Aethelgard: The Survival Game (Chloe) novel Chapter 15

Chapter 15 Magic Talents

Chapter 15 Magic Talents

MintyGrass’s post opened the floodgates. Players with magic talents started coming out of the woodwork, though most had stats between one and three. A rare few had pushed theirs to four.

Out of a hundred thousand players, magic users were still few and far between. Only three people in the entire Trading Post had even claimed to have one.

Chloe couldn’t tell if others were staying quiet out of caution, the way she was, or if magic was genuinely that

rare.

Either way, FrostTrace’s words hit like a warning shot. The fewer people who knew about her magic, the better. She would handle all future trades anonymously.

The fall of the Arcanum Spire during the great famine stood as proof enough. When people got desperate, magic users became the first targets.

LilFish: [Y’all think having a magic stat means you can just learn spells? I busted my ass piecing together a full tome, Pyro Sphere.

[Guess what the requirement is. Eight. If it was four, I’d grit my teeth and wait for a stat card. But EIGHT? [Three days of attribute points, straight down the drain. My talent’s Tome Restoration. I can spend points to fix damaged tome fragments, but it borrows against future days.

[Pyro Sphere cost me a full week of points, and I can’t even use the thing. Anyway, open to trades. Tomes for tomes, that’s first priority. No tomes? Blueprints work too.]

The trading post had been small–time stuff up to this point. Nobody wanted to show their hand with anything valuable. But the second magic entered the conversation, the whole board lit up.

AAA WeaponDepot: [Buying all premium–quality and rare iron blocks, forges, forging flames, and equipment. DM me to trade. My talent upgrades weapons for higher attack power.]

CarpenterSoul: [I carve furniture from wood: beds, tables, you name it. Boosts your comfort score. Also got wooden bows and spears for sale. Hit me up if interested.]

The Epicurean: [Got buff food with stat boosts. Hit me up if you need some. Also buying seasonings, flour, and premium ingredients.]

Some of these talents left Chloe speechless. The variety of items on display was staggering, and half the stuff she had never even seen before.

Premium ingredients were already changing hands, and this was only day three. ‘I’m falling behind,‘ she thought.

Her fishing speed was capped by strength and endurance, and every catch took longer than she would have liked. She needed to step it up.

She glanced at LilFish’s listing for pyro sphere and turned it over in her head. Without any tome fragments on hand, there was no rush. It could wait.

She cast her line back out. Resources came first. By the time the sun hung high overhead, she had reeled in several more creatures.

Those three days Chloe spent waiting to upgrade her rod had paid off in spades. The difference in gathering speed was night and day.

Everything from scaled blossoms to vine–wrapped serpents fell to her aqua sphere, and the rewards made every cast count.

[Obtained: Lily Seeds x3, Morning Glory Seeds x1, Orange Tree Seeds x1] [Obtained: Cubic Yard Soil Plot x3 [Obtained: Hardtacks x3, Protein Jerky x2, Cured Monster Jerky x2

[Obtained: Workbench Upgrade–Antiquity Restoration Workbench [Unlocks Tier 2 Crafting Table material re

ss to new crafting recipes.]

Successfully unlocked!

1/3

Chapter 15 Magic Talents

Chloe’s eyes lit up the second the upgrade dropped. This was exactly what she needed, and that rod deserved all the credit.

Good loot stayed in her inventory, no exceptions. She pulled up her crafting table and tapped the upgrade option. A prompt appeared on screen.

[Use Workbench Upgrade: Antiquity Restoration Workbench?

[Quality: Premium

[Note: Beyond standard crafting, this upgrade unlocks repair, preservation, and maintenance functions for all lifestyle and production items.]

Chloe hesitated. She glanced at her arcane defense tower, then at her magic stat. Eight points.

The choice nagged at her for a while. She decided to hold off.

She opened LilFish’s private chat instead. Earlier on the trading post, LilFish had mentioned owning a basic pyro sphere, along with a talent called Tome Restoration.

That meant this crafting table upgrade was exactly what she’d need.

Sure enough. Chloe pulled up the trade window under her hidden ID and dropped the upgrade details into the chat. The other side blew up instantly.

LilFish: [I NEED that. Name your price. Whatever it takes, I’ll make it work.]

Chloe took a second to think. Her identity was still hidden.

Anonymous Player: [I need a pyro sphere skill tome. But that and a tier–two crafting table aren’t equal value. A lot of advanced structures need a tier–two crafting table to build, even with the blueprint in hand.]

LilFish: [I get it.]

LilFish was serious about closing this deal.

LilFish: [Tell you what. My pyro sphere tome plus five cubic yard soil plots for your crafting table upgrade. Sound fair?]

Anonymous Player: [Deal.]

The price was more than reasonable, and Chloe actually needed the soil. She accepted without a second thought.

The trade worked just as well for LilFish. A pyro sphere tome she might never get around to using was far less valuable than a crafting table that would shape her entire crafting path.

Moments after the trade wrapped up, another private message came through. Frost Trace, the anonymous player behind the Hound’s Fang Dagger deal, had reached out.

FrostTrace: [Hey. Two cubic yard soil plots, shipped and delivered. Check your inventory.]

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