I focused on the gold coin. My powers, despite being new, felt like muscles I forgot I had. I had an almost instinctual control over them. I knew in the deepest part of my soul that I could do these things. That did not mean they were perfect. Like a forgotten muscle, I would have to work them up to full strength. That said, the coin was being an ornery bastard. It was resting my destructive skills. Resisting hard. So, I did as I always do, I pushed harder. I grabbed my mana, much like I did with potential, and slammed it where my two destruction skills lived and watched as that mana cocooned the coin.

  I should have known something was about to go wrong when Ink pulled himself, and my loincloth, into hiding. He went as far as to shove most of his tiny mass into my storage. I was pondering the why of that when it became apparent. The coin blew up.

  I had never been on the receiving end of a grenade before. It was painful. It was loud. It was bright. But mostly, I realized it just stung. I wasn’t in pieces. I wasn’t bleeding everywhere. My vitality was fine. My mana was gone, but that was to be expected.

  It took my mana a few seconds to recover enough for Ink to recompose himself. I used that time to look at my menu, confirming what I intrinsically felt.

  Materials Learned!

  Auricum- This magically enhanced gold is used to create currency. Its nature resists alteration outside of specific magical means.

  Gold- This is a medium-grade precious metal often used in currency and minor magical works.

  I wonder if that resistance was what we needed the mana for. Regardless, we both had new knowledge. The gamer in me was smiling happily at the word ‘currency’. I had to be familiar with a material to recreate it from mana, which led me to think that the abilities I had were very synergistic and somewhat overpowered. I loved games and stories where the main character or player was overpowered. I still had no idea of the reality I would eventually face outside, so I tried to remain calm.

  I decided to try out my creation power with another of the coins I just destroyed. Ink anticipated my command and reformed my loincloth, saving me from bare-assing the stone floor. I focused my thoughts on the coin I just destroyed. I started to focus on the coin for what it was, but I instantly felt the huge mana investment that would take. I could do it, but it would be tight. My dreams of becoming a walking mint were slightly shattered by that thought. It was too mana intensive, especially if my mana pool stayed the same or if regeneration outside was less. Instead, I shifted gears to focus on just a disc of gold. As the image and the material flowed into my thoughts, I could feel what the full drain of mana would be. It was manageable, but still, almost all of what I had. I wanted to do the gold disc and then use the transmute ability to change it into the magical version. That still seemed doable, but I was apprehensive after all the explosive results I had experienced thus far. I decided on a simpler route, much to Ink’s delight.

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  I sat panting with my mana completely depleted, but at least had several square feet of leather to show for it. Ink wasted no time in trying to digest it. I did get the specific feeling that it was different for him. I let that be for a moment, as trill-speak would not quite be able to convey any more than I already knew.

  The pile of leather I had was more than enough to cover me with a poncho. If I didn’t have Ink, that’s what it would have been. With Ink though….. Well, I realized I couldn’t quite convey pants or shorts properly. I did, however, get a very form-fitting pair of leather leg coverings. So form-fitting that I had to have Ink reinstate the buttflap loincloth. He tried for the shirt, but I stopped that in its tracks. My nipples were way too sensitive for even double-faced leather.

  I still had a bunch of coins and my magic grenade rock to test my skills, and my blades, but I didn’t want to risk them. They were beyond one ring levels of precious to me. I thought about the sheathes and decided to let Ink try to recreate them without eating them first.

  I could feel Ink’s puzzlement when I drew my blades out. He was adequately in awe and significantly cautious. His hunger for them, both he blades and the sheathes, was pretty much zero. I don’t know if he sensed my attachment or just knew they were both way out of our league.

  “Ok buddy, can you sense the shape of the sheathes or do you need to get a feel for them?”

  acknowledging trill

  double trill

  “Ok, but don’t try to eat them.” Until this point in my life, I did not realize that you could trill a ‘duh’, but that’s what Ink did.

  I held the Sheathes in my hand and felt Ink squirm out and around them. For a few moments, they appeared to be covered in tar. He returned and formed new sheaths around my hips. It took adjusting on my part to get them in the right place. I picked up my blades and set them in the Ink sheathes.

  It was fortunate that I had the most practice with my Speed attribute. The blades sliced through Ink like he wasn’t even there. There was just enough resistance that I thought they were set before I had several pounds of sharp aiming at my toes. I wish I had reacted in some cool Matrix-style action move. Nope. I yelped ‘fuck’ and jumped out of the way allowing the blades to clang against the floor along with several ounces of Ink.

  I apologetically bent down and stuck my fingers into the ink puddles to allow him to reabsorb them, but got a double ‘ut-uh’ trill in response. I guess the inventory portal treated ink differently than real cuts or my blades cut differently. Either way, I picked my blades up and pulled them directly into my inventory. I noticed this time that their mana draw was slightly higher than the coins. I did a surprisingly quick calculation in my head and decided it was proportional to mass. Good to know. I noticed the ink on the floor slowly start to evaporate. I decided it was risk time.

  My destruction skill just hastened the blob’s departure. I did feel it wasn’t a complete waste, but I wasn’t about to spend more time here to figure it out just yet. I figured we had a little bit of time. It was also good to note that if ink got injured, he wouldn’t leave evidence behind. We may have a sacrifice date in the future, though. If I could mana recreate his mass, it would mean I could have clothes in the future.