ama both jumped to their feet.

  “What do you think you’re doing!” Ama yelled, then turned in concern to lance who was laughing.

  “Oh, wow Ash, that was quite a shock!” He chuckled. “I’m fine, see. That tickled strangely though. Felt a little warm, but no damage.” He examined his fingers curiously, then waved away a few of the villagers that had turned at the commotion.

  “Sorry. I thought it was better to see first hand. My curse, the one you identified Ama, it seems to prevent me from doing damage except directly from the Great-hammer itself. My frost-touch seems to channel through fine, but the flame-burst doesn’t.

  “How strange.” Hestia muttered. “I thought your combination was a little strange, but that… That’s especially weird. Oh, sorry. I didn’t mean it…. Ummm… Have you tried casting anything else?”

  “Oh. I don’t know any other spells.”

  “You don’t” Hestia gasped. “Oh no, you should have said! I could teach you a few of the introductory ones I know. What do you think would work?”

  They discussed Ash’s problem as a group, Lance quickly offering his beginner spells too. It turned out he was an energy specialist, focusing on light and lightning magic. Eventually, they decided on two spells. Glow, a light based spell and kinetic push, a kinetic spell. Hestia also knew another Ice spell, frozen path, that Hestia had picked up at the academy it required level 3 Ice acclimatisation, which Ash now had, but would apparently take a little longer to learn.

  Glow was chosen as it was meant to be cast on a focus, so could be used to improve Ash’s light affinity and allow her to try more complex spells. Kinetic push was chosen because it was possibly the only basic kinetic spell that could be levelled without doing damage. They also wondered if maybe Ash could use it to push her club around faster. Unfortunately, other schools of magic like lightning and fire didn’t have any touch-based basic spells that they knew of, so it would be impossible for Ash to level the skills and thereby improve her affinity to learn more.

  Now finished with their food, they moved on to drinking as first Hestia then Lance worked to teach Ash each spell. Ash picked up the push spell fairly quickly, even manging to cast a weakened version out from her club. Try as she might however, she couldn’t twist the spell to enhance her swing. She could definitely see the utility of the wide area of effect, however, so thanked Hestia for the lesson all the same.

  Glow proved more difficult to learn. Lance spending a good while instructing her on how to feel the magic flowing into the weapon and holding it there without releasing it. There was a concept of locking it into the weapon that she struggled with, but finally a subtle light began to emanate from her large club.

  You have learned the spell: glow. This spell shines a light from a held focus. This will also grant the wielder additional damage against undead and shadow based foes. Damage and duration is based on the caster’s Wits and skill level.

  Ash grinned, she technically had her first weapon buff spell. Sure, it was only effective against things she wasn’t fighting right now, but who cared. Her club was glowing! Ash swung the shining weapon around her gleefully as Lance laughed and clapped and Hestia and Ama raised their drinks to her, clinking them together merrily.

  After a few practice casts of each skill, she also unlocked the corresponding level 1 affinities for each, before the others convinced her to stop and drink a little more with them.

  “So,” Ash blinked, at the fading light, beginning to feel weary all of a sudden. “Now that I’m a part of the village and all that… Where am I even expected to sleep?”

  “Here, I guess.” Hestia pointed to the edges of the main hall, where a few bedrolls had been laid out. “They haven’t built enough houses for us all yet. The children have been moved to a bunkhouse nearby now, so it’s not too bad. I’ve got the perfect corner spot right there.”

  Ash looked around, then shrugged. “You know what, I’m already set up in my nice little room in the jungle. I’ll just sleep there until we can move out of the hall.”

  “What?” Hestia gasped, “You’re going already?”

  “Sorry! Rest and recouperation for me! Healers orders!” Ash stuck her tongue out at Ama who was leaning sleepily on Lance’s shoulder.

  “Ama! Why do you have to be-” Hestia started, then prodded the tired woman “Hey, you’re sleeping on me too!”

  “What? We’ve had a long journey.” Ama mumbled. “We should all…” She yawned “Get some rest.”

  Ash wandered away before Hestia could try to convince her to party longer, heading for the edge of the village. She casted glow on her club and walked out of the gate, the dim light accompanying the fading sun and giving her just enough to see by until she finally reached her home.

  I really have started to think of this little nook as my home, haven’t I? She thought, despite the village being home too now, I guess. She yawned, deciding she was too tired to think on it anymore. Instead clambering in, locking up and falling quickly to sleep.