Chronicles of the True Wizard

"Have you heard of Skill Test Cubes for mana?"

"Yes, in fact I have an uncommon one. Why?"

"Ah, just curious. What do their tier and rarity mean?"

"The tier is the tier of the item stored inside and the rarity is the difficulty, for the most part. However, these are somewhat related. An uncommon cube can contain an item of uncommon quality or lower. The difficulty of cubes are… complicated to measure especially at higher tiers. Also some of the higher tier cubes are not cubes at all and can have hundreds of sides, or so I've heard. Some of them can require multiple sides to be completed at once. Skill cubes are an oddity in the multiverse because mana skill cubes are basically an entirely different from a strength skill cube which is entirely different from an energy skill cube and so on, yet they share a name. Back to the difficulty issue, essentially, a higher grade individual bought up hundreds of mana cubes of different rarities. They found that, in their experience, the B and C grade cubes were similar in difficulty per side to the lower tier cubes but they were just more. If the E tier cube had a maze, the C tier one would also have a maze but it would be hundreds of times bigger. To solve it they didn't need anything new, they could have solved it in the E grade, it would have just taken years per side."

"Also not all cubes test the same thing, just because they say mana, one could be mana control, other speed, another power or some other higher level concept. They could test something that is true about mana that none of us know about because almost all of them were created by The System or The Ancients."

"The Who?"

"Those who came before and eventually created The System. No one really knows anything about them, but you will hear a lot of things attributed to them that no one can prove. They are essentially a popular legend throughout the multiverse. Really, we just have some artifacts that no one, even The System, has any idea how to create. It's admitted it before, that some things and some items are beyond it entirely. Frankly, they could come from anywhere like a parallel dimension for all we know."

"Woah, those items must be awesome."

"Oh, one more thing about skill cubes. The other thing that makes them unique, The System is bound by rules, one of which is that the reward must fit the accomplishment. All that means is that you can't get a super legendary magic item from a random dungeon you ran on easy mode. That seems reasonable, but there is a flip side. No matter the difficulty you choose, on some dungeons, the reward level has an upper limit. To get around this, The System can give out a Skill Cube. Essentially, it's value is none while closed and the reward inside is based on the accomplishment of opening the cube, not whatever you did to get the cube in the first place. Some very high tier individuals might personally train their children from birth, who gain no levels at all, then they go out and start leveling but have the proficiency of someone much higher level than they are. They tend to be dropped a lot of skill cubes. Their high proficiency means they can open the skill cube and then The System can reward them with something valuable, instead of useless junk."

"Ah, that's odd that The System has rules like that, why not just do whatever it wants?"

She shrugged, "That's how it was created. That's all we know really. Oh, I can retrieve my Skill Cube for you, if you would like to see it?"

"Sure, I would appreciate that."

Ezarti stood and stepped into another room.

I'm kind of tempted to blow her mind just to see how she reacts. It wouldn't even entirely be for my ego, I might also get more information out of her. I think it's likely smarter to keep to myself, but she is just a dungeon construct, I don't think she'll remember me or even exist after I leave.

After a moment, she came back and placed a cube on the table in front of Felix. The cube was almost twice the size of Felix's and it was made of some sort of dull grey metallic material.

[E - Uncommon] Skill Test Cube: Mana Control

A skill testing cube to test mana control.

AKA: Puzzle Box, Enigma Cube etc.

"Feel free to try it out. This one was a gift from my husband a few years before he died. I finally managed to open it just last year but I keep it around for practice. Opening this is one of the things I am proudest of accomplishing in my life."

Felix reached forwards and picked up the box, "Do you have any tea cups by any chance?"

"Uh, I believe so, let me go check." She once again stood and left to another room.

As soon as she entered the other room, Felix pushed mana into the skill test cube. The sides of the cube were like the baby version of the one he owned. There was a maze, but with the amount of mana Felix was allowed to start with, he simply spread the mana out filled the entire side and found the end almost immediately. The other sides were slight variations of the first side, though no more challenging, just a different layout. It took Felix under a second to complete each side.

Presumably because the cube had been opened before, instead of a dialogue box popping up, the cube simply opened on one side. Felix peered into the cube and found a note inside. He reached inside with two fingers and pulled the note out. The note read:

"If you are reading this, I just want you to know how amazing you are. I never would have been able to open an uncommon cube. I know you doubt yourself sometimes, but I hope that this will prove to you, over and over again that you are great at what you do. I will always love you, Kandru."

Felix carefully replaced the note back into the cube and closed it. He made sure it looked exactly as it did before and then made sure to completely empty it of his residual mana.

"You said tea cups, I assume you want the pot and hot water as well?"

"No no, just the cups."

"Uh… Ok then." She walked into the room using her hip to open the door and sat back down across from Felix, placing the cups of tea down between them.

