There was something about those antlers I couldn’t get out of my head. The way they manipulated mana felt unique, like they were holding a spell in stasis, just waiting for the right moment to strike. Then it clicked.
The spell instructions were being stored in its antlers.
Oh. Oh! That had so many applications in item creation. If I could get my hands on that material—
A notification flashed in my interface.
Profession Level (Inspired Apprentice Mekanist) Increased +1 (46)
+3 Wit, +1 Arcana
Nice. I immediately dismissed it.
"Fucking hell Hazel stop standing in the water, there’s a current running through it!" Rhea’s voice came way too close for comfort. A blinding rush of Life Mana flooded over me as she repaired my legs, blocking my view of the Zone Boss. That was the biggest downside of Mana Sight, you couldn’t turn the damn thing off once you cast it.
My legs weren’t even that damaged, I could probably repair the fried muscles with a good night’s sleep. Letting Vital Energy do its thing was the best way to train it, after all.
Grumbling, I cast Blink so I could have some personal space. My stomach lurched as the teleportation took effect, and I now standing on the other side of the stag could see properly. Just in time, in fact, as Li had taken an opportunity to try and close the distance. The stag didn’t take this action lightly, releasing its held spell instruction as a wave of lightning that would have hit me where I was standing before. Rhea was blown back, but her body was already healing the burns before she even hit the ground.Li chose to take the wave on by halting himself in time momentarily, causing the wave to pass over his time-stopped self harmlessly before resuming his momentum at twice the speed he was moving before. His sword flashed forward, and the stag finally made its first move besides throwing spells around like it had a limitless mana pool. My heart skipped a beat as I realized what it was doing.
A crack echoed outward as his sword strike was parried by an antler, followed by a crack of lightning that Li barely dodged. He’s going to damage the material I need to end the fight!
I began channelling Mana into my newly built staff for the first time, dumping it into the reserve as quickly as I could manage.
It was a wonderful creation, constructed using the thigh bone of a Wither Troll. Instead of having a Life Attunement like other troll-kin, Wither Trolls were attuned to Death and regenerated through absorbing Death Mana from corpses. This allowed their bones to hold a massive amount of Death Mana.
In addition to using the natural Death Attunement of the troll, I etched Lightforged Alumite into the staff using [Harmonious Confluence], a Profession Skill to allow mixing two Mana aspects without the possibility of a combination occurring. Purification Mana, the combination of the two aspects, would be rather useless in a battle staff. Would make a great cleaning staff, though.
A twang of a bowstring from directly behind me caused me to jump in surprise, but it was just Alex, not another group here to steal our kill again. I let out a sigh of relief. I had already personally dealt with two groups who tried to claim this zone before us, and it was such a pain disposing of all those bodies before the others saw me. The displeasure of the interruption lasted only a moment before the memory of who or whatever distracted me slipped out of my mind.Li exchanged a round of blows with the stag, causing my panic to spike every strike he landed on the antlers. Did he really have to target the head? Its kicks were obviously also an issue, and I cared less about damage to the legs.
Finally, the tip of my staff blinked, showing it was ready, and I aimed it at the stag and released the trigger for the item. A flash of dark light burned itself into my vision, immediately impacting the animal's centre of mass. The moment it struck, the stag collapsed like a puppet with its strings cut.[Killed Runic Stag (Basal - Zone Boss) Lvl 75]Casting Blink again, I appeared next to the stag and began determining how best to remove the antlers without damaging the rest of the material. Someone would probably want the skin and meat.
One of the pests in my party decided at that moment to interrupt my musings.
"Hazel, you were supposed to stay aside and only step in if we were struggling. You’ve already maxed out your Class. The rest of us would have benefitted from handling it ourselves," Li said in a tired voice.
I allowed a small smile to creep onto my face. There was a benefit to having the initial Class ‘Curious Mageling’. The moment Li transferred all the knowledge of magic to me, the Class’s ‘Curiosity’ tag was met, and I was brought to level ninety-nine immediately. I only had to max my Profession, and I could evolve.
That fact was part of the memories given to me through the impartation. My past self let me know that if she didn’t make knowledge about magic the entire focus of the transfer the Skill selection would suck. Though with what I’d learned so far, I was beginning to believe I hadn’t even scratched the surface of how magic works.
My Profession was the reason I had to step in and end the fight. Or at least that’s what I told Li as an excuse. Really, I just couldn’t bear to see him damage something so unique.
He sighed in response. "Alright, did everyone at least get an assist on the boss's kill? Also, where the hell is Finn?"
"I saw him run off a little while ago. Probably found something that triggered his kleptomania." Alex said, startling me as he had apparently been standing right next to me the whole time. Fucking sneaky bugger, I hoped I got [Truesight] as my species capstone Skill so that people would stop sneaking up on me. I hated being jumpscared. All the other human Skills were garbage anyway. Besides our starting Skill [Ambitious Spark], that is.
