Chapter 38 - Titular Art

Nate woke before the sun had started to peek through the window. Standing he could see the first sign of light over the trees of the forest. Glancing at Kiri he stifled a laugh. She was sprawled out over her side of the bed, tangled up in her blanket, with a little drool leaking down her face. That was definitely going to be one of his art pieces. He would title it, ‘We all drool’.

Keeping the noise down he climbed out of the bed and moved towards his mana gems to see how much they had recharged overnight. His mana gathering runes were pretty poor and even with the eight or so hours, they’d barely recharged each mana gem by a tenth of what was possible. He’d need to improve those runes as soon as all this mess was handled because he needed far more mana than he had available to use Improve Material to its fullest. With a sigh he pulled out two fully charged mana gems from his spatial storage. After he used these, he’d only have four left, then he’d be forced to rely on recharging them. Well, there was nothing he could do about that and in the end it was going to be worth the cost.

Frick floated out to sit next to him as he extracted one of the softer woods from his spatial storage. He’d chosen this particular piece for two reasons. It was soft and therefore easier to carve, and it was one of the longer pieces of wood he had, roughly the size of his forearm. He had decided before he fell asleep that he would try and tackle two of his problems. He’d evolve Improve Material and also create a rune to overcome Torian’s resistance.

There was only one rune that he could think of that would satisfy both his needs. The same sigils that had been used to burn through his barrier - Corrosive & Fluid; the recipe for acid, it seemed. Perhaps with his Runic Intents he could even modify the type of acid? That was something worth checking later. The sigil for corrosive was fairly straight forward, it looked kind of like a cheap crown, with vertical lines equidistant over the surface of it. A corroded crown? The sigil for fluid was just as easy. A raindrop with three wavy, horizontal lines.

Holding the piece of wood in one hand he pulled out a carving knife from his spatial storage. The metal of the blade was uncommon quality and Nate could feel the difference as he carved out a long piece of the wood. He was going to go full wizard on this and try and make a somewhat thick wand.

The carving took a while and as he worked Kiri woke up, gave him a grin before grabbing her bow and ducking out the door. Thankfully, the task had gotten quicker as the sun rose and he had a little more light to work with. Finishing a little over an hour later, he marvelled at how clean the lines were carved. His strength was, to put it simply, utter garbage, but he made up for that with the higher quality blade. Coupled with his high dexterity, the ‘wand’ looked pretty legitimate. Either way he was happy with the final product, so it was time for the next step.

Carving the runes into the wood didn’t take anywhere near as long. All he had to add was the three sigils, Corrosive, Fluid and Projectile, with straight lines connecting them to create something that looked like a triangle. It took a bit more mana to replicate the mana storage runes from the mana gem onto the wood but that was why he had pulled out two mana gems instead of one. The act of replicating such high quality runes was enough to push his Runic Replication skill up four levels but it had also emptied half of his mana gem and took almost an hour. Finally it was ready for the last step.

Reaching over to the side, he picked up one of the full mana gems and began to focus on his next task. Skills were weird. Runic Intent was a great example. He could focus his ‘intent’, as esoteric as that was, and the Skill would somehow guide the outcome. He was going to apply that same idea now. He’d attempt to use his ‘intent’ to guide Improve Material to create specific shapes in the structure of the wood. Specifically the shape of the two sigils, corrosive and fluid, in a repeating sequence. It was a step beyond what he likely needed to do to evolve his Skill, but he was running out of full mana gems and didn’t want to waste one if he could manage not to. Besides, he was confident with his intellect stat and his ability to split his focus, he could hold the image of the repeating pattern in his head.

He spent the first hour practising that image sequence over and over again until he was sure he could hold it. Finally satisfied with his preparation, he was ready to begin. He focused on the mana gem, releasing the mana within and guiding its flow through his core and the skill embedded in it. The mana poured into him slower than he would’ve liked, limited by his Mana Absorption, and he knew he was going to be sitting here for a while, which was why he had practised for so long. He’d be holding the image for a while if he was going to push the wood all the way to Legendary. With that in mind he tried to meditate and focus on the two sigils, what Improve Material was doing, and overlaying the two. If he was right, he could force the skill to create the desired structure and finally impart an affinity with his Improve Material skill.