"Cool isn't it? You start by pushing mana into it, once you can manage that. The fun really starts, I won't spoil it for you though. As long as you keep practicing, you should be able to complete a cube like that in a few years, a decade if you are particularly inept, but a decade isn't that long, I assure you the time flies. You'll get there in no time."

"Wow, that sounds impossible now. I can't wait till I get to that level. It's exciting, having a puzzle in your hands, with something great inside and all you gotta do is prove yourself to get it."

"It is a great feeling."

Felix took out his flask, channeled mana to fill it then poured it's contents out into the two tea cups.

I really hope our taste buds are somewhat similar.

Ezarti tentatively reached forwards and picked up one of the cups. Felix reached forwards for his cup and took a sip.

"I am kind of just assuming your race isn't allergic to apples or cinammon?"

"No, we can digest anything yours can and some, but uh… do you just keep hot tea in your inventory at all times?"

"Something like that. Anyways, tell me about your husband, what was he like?"

Ezarti took a tentative sip of her glass, "Oh, this is delightful. My husband? Oh, well…"

Felix spent the next hour or so listening to Ezarti reminisce about her husband.

With everything he had wanted to accomplish in the dungeon complete, Felix stood outside the Frostmyre complex and walked towards the other tribes. He asked the Frostmyre to meet him where the staff was supposed to be, so they were walking along just behind him. Felix split off and ran towards The Frostman Horde then to The Ivory Axe Clan to inform them as well.

It was no longer snowing or even very windy at all. The sky was still blanketed by a thick layer of dark grey clouds giving The Shivering Expanse a gloomy vibe. The horde were perfectly agreeable and agreed to head out right then, the axe clan on the other hand were an issue.

Felix arrived in their village to find them all running around from building to building with something clearly going on. Felix walked up to a man, who seemed to be coordinating them, standing in front of the largest central longhouse. He was fully equipped with armor and many axes hanging from anywhere he could.

"What's going on?"

"Ah, the traveler. We appreciate you figuring out what happened to the staff. We can't survive without the staff you see, so we are going to go and retrieve it. We stand a decent chance if the whole clan works together. We're just about to go see if the Frostman or Frostmyre could lend a man or two. We could never ask you to put yourself in danger, we appreciate everything you've already done. We just ask that you please point us in the direction of the Gralgore. We'll handle this one ourselves."

At least they don't intend to kill the other tribes.

"Good thing I caught you then. I asked the other two tribes to meet me where the staff should be so I can explain what happened. You can make a speech to recruit them then. I do have one request, let me explain what happened before you try to recruit them, I want to make sure everyone knows what they are getting into."

"Excellent. Of course, we don't want to trick anyone."

Well this is gonna be fun.

Felix walked, with a small army of axe wielding warriors in tow, towards the center of the three tribes. When Felix arrived at the park, the Frostmyre were already there and the Frostmen were just arriving.

Felix walked over to the center of the park, and stood on the small mound that once held The Frozen God's Mercy, "Welcome all three tribes of The Shivering Expanse. Just over a day ago your divine treasure, the staff that brought life, joy and sustenance"

life and sustenance cover the same things, shit.

"to your people, was stolen. Though you all had many theories"

Mostly the axe tribe.

"what really happened is that an Alpha Gralgore wandered out of it's cave and took the staff."

Shock and fear rippled through the crowd, confirmed by Felix's earrings.

"Thank you, traveler. This is why the axe clan has decided to send all we've got to-"

"Woah hold on, ther-"

"head out and slay the beast."

Son of a bitch.

Felix pulled the staff out of his inventory and stuck it in the ground in front of him. Immediately, the clouds above their heads vanished revealing the setting sun and the snow melted rapidly revealing the grass beneath their feet. The grass was frozen and likely dead but suddenly began to thaw and grow greener by the second, coming back to life before their eyes. Flowers grew and bloomed all at once and a warm breeze whistled through the crowd.

Suddenly, Felix noticed something was wrong. A few of the Frostmyre were looking away, shielding their eyes and one of them turned to the side to start vomiting.

Oh no, can they not handle the temperature? I thought they also shared the park area? Maybe they just grew food her-

Felix noticed they were all looking in the same direction, even the Frostman and Axe clansmen. He looked down at the ground beneath him, where all their eyes avoided. All around him, lay the entrails of the three guards who had been guarding the staff when the Gralgore found them. The Gralgore had done what it was known for and rolled around in their open corpse, spreading them out all over the park.

A combination of the sight and smell finally reaching Felix's nose caused him to gag. He looked away and cast Gust to redirect the smell away from anyone.

Oh right, the guards. I didn't even think about where they would be. Well, my heroic speech got cut short and the big reveal kind of got tarnished by the dead people. Maybe I'm just not fit to be the public hero people look up to, oh well I gave it a shot. It's not that's something I really ever wanted anyways. At least it happened in a dungeon, so no one except The System and I will remember this. . . . . .