There’s a reason humans would find it incredibly difficult to kill a non-human sapient, even at half their level. Species Skills made a huge difference in power scaling. Not to mention how tags worked in conjunction with offered Class and Profession Skills. But that’s another matter entirely.
Rhea took that moment to chime in, "I should probably go check on the rest of the guildmates to make sure they’re still alive." With that, she took her leave, off to save the grunts holding back the adds.
Unconcerned about that, I decided fuck it, I killed the creature, it was my material to do what I wanted with, and used [Material Salvaging] to dissolve away the parts I didn’t need into a cloud of Mana that dispersed, leaving me with a pile of bones. The Skill wasn’t meant to be used like this, but no bug report had been filed yet, so…
I then cast Kinetic Disc underneath the skeleton and had it follow me back to our campsite.
Along the way I obviously had to deal with some rabble, several of the druids in this Zone were upset that I was ‘stealing the bones of their ancient protector' or some shit I couldn't care less about. This wasn’t a stolen pocket so these people didn’t even exist a week ago and likely didn’t even have souls, or their souls were recycled from the billions of humans damned to torment. Not that either of those things not being true would prevent me from sending Fire Lances through their skulls when they try to kill me. Actually…
Going up to one of the druids who somehow had a smoking hole in their skull, I threw their corpse on the disc and used [Material Salvaging] on their body. I had an idea I wanted to try out, from what I’d seen during the scan I did on Ellie, I wanted to try implementing some of her designs. But I’d need to tweak them. Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.
With that done, I walked back to camp, bringing the disc into my personal tent. The tent was spatially expanded on the inside, courtesy of one of our guild’s Space attuned enchanters, someone Li made sure to curry favour with early on. I obviously needed his services the most if we were going to be out in the field, and I had traded knowledge on how to effectively use his Profession for extra work done on my tent.The interior was a stark contrast to the run-down tent outside, its patchwork of stitched-together animal skins giving no hint of what lay within. Inside, a vast space unfolded, with brick walls, hardwood floors, cozy furniture, and a roaring fireplace that kept the temperature just right—as long as I supplied the battery with Mana. After giving it a quick charge, I moved into the workroom in the back.The walls were lined with samples of different animal bones, cupboards held plants with unique Mana signatures in stasis, and crates held various metals I found useful in my work.I thought for a moment about contacting Ellie and getting her help with this project, but I chose not to. This was something I had to be able to do on my own. I couldn’t rely on her expertise forever. Honestly, despite the lack of a Profession, it’s like the girl has a more intuitive understanding of items than I could obtain over a year of work. Obviously, eventually, Skills would allow me to surpass her, at least until she finally obtained her Profession. Then, due to the fact that her profession will definitely have a rarity, she’ll handily beat me again. That’s the benefit of being the disciple of a deity, I suppose.Also, I kind of wanted to show off to her how well I was progressing. But before I could get to work, I had a ritual that I apparently liked to do and finally had the resources for.
Popping open a drawer on my worktable, I took out one vial of many. A clear liquid with glowing shapes flickering in and out of existence. I downed the vial, then gave the Mana within the liquid a moment to disperse within my body before I began circulating it, first slowly, as I feel like I’ve done thousands of times, then a thought struck me. My past self might have been doing this wrong. My lack of questioning these memories was about to screw me again.
Grabbing control over the Mana, I pulled it into a ball in the centre of my chest, then sent it out through my body in a mock circulatory system before pulling it back into a ball. After a few repetitions, I could feel the effects of the potion kicking in faster than it was supposed to, my mind speeding up, a tingle over my skin, and my focus sharpening, but I wasn’t satisfied. The channels of Mana I was creating were sloppy and inconsistent.Releasing my hold on my Authority, I let it spread through the room and then pulled it back in along specific channels within my body, focusing on my brain and eyes. After sending the Mana back out, it was now restricted to my Authority channels, and I felt a rush unlike any memory of using a Tonic of Clarity from my past life. I began repetitions of the Mana channelling as I knew I was on the right path to something. What it was, I didn’t know, but I needed to find out. It was likely my Class urging me onwards.
But there wasn’t enough Mana. The Tonic wasn’t potent enough to do what I needed it to do. Sifting through the drawer, I drew two more vials and downed them, pulling the Mana into the cycle I had created.The channels in my body holding the Mana in place began to burn as I oversaturated my flesh with the concept of Clarity. Ignoring the pain, I used the small amount of Vital Energy I had to fix the damage. I could feel myself on the edge of something important and couldn’t waste time with distractions.
And there it was, an uncontrolled burst of energy flooded the channels from my own Mana reserves. Not tainting the Clarity but melding it with myself, burning the channels into my body as if I were born with them. I could feel my eyes burning and my head thrummed with pain, but I needed to work, needed to bring my ideas to fruition. A notification tried to take my attention away from the task ahead, but I ignored it. Taking out my tools, I began work on what would be my first masterpiece. I knew it to be true, and the Mana in the air resonated with that truth.
