Gregor shrugs, “You might be right. It would make some sense if the System couldn’t. If only because I doubt there would be so many examples in history of someone who goes against the System,”
Jason shakes his head, “Past examples, especially if they all come from before travellers started to pop up, aren’t exactly things you can go off of. Our appearance is basically the start of a new age for the System with how much it pays attention to us. Things that the System might have let slide in the past.”
“Now though, who knows if the System will let disasters in the making go that far. If I had to compare it to something, it would be how some people deal with cleaning their houses. They don’t bother with stuff until something becomes an obvious problem to deal with. But when someone is coming over, they will race around to get everything clean and keep the house that way while the visitors are over.”
Gregor takes a moment to think about it before bursting out into laughter. “Oh, Founder! That is an amazing example, comparing the System to how so many bachelors and such deal with cleaning their houses is amazing. Peter is the same way and the only reason his house never got truly disastrous comes more from him always being out of the house than anything else.”
“But thankfully that isn’t quite how it happened. Stuff still breaks out and such. Though the System might be less chill on stuff now, as most of the truly big situations do seem to have stopped. That, however, might have more to do with the fact there is only so much one person can do. The System doesn’t need to read your mind if you are going around explaining your plan to others.”
Jason nods, “Which is exactly why I’m not going to go around talking about my plans all that much. After all, loose lips sink ships.”
Gregor nods back, “Plus, the System has a lot more power to punish me than it does you. Wherever you guys come from, something there has the System by the short and curlies. No other way to explain why the System is so careful around you all. After all, the System likes to make its presence known if Travellers aren’t around. Some people even set up near where you guys gather just to avoid the System. Luckily that for the most part means any major city, so it isn’t too hard to do. Now do you have any other questions?”
Jason shakes his head, “Not at the moment. We’ve discovered what we can and all that is left is for me to work on it. Though actually, now that I think about it, I do have one final question. Do you know of the ways that Energy users increase their Energy pool? I’m going to need a lot of the stuff for what I plan and while ten is more than enough for combat, my current pool won’t cut it. I suspect I’m going to need at least a hundred spare Energy.”
Gregor scratches his head, “Let me take a moment to think. While some basic methods work for all the power types, I think I might know where you can find a better answer. In fact, come with me across the hall.”
Jason follows him out of the enchantment workspace and into the room directly across from it. The room is much smaller, just big enough for a couple of bookshelves and standing space for four or so people. Even with just Jason and Gregor in there, the space is starting to feel tight.
Gregor is taking his time scanning over the spines of his book collection. While the shelves aren’t filled to the brim, over three fourths of the space is taken up. Then he pulls a book from the shelf and opens it up towards the back.
Gregor turns a few more pages before finding what he wants, “Here it is. While Energy is more known for something people don’t cultivate, that doesn’t mean it hasn’t been studied. This is an older book of mine that goes over the basic methods of creating objects of power with each power source. Not that useful in and of itself for you, except whoever wrote the book was kind enough to include a bunch of asides.”
“In particular, they seem to have partnered with at least one Energy user to write that section. Because of how novel this was to him, the author included a bunch of random points on how the person would gather Energy as well as how others do it. While not as direct as a book based around Energy use, this book is probably the best you are going to get. Plus, if you ever want to try your hand at making some stuff, it won’t hurt to know more. So yeah, you can borrow this book as long as you’re staying here.”
After being handed the book, Jason takes a quick look through it. “Huh, not exactly the best laid out book I’ve ever seen. Feels more like the author is trying to have a conversation with me instead of informing me about the topic.”
Gregor shrugs, “And such is the problem with so many such manuscripts. Nothing against them. Writing a proper textbook takes so much effort to get right. Still, this can make it hard to extract the information you need. On the other hand, it can provide important insights into the original author’s intent. That is actually why I bother keeping this book on my shelves. After all, I am a bit beyond Insights into the TriPower Crafting Methods.”
“Where the value in this book comes from is all the little side notes that show not only the success but the failures as well. If given the choice between a book with ten perfected enchantments and another with one good enchantment but a hundred ways, the author failed when trying to use it, I will take the second book any day of the week.”
Jason nods, “No one is ever going to have things go perfect a hundred percent of the time. The value in knowing how it can go wrong and how to work around it is immensely useful.”
Thanks for chapter
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Have a good day
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