Time blended until it felt meaningless, his mind consumed with his task as all he could see was the two overlapping sigils in an endless sequence. All he could feel was the sweat dripping down his brow and the mana flowing through him like a river. His stomach had started growling for food an hour ago, before finally subsiding to the occasional gurgle. He licked his dry lips, though the act did almost nothing with his mouth as parched as it was. But it was close now. He’d seen the notifications flashing and ignored them. He’d be done when the wood was Legendary and not before.

It had passed Uncommon and Rare quickly enough, finally hitting Epic which was when he’d had to put it down. Fortunately he didn’t need to be touching it to continue. But the reason he had put it down could pose a problem. He’d felt the burn and noticed the wood had started to burn his skin. That both made him confident he had achieved his goal and made him unsure if he’d even be able to use his creation. If it was already burning him just by touching the wood at Epic, how much worse would it be at Legendary? It didn’t matter now, it was too late to stop and after almost two hours of channelling the mana, he could feel it was close. Just minutes away now. He watched in anticipation as he finally felt the mana relent. With a satisfying shimmer the wand ticked over to Legendary.

Falling back on the floor he sighed and finally brought up his notifications. It was time to see if he had done it. If he’d achieved what he set out to do.

Runic Replication 4 > 8

Congratulations on creating an Acidic Projectile Rune (Journeyman Quality).
Your achievement has been recorded.

Improve Material 18 > 21

You’ve levelled a Skill to the point of Evolution.
Your achievement has been recorded.

You have created Acidic Briarwood (Uncommon).
Your achievement has been recorded.

…..

…..

You have created Acidic Briarwood (Legendary).
Your achievement has been recorded.

Improve Material (L) is ready to evolve.
Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.
Skill Evolution Options:

Enhanced Improve Material (L)
You have created materials and pushed them to Legendary rarity again and again, and in the process learned that there is a steep cost to create such vaunted materials. Enhanced Improve Material improves the efficiency of the Skill, allowing the user to achieve the same results with less effort and mana. Time and mana cost based on Intellect, Creativity, and Skill Level. Mana required decreased by 5% per Tier, increasing by 1% per Skill Level.

Runic Material (L)
You have taken materials inscribed with runes and pushed them to Legendary rarity, creating runes with enough capacity to be the envy of Runecrafters everywhere. What is better than a material with higher mana capacity? A material with high mana capacity that enhances any runes inscribed in it. This skill will allow the user to improve a materials mana capacity & alter its nature to more closely align with the concepts of the universe. Time and mana cost based on Intellect, Creativity, and Skill Level. Runes inscribed in improved materials perform 5% better per Tier, increasing by 1% per Skill Level.

Conceptual Material (M)
You have pushed the bounds of the Improve Material skill, understanding the true nature of the skill and then using that understanding to reach beyond its bound, creating a legendary material imbued with an affinity, the underlying concepts that define reality. The user of this Skill is able to push materials all the way to Mythic Rarity and imbue them with concepts of reality itself. Time and mana cost based on Intellect, Creativity, and Skill Level.

Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.

Nate looked over his options with a giddy smile on his face. He’d done it. He had actually done it. A Mythic Skill option. He read over the others but he was never going to choose them. The additional improvements they offered were nice but they couldn’t compare with the opportunity to receive a Mythic Class. Without thinking about it further he made his selection. A notification popped up and he glanced at it before jumping up and pumping a fist in the air.

You have evolved a Skill to Mythic Grade while your Class remains Legendary.
Your achievement has been recorded.

Frick hovered over to him and grinned, showing sharp teeth.

“Never doubted you for a second, boss man. But you should probably do something about that,” his Familiar said, pointing to the stone floor with a smirk.