Faeland’s POV
While dutifully taking notes of the inhabitants of Fateswatch and their potential, I let out a sigh. I didn’t originally have high expectations for this primitive species, but even the strongest humans I had seen so far were far worse than my lowest standards. There wasn’t a single member of the human species I had seen who would meet the lowest standards and be worth reporting to my superiors, much less actually having them initiated.
The Churches that were being built were flimsy. Doctrine was either not enforced or ignored completely. It was as if they had given up on this city already for some reason. No gods had seen fit to deliver a blessing of a tier higher than Faint to the heads of their organizations as if they had already given up on the species for some reason. Obviously, some insider knowledge was shared, as this was not a normal assimilation procedure for Pantheons.
Except for that freak with a Divine Blessing, that is. But I had no idea what his business was and no interest in attempting to ascertain it. In doing so, I would almost certainly be spotted by the agents of the Sovereign of the Fallen Skies and eliminated for my transgression.
They already knew a representative of one of the factions was here, an unavoidable consequence of my method of entry. Meaning they were likely already trying to track me down.
I was beginning to think I should leave for one of the other capital cities when I felt a shiver through my Perception Field. Something notable was finally happening.
Taking a step towards where I felt the disturbance in the instant before I appeared, I allowed the shadows to block out any signs of my existence before appearing in what appeared to be a spatially expanded space. Within the room I had just entered, a small girl was working with immense focus on some kind of artifact. That wasn’t what had caught my interest, however. Instead, it was the Mana Veins she had somehow manifested. Peering over her shoulder, I tried to determine what she was working on, but couldn’t. Once again, I found my lack of artificery knowledge holding me back.
This was the second time it had failed me. It seemed to be popular among notable humans and ex-humans. I should take the time to study the subject for future reference.
That would have to wait for my return to the Darkened Sanctum, though, which I couldn’t see happening any time soon.
Sitting down on the air next to her, I gave her time to complete whatever she was working on. It was clearly something of great importance to her. Intrigued by what the end result would be and not wanting any interruptions to her work, I cast a small compulsion on the tent that would suddenly cause anyone who tries to enter to remember they have more important business elsewhere.
While observing, I noted how she was using her new vascular system. It seemed to have been created using an alchemical concoction to enhance focus, a method commonly used by beginners. The unique aspect was how she was maintaining the concoction's effect when it should have burned out long ago. Her Authority held it under a tight grip, not allowing it to dissipate.
This slowly burned the elixir's effects into her body permanently. Whether this was a good or bad thing, I couldn’t say. That would depend on the ingredients used in the elixir.
The moment she completed her task, would she go berserk and slaughter her fellow guildmates? She was clearly the most powerful individual here with that level of control over her own Authority, so it was entirely possible. Would it have a beneficial effect on her mind, enhancing recall, thought speed, and focus with no downsides? The most likely scenario was somewhere in the middle, more erratic behaviour, but still allowing an enhancement to mental faculties. Unless the recipe of the specific elixir had hundreds of years of tinkering behind it to maximize returns while minimizing drawbacks, it was mostly down to luck.
Eventually, she seemed to finish the hands-on portion and was preparing a ritual circle around the artifact. She was using Hadr’s Symbolic Representational system, just like that little Spriggan I met had been. My idle curiosity was interrupted as she activated the ritual, which seemed to be a mock of a binding ritual used during ritual summons.
Mana was sucked out of the air as her staff began greedily absorbing environmental Mana and aspecting it towards Death, she then dumped her entire Mana pool into a spell. Finally, she held the staff over the construct and spoke one word teeming with meaning. Reality arranging itself to fit the command.
Wait, is she creating an elemental?
"Rise!"
All of the Mana she had been absorbing, hooked onto the spell she was holding, poured into the Skull of what seemed to be a high-quality Runic Stag. The skull sat atop a human skeleton. Etchings filled in with dark metal covered the surface of the construct, of which I had no inkling of the purpose.
A moment later, the world shifted in conjunction with her will. The eyes of the stag, in which lay two onyx stones, began to shine. The girl’s soul began to grow and change in conjunction with her achievement, Kaelzar’s newly designed system, in effect, no doubt. This change seemed to link her soul with the construct, filling some kind of function I couldn’t determine. With that, the golem rose from the table it had been lying on and knelt before her.
It was then, as she seemed to realize she had completed her task, that all strength left her body. Exhausted from the hours of intense focus, she collapsed. The golem moved quickly to catch her as she fell. In its arms, she mumbled a few words to the golem, and it obeyed the complex command with little difficulty, bringing her to her bed.
Building an elemental within a golem while binding it in a ritual, a remarkable method of creating a useful servant. Especially in this dimension.
Taking out my notebook, I added another name to the list and took my leave. Disabling the compulsion I had cast, I made my way back to Fateswatch and continued my observations.