It was time to gather the threads of creation and weave his soul. The setting sun brought with it a breeze that sucked every cloud from the sky. It was cool for a summer night, and the moon had set hours ago to reveal every star above to Raith on his rooftop perch. Closing his eyes, he rehearsed the pattern for what must have been the thousandth time. He could not afford to mess this up.
A complicated [Class] like this would usually be done under the careful supervision of a Pattern Sage or Guild specialist. That was not an option, for obvious reasons. What was more, if he messed this up he couldn’t get help fixing it without revealing himself to the Order.
He’d written out the entire pattern on parchment, along with the [Rogue] and [Warrior] classes. Each of the three [Skill] upgrades he had chosen that came with a braid up were also neatly documented. Nothing would be left to chance. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
You got this.
His mind translated the pattern into elegant silvery words, but some people evidently could hear them. The thought of listening to a voice in his head rattle off the entire pattern every time sounded incredibly tedious. A few sages claimed they just knew, as though the knowledge had been there all along. For Raith, it could only have been reading.
Class One: [Scholar: Bookworm]
Level One Skill: [Subversive Reader]
Level Three Skill: [Bookbinding]
Level Six Skill: [Recall Passage]
Level Nine Skill: [Decipher Script]
Class Two: [Warrior: Rope Dart Wielder]
Level One Skill: [Lesser Agility]
Level Three Skill: [Exigent Offense]
Level Six Skill: [Lesser Speed]
Level Nine Skill: [Lesser Endurance]
Class Three: [Rogue: Thief]
Level One Skill: [Lesser Stealth]
Level Three Skill: [Distinguished Guest]
Level Six Skill: [Springheel]
Level Nine Skill: [Lesser Evasion]
Raith had plenty of practice stitching a skill for a level up, and braiding up started similarly. Reaching into the fabric of his being with that very same essence, in a wondrously strange loop of existential contortion. This was supposedly the easy part, but he hadn’t done it before and was feeling a bit nervous.
Taking hold of the threads from each of the three [Classes] he braided them together for the first time. The Weavers Gifts were woven into the fabric of their being, and he found that once he began, instinct took over and guided his thoughts through completion.
When the last thread fell into place, a deep chord vibrated his soul as though he were the string on a lute. Much deeper than the strum that happens when you level up. If this had been physical, he would have expected his teeth to rattle. As it was, his eyes shot open to look around as though someone nearby might have heard a noise.
Woah. That felt amazing.
His body hummed with energy. At first braid you could upgrade from [Lesser] to [Enhanced] skills, and the body toughened up to accommodate the extra strain improved skills put on you. It happened again at the third braid, when [Greater] skills could be stitched, and every other braid thereafter. Not that most people got beyond the third.
Raith had decided ahead of time to start with the easy [Class] and work his way up to [Scholar]. That meant [Warrior] first, from [Wielder] to [Adept] like most of the paths in that class. He had spent a long time dithering about which [Skill] to upgrade.
Running fast was just plain fun, so upgrading [Lesser Speed] to [Enhanced] was his first thought. As his technical skill with the rope dart improved, he found that his coordination wasn't keeping up with the jumps and spins. Speed was awesome for running in a straight line, but his weapon requires constant changes of momentum and direction. Practicality won the day, and he upgraded [Lesser Agility] to [Enhanced Agility] in his new [Rope Dart Adept] class.
With a [Lesser] slot available to backfill after the upgrade, he stitched [Ricochet Cast], which would allow him to bounce the dart off of a surface without losing any momentum. It would be very useful and he already had all the passives he wanted in this class.
[Rogue] was more complicated, so he double checked the reference sheet before proceeding. With renewed focus, he spun [Thief] into [Thief Acrobat] and upgraded [Springheel] to the [Squirrel Running] skill he’d wanted since reading the description. It allowed the user to run, climb and leap on roofs and trees like a squirrel. Thankfully, it was explicit that the [Skill] didn’t require running on all fours. He could not wait to try it out, and smiled to himself in anticipation.
In the spot that [Springheel] had occupied, he stitched a [Skill] called [Featherfall]. If he was going to be running around on roofs and through the trees, it would probably be a good idea to have some protection against a bad fall.