Nate looked down to see the wand he’d made with smoke coming off it as it had started to eat away at the stone beneath it. Thinking quickly, he spun up a barrier around his hand using Runic Intent to guide the shape, before snatching up the wand and quickly heading outside. He found Raina in the garden and she gave him a wave, her hands covered in dirt. All he could do was wave back as he moved further out into the field and towards the edge of the forest. He didn’t want to damage the grass or worse, Raina’s garden.

Nate could feel that the wand was slowly eating away at his barrier but he could maintain it for a few more minutes. Long enough to get to the edge of the forest and plant it in the grass while he came up with a plan. It seemed the day was just getting started.Planting the wand in the ground he sat down to think, watching as the grass around the wand slowly turned brown, then black, before blowing away like dust.

Frick piped up in his mind, the little goblin spirit having moved back into the Familiar Contract as he left the house.

“Whatcha thinking then, boss man?” the Familiar asked in his mind.

“Going to have to use another two mana gems, but I have an idea,” Nate thought back at him.

It seemed, even though he’d already spent the first four hours of the day getting work done, he had many more ahead of him. But first, breakfast. He didn’t want to interrupt Raina and he had somewhere else in mind, or perhaps, someone else? He tried not to focus on that but the food at the Oaken Ring was good. He told Raina that he was heading into town before finding somewhere nearby in the forest, not too close to any trees, to hide his wand. He couldn’t carry it around town as every time he put it down, it was liable to start melting whatever it touched.

The walk into Helmfirth was uneventful, though he was sure a couple of the guards had glared at him. It got worse once he reached the market as he heard more whispers about him than the last time he’d passed through. That drove him to the Oaken Ring rather than into the market to buy what he was after. Valeria wasn’t in the taproom so he took a seat and motioned to one of the waitresses, ordering whatever was still available for breakfast.

The food didn’t take that long and Nate was unsurprised when it was Valeria herself that brought it out to him. The taproom was mostly empty at this time with the breakfast crowd already left for work and the lunch crowd not in yet. Valeria looked at him and Nate wasn’t sure but he thought that maybe it was worry in her eyes. Her next words confirmed it.

“I was concerned when you didn’t appear for dinner last night, sir. Is everything alright?” She asked, her voice as honeyed as ever but the undertone was clear.

“Kiri and I had some issues with some other Adventurers. Her father thought it was best I stay with them for the night. Is my room…” He searched for the word but all he could come up with was, “Untouched?”

“It’s as you left it, m’...sir. I’m sorry, one of these days I will stop making that little mistake. I…I heard the rumours, of course. That Torian is a brute and I am sure he started it. But…” She said, looking away at the last moment.

Nate understood her predicament. He’d seen the same thing play out on Earth, though less often. It was difficult to be caught between two competing factors, and when faced with such, most people chose the easier path, or at least, the one that inconvenienced them the least. It wasn’t something worth getting angry about, it was just human nature. So Nate saved her the awkwardness of trying to explain it to him.

“But you can’t be seen to be taking sides, since you live and do business here,” he said.

Valeria looked instantly relieved, “I am glad you understand, sir. I’m so very sorry. Though, perhaps I could make it up to you?”

The last bit was coy, and Nate could see in her own way, she was trying to make things right. But that wasn’t the kind of person he was. Flings were fine. But, even though he wasn’t angry with Valeria for not taking his side, he still felt a little betrayed by it. Whether that emotional reaction was fair didn’t really matter to him.

He shook his head, “That won’t be necessary Valeria. But I do need someone to purchase something for me. Is that something one of your staff can handle?”

Valeria looked hurt but nodded, calling over the young man that worked in the inn, before excusing herself and heading out of the taproom in a hurry. Nate hadn’t meant to hurt her feelings, but then, he hadn’t meant not to either. Well, one problem at a time, he thought, focusing on the young man. It didn’t take Nate long to explain what he needed and hand over enough coin to cover the cost. With a sigh he got stuck into his late breakfast. It was going to be a long day.