I Built This City Chapter 48: Chapter 48

Read chapter 48 of I Built This City by ThePudding on NovelPedia.

Smith Ellen Ellen was pretty sure that the ‘twins’ ahead of her and Hunter knew exactly why she was here. It wasn’t like she was trying to keep her secret for any nefarious purpose. She was an Ellen, and she wanted to help every Ellen. Why wouldn’t she? But she didn’t want to get anyone’s hopes up until she’d made sure this would work. And if it didn’t… she could figure out a way to break the news to herselves with Hunter’s help. Apprentice and Healer had been eager to escort her in, and hadn’t asked any questions. She’d caught a grin from Apprentice when the other Ellen hadn’t thought she was looking, so it wasn’t hard to guess that they just didn’t need to ask. She suspected one or both of them had already reached Level 12 as well. Their closeness wasn’t merely emotional… she’d figured out they’d been playing off one another to build up experience privately. It did make her wonder what Abilities the two odd Classes received, but she couldn’t confront them about their situation without coming clean about her own, and she well understood the desire to test new Abilities first. Of course, if another Ellen directly asked her, she’d confess anyway. Even the idea of lying to her sister-selves gave her a weird queasy feeling that she didn’t like. Maybe once they all saw things the way she and Hunter did, it wouldn’t matter. That probably made her a hypocrite, but she didn’t care in the moment. She let out a breath and wrinkled her nose. It didn’t smell nearly as bad as what she remembered from her foray into the cave back when she was Ellen Two, but something about the place had a putrid and lingering odor she couldn’t put her finger on. Her guess was mushrooms, because the twins had claimed they cleared out anything else that would cause it, and they didn’t seem perturbed. Ellen sighed and trekked onward through the narrowing passage. She really hoped the Mana Plume was still there. In nervous anticipation she pulled up her Status. ATTRIBUTES Strength: 9 Agility: 8 Endurance: 8 Willpower: 9 Affinity: 8 Perception: 9 SKILL ENHANCERS Mana Shaping 1 STAMINA: 76/83 (+8/minute) MANA: 87/87 CLASS: Forgewright 12 EXPERIENCE: 322410/640000 PERKS Mana Manipulation Material Sense Heat Sense ABILITIES Mana Crystallization I It had been two weeks since Carpenter had broken the Level 12 barrier, and in that time she’d already made great progress on the smithy. It was usable now, if she could get a complete toolset… but that was harder. The smelter also wasn’t ready, so even though Ellen had a lot of stockpiled ore that they’d found, her supply of refined iron was much smaller and limited. She’d only been able to make a few simple blade blanks for daggers as practice, so far, since she’d only recently gotten a working bellows. Keeley, the village blacksmith, had been instrumental in getting her to Level 12. He’d seemed a little uncertain at first, with the news of multiple Ellens throwing his world askew, but he was a practical man. Even without a lot of experience with forging weapons, Keeley was a full Village Blacksmith , a Tier 3 Class that had a lot of utility. He still remembered his own teacher’s methods for how to rapidly push through the first few Levels, and had shown her how to apply them. It led to a lot of basic and boring items like hooks, nails, bars, and so on… but the stacking first time bonuses had pushed her through the remaining experience quickly. She was sure he had more complex things to tell her that would help her get all the way to 13 or 14, but making the trip to the village and back in the dead of winter had put that on hold. “Almost there,” Healer said, breaking into Ellen’s thoughts. Apprentice was tying off a rope, the other end held by Healer, and as she finished she picked up the lantern again. It was all done in perfect silence, but Ellen barely noticed any more. Despite their wildly different Class selection, she and Hunter had learned to sometimes operate in that same odd sync. It had been