Taking a deep breath, he started on [Scholar]. The [Class] pattern was incredibly complicated, and he shouldn’t have been attempting it without a Pattern Sage. Unfortunately, that wasn't an option for him.
Each twist was taken in a rare display of patience and deliberation. There was no reason to hurry, and every reason to take his time to do this perfectly. The slow process was mentally taxing. He paused several times to check the reference sheet, then double check again with [Recall Passage]. By the time he wove the last thread, the first light of dawn was beginning to slowly paint over the stars on the horizon.
Raith read his pattern, holding his breath in anticipation.
[Class: Bookworm] upbraided to [Class: Rare Tome Procurement Specialist]. [Skill: Recall Passage] upgraded to [Mnemonic Library].
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“Yes!” He stood up and leapt in a circle on the perch, landing easily with his improved agility.
He’d first read of the class in a book recounting the stories of Hareth the Sure, an extraordinary scholar-adventurer. His exploits recovering and preserving ancient knowledge following the Age of Chaos were legendary. Although the hero had favored a pair of long daggers, Hareth was a [Rogue], [Scholar], [Warrior] hybrid, just like Raith. While only a footnote in the fables, [Mnemonic Library] was one of the hero’s skills that had especially captured Raith’s imagination.
A library in your mind containing every book you had ever read. Hareth used it to preserve and disseminate texts for his employers at the Tomes Society, the predecessor to the Guild of Letters. It was a dream come true. The problem with [Recall Passage] is that he needed to remember the book in the first place to know where to look. Now he could browse his entire collection at will. There was one thing he still wasn’t sure of that would really put this over the top.
[Life in Staccato]
Here goes nothing.
[Mnemonic Library]
Raith found himself in a room modeled after Vandimir’s shop, but much larger. Both dreamlike and familiar, the colors seemed more real than life, but the objects less substantial. It must have contained thousands of books. He didn’t realize he had read so many, and couldn’t help but feel a bit of pride at the sheer quantity. The warm wood of the shop formed both the floor and shelves, but the room lacked carpeting or furniture.
I wonder if it will let me add things?
He walked over to the nearest shelf and read the spines.
Malathorn’s Folly, Tengar: Spirit of a Dwarvish Axe Lord, and Vanquishing Evil. These were storybooks. All of his very first tomes that had fired him down this present path like an arrow.
Moving to the next shelf, he saw it was on [Ranger] classes. His first obsession. Tales of a famous elven archer had sparked his determination to take up this [Class]. For the life of him, he couldn’t remember why he gave up on that dream. It was only the first of many phases he went through before arriving here. Dual wielder, knight, druid, bard. Whoever was the latest hero he’d read about became his new infatuation.
These seem to be organized simply in the chronological order I read them. Neat, but this won’t do as a workable system.
He hoped he didn’t need to rearrange things by hand. Even if no time was passing in the real world, that would be unbelievably tedious work.
Speaking of time.
Raith ended both [Skills] and looked up. The sun hadn’t budged, and the silhouette of a bird resumed its flight across the pre-dawn sky from right where he’d left it.
They synergize!
He spent a few minutes stitching [Read Magic] into the free spot before he reactivated the [Skills].
[Mnemonic Library] was incredibly powerful skills for a second braid, but remaining oblivious to the world while you entered a mental space for the time it took to find and read a book was a pretty big limitation. With [Staccato], Raith didn’t have that problem, but he hadn’t been sure it would work. Now he could spend as long as he needed here without a moment passing.
This was going to be amazing.
He focused his will to putting the books in alphabetical order. The contents of the shelves vibrated, then blurred out of focus, before resolving into shape again with the new organizational instructions.
Raith was relieved to accomplish the task with only a bit of concentration, but quickly realized this new order was even worse than the last one for browsing. He settled on five sections: storybooks, history, [Class] and [Skill] patterns, non-[Skill] based instructional books, and other. The storybook section was the largest by far, which was not surprising considering his tolerance for tedium. Looking through this new arrangement, he nodded in satisfaction.
That will do for now. I can refine it as I go.
