[Voidknight Ascension] Chapter 85: Glyph Magic

Memories flowed through Raiko, joining the past to the present as she soaked in the recuperative waters of the Sacred Tree. It was reminiscent of wielding a Dungeon. Overwhelming, but more than manageable for an Incarnate like her.

Dream’s moniker was a bit of a misnomer. The purview of her domain extended far beyond the sleeping mind.

Magic and creation were both well within Dream’s scope. Though perhaps the strongest, and the worst, was the ambition.

Raiko inherited some of those facets, including that fearsome ambition. At times, it was difficult to separate what was from herself, and what was gained from the Kindred.

Perhaps the immortal and the Sage were one and the same.

As with all things in life, healing brought pain. Painful memories seared into Raiko’s mind, never to be forgotten again.

Her kingdom, burning from a curse that fell out of the sky. The shame and guilt at being too weak to stop it. A quest that would grant her the power to one day save her home. The journey for power and mastery that brought her to the hidden lands of the drow where she trained alongside the fabled bladesingers themselves.

The memories came faster, one after the other, in a blur like a film reel out of control. Adventuring far, she survived many more glyph trials. Disguised as shinobi training, though truly designed to unearth bloodlines and much more.

Haman, her soul companion, was with her always. He was her unwavering companion, and a genius Keymaster.

More recent memories followed. Some still stung her. Claiming the [Phantomblade] under oath to shelter Islegard from the coming apocalypse, and then learning with crystalline certainty that a Dream Incarnate alone was not enough, stood out sharply.

With everything at risk, Raiko did the unthinkable and stole a sacred artifact from a roaming band of realmwalkers. With its power, she welded a portal to a place called “Earth” using one of Haman’s Keys as guidance.

What did reprisal matter when the alternative was the end of her Shard?

The irony was that it was the wrong iteration of Earth. One that had already collapsed long ago.

She delved into a sanctuary, fending off invaders and defenders alike. An incredibly powerful being resided there, one who could not strike out at Raiko directly without incidentally wounding the already grievously injured iteration of Earth.

Instead, the being sent a Beast after Raiko.

Her prize, the [Shatterblade], called out to the [Phantomblade]. They were meant to be wielded together, though not in the way Raiko understood at the time.

Within the depths of that sanctuary, Raiko tried to pull the [Shatterblade] free. But it was made for War, not Dream.

Hounded by the Beast, Raiko carved out the [Shatterblade’s] containment with the [Phantomblade]. If she couldn’t take the sword, she’d take the whole damn thing.

She shivered at the memory of the Beast’s tremendous power and steel-bright teeth. It wielded the magic of monsters, yet looked like a man.

With the [Shatterblade] as a guiding force, Raiko found the correct iteration of Earth whose fate was tied to the Worldshard of Islegard.

She recalled following Sam, but he could not see her. There was something odd about that Earth’s magic, as if its power was stolen from its people.

It took time for her body, so reliant on magic, to acclimatize. If she had brought Haman, he might have succumbed to the same ailment the strange cat did.

At the time, it was horrifying.

And really, it still was. How could people live without magic?

His strange cat, Komachi, was the first to notice her. Not long after, Sam did too, although he couldn’t understand her.

The language of that world was quite a barrier, but Raiko was a quick study. She was no Wisdom Incarnate for sure, but Dream was one of the more ingenious of the lot.

However, at that point, he was so skeptical of magic that Sam believed Raiko was a lunatic. His world had nearly ruined him.

Things went downhill from there. Adopting different guises, trying to win him over, outrightly attempting to spirit him away on more than one occasion.

The problem was, it had to be Sam’s choice.

That was the only way he could claim the [Shatterblade], but the man was incredibly stubborn, as if he could not fathom his greater potential.

He was meant for so much more. By the time she reached him, the spark was all but ground out of him by the oppression of mediocrity.

A smile alighted on her lips as she remembered Sam tumbling through the portal at the end of a wave, finally pushed into making that choice.

As if she was reliving it, Raiko could feel the ocean spray as she darted across the water’s surface and taunted him about leveling up.

The Battle of Shard’s End and how she came to be infected with apocalypse mana still haunted her. Unleashing Chaos mana and unlocking her horrible Path was an even harsher memory.

There was no controlling that fundamental force, no surviving it. Her blade became a traitor in her own hands.

Chaos sought to create, destroy, create