“Up and at it, boys and girls. The sun is shining, and it is a beautiful day to make money.”
Daphne groaned and cursed the guard under her breath. “You mean make you sons of bitches money.”
Sarah nodded her head in agreement. She was in the bed next to Daphne and could hear her remarks. Luckily the guard was far enough away that he couldn’t, otherwise Daphne would take a beating and then get sent to work with no breakfast. Unlike Daphne, Sarah had no issue getting out of bed that early. The beds were far from comfortable and Sarah would rather be outside in the fresh air instead of breathing the dank air from the cabin. While Daphne, Sarah and the other workers who were on gold panning duty spent their days in the creek, the other workers spent their days in the mines and their bodies carried the grime and sweat back to the small cabin every day. Sarah wished the guards would let them rotate occasionally, or at least let the mine workers use the creek to clean themselves off, but since none of the Black Wolf Guild stayed in the cabin they didn’t care about the lack of hygiene. The worst part was it wasn’t the workers’ fault. Sarah couldn’t blame them for something out of their control, she just had to suffer the same as them. Some tried using what little drinking water they had in the cabin to clean themselves, but it wasn’t enough and just smeared the dirt around since they had no clean rags to wipe themselves with.
Crawling out of bed, Sarah pulled Daphne’s sheet down and started pulling on her arm.
“No, let me sleep, you savage,” Daphne protested.
“Get up before they come back and find you still in bed. You remember what happened to Ralph?”
Daphne sighed and reluctantly got up. “Fine, but you’re sneaking me a few flecks of gold today. Trying to improve my strength makes it a real pain to make the quota.”
“Deal,” Sarah said.
After scarfing down the bland bowls of oats the guild provided them for food, the guards herded them to their respective work zones. Benton, the lead gold panning guard, moved them slightly further up the creek in search of better returns for their time.
Slipping into the cool, yet refreshing water, Sarah got started. She picked a spot in the creek where it was deeper, and a pool had formed behind a bend in the creek.
Daphne frowned as Sarah picked the spot. “You think that’s a good spot?”
“I think the water is deeper and when I squat, I can wash the cabin stink off of me,” Sarah said.
“Makes no difference. All you are going to do is clear your sense of smell and then tonight you’ll take the stink back in again. I’d rather keep my senses deadened. Easier to sleep that way.”
Sarah shook her head. The air by the creek was nice and when the wind came from the west, she smelled the flowers from the nearby meadow. She’d much rather have the ability to smell all the time instead of deadening her senses. Not that she blamed Daphne for her choice. Even before the cabin had started to smell like old laundry Daphne hadn’t enjoyed the outdoor smells. She was a city girl in the real world and thought baked pavement and car exhaust was how the world was supposed to smell. Sarah thought that was a little crazy, but she could see how someone who’d never left the city would think that way.
Thinking about Daphne’s comment about mining gold for her, Sarah decided to put extra effort into her panning that day. If she did pan extra gold, she could sneak it to Daphne, Rose, and the others, giving them more time to focus on improving their stats. Since Daphne had joined Sarah in her strange routine of squats and balancing on one foot while working, the other workers had caught on to what they were doing and joined in. No one said anything for fear that one of them would rat the others out, but Sarah knew they were all thinking the same thing. If they got strong enough, maybe they could truly escape the Black Wolf Guild, or at least gain some benefit from their servitude.
Focusing, Sarah scooped up some of the gravel and sand from the creek bottom. She swirled her pan around, letting the lighter particles slide off the pan. She watched the water swirl in an almost hypnotic way. Suddenly the water shifted and had a slight glow to it. A notification window popped up in her view.
Congratulations. Through sheer focus and repetitive motion, you have discovered water magic. You have gained the skill Water Manipulation. You can control the movement of water with your mind. Warning: The amount of water you can control is limited by your mana pool. Until your mana pool increases attempting to control large amounts of water will drain your mana and your health.
Sarah almost dropped her pan in her excitement. She’d unlocked a magic skill!
Daphne frowned. “You OK?”
“What’s going on over there?” Benson asked. “Why aren’t you two working?”
“Sorry boss, something bit my leg,” Sarah said.
“Are you bleeding?”
Sarah shook her head.
“Then get back to work,” Benson said before turning his attention back to the other guard and his own conversation.
“What was that about?” Daphne asked once Benson’s attention was off them.
“I got a new skill. Water magic,” Sarah said.
“Really? You mean this shitty job can give us magic? How did you do it?” Daphne asked.
Sarah explained the slightly snarky notification about focus and repetitive motion.
“Well damn, I have the repetitive motion part mastered,” Daphne said. “I guess I will have to concentrate as well. Getting a magic path started would be sweet. If I could control water maybe I could drown Benson and the rest of his goons.”
“Don’t try murdering them until we are much stronger,” Sarah said. “Or they’ll just throw us in the mine instead.”
“Agreed. I wonder what spells and skills you can gain with water magic?” Daphne said.
Sarah wasn’t sure, but the next time she logged out to talk to her mother she’d be reading the forums to learn.
Eager to test out her magic, Sarah activated her new skill. She watched as the water in the gold pan swirled without her using her hands. She realized that the water was responding to what she wanted it to do. Testing this new theory out, she forced the water to slide back and forth across the pan instead of swirling in a circle. Her arms and hands were completely still, but the water moved side to side. Water Manipulation gave her control over the water.
Sarah released the spell and tried casting it on the creek. As soon as she did, she felt a wave of mana leaving her body, but nothing happened to the water in the creek.
Warning: Casting mana manipulation on a large surface of water requires a high degree of mana and mana control.
Sarah felt like she was going to throw up. Her head was pounding and her body felt weak. Checking her stats, Sarah saw that her attempt to use Mana Manipulation on the creek had completely drained her mana. She bent over and took a couple deep breaths.
“You OK?” Daphne asked.
“I’m fine, just tried to do a little too much. My mana drained down to zero.”
“Really? That is exciting.”
Sarah glanced over to see if the guards were watching. Thankfully, they were looking further down the creek. She could take a few seconds to recover. “You think mana drain is exciting? Are you a sadist?”
“No, but it means your new spell is powerful, or will be powerful once you have enough mana to use it properly. The more mana a skill uses the more potential it has.”
Sarah wasn’t interested in how powerful the spell could be at that moment, she was more concerned about the pain in her belly. From now on, she’d be much more careful with trying new spells. But still, Daphne had a point. Just how powerful could water magic be?