Now for some furniture. It was simple to recreate the chairs and rug from Vandimir’s shop. Then he remembered the beautiful desk and furniture from the sitting area at the noble’s house he had broken into last week. A quick switch and he smiled in satisfaction. He never thought he would be able to afford the comforts of a nobleman. All it had cost was almost losing his freedom for years and now having the Order suspect he was godlaced. Oh yeah, and the Forgotten Ones.
He eased himself into the plush chair with a sigh.
So worth it.
Out of curiosity, he tried to summon the lockpicking book he’d read the other day at the Thieves Guild. After numerous versions of mental commands, he resigned himself that the skill didn’t work that way and went to find it on the shelf. It was right there where it should be, so he pulled it out and resumed a seat to study for a while.
The material was dull, and he was too excited to focus on a dry technical manual. This library wouldn’t do him as much good if he couldn’t focus long enough to take advantage of it. He’d have to research which mental [Skill] would help with focus the most. Setting the book to on the table, he tried to conjure up a practice copy of a locking mechanism like he had with the furniture.
That didn’t work either.
Nor did creating a weapon so he could practice, but he could work on his forms and kicks without one for now. Even without a weapon, it was still leagues ahead of simply visualizing a technique before doing it. Raith enlarged the space to give himself room to jump around and discovered that his improved agility was having a noticeable effect even here.
After much experimenting, he found he could change the appearance and furnishings of the room, but that was about it. The quill and parchment at the desk were also functional. Raith wrote a note to himself, ended the [Skill], then came back and saw it was still there. While it was fresh in his mind, he scribed the conversation with Remi, but wasn’t sure if the power of the Forgotten Ones magic could reach even here.
He’d have to do some more research and find out if Hareth or another user of this [Skill] had written anything extensive on its uses and limitations. Exalted Patterns had a number of [Skills] for this class path, but didn’t go into much detail on the descriptions.
Lying on the sofa, he changed the ceiling from thick timbered rafters to an endless night sky, then a soaring cathedral and back to rafters. Somewhere while playing around he drifted off to sleep on the luxuriously soft couch.
A woman’s soft voice floated out of the darkness.
“Now, what do we have here?”
Raith jumped up at the sound of the voice intruding on his mental space. He tried to end the [Skills] but nothing happened. Looking around in a panic, his eyes passed over the couch where his translucent body lay sleeping. He moved his gaze to his hands and arms, turning them over in bewilderment. It was still him, but with hues more vibrant and edges less defined.
“What the fuck?”
A presence draped over him like a heavy blanket. Not uncomfortable, but unmistakably present in its weight.
“Ah, I see the connection now,” the voice was deep and gentle. It put him at ease, but left him feeling more unbalanced the closer he tried to focus. “I have not seen one of your kind in many ages.”
“What kind? Who are you?”
A soft chuckle. “How precious. You scrabbled up the Weavers’ webs and know not where you are. Not lost, but neither found."
“Where am I?”
“You’ve picked up a thread, frayed and forgotten. Woven back into the fabric by the noticing. Perhaps one day we shall meet, little dreamer.”
With that, the pressure vanished.
Raith’s dreams now took him through a strange and wondrous adventure, like a tale in one the storybooks. He was a hero, brave and powerful, with Nyhm and Althea fighting by his side.
Like the heroes in all of his treasured stories, he won in the end.
Raith woke up feeling cozy and disoriented. He hadn’t slept like that since he got [Life in Staccato]. Sleep, like eating, was something he merely did to function. It was a dreamless and utilitarian endeavor. He could never really relate to the people who talked about staying under the warm covers on a chilly morning. This experience made him think he was missing out on something.
Then he remembered the woman’s voice.
Was that real?
He looked around, and nothing in his library provided a clue either way. It had been so long since he dreamed, he had forgotten what they were like. So real and ephemeral at the same time. That might take some getting used to.
Feeling well rested and more energized than he’d felt in years, Raith knew there was only one thing to be done. He ended the [Skills], returning to the predawn light on his rooftop perch. Jumping to his feet, he stretched and warmed up his muscles before setting his sights to the distant silhouetted buildings at the far edge of the city. A huge smile broke over his face.
It was time to try out [Squirrel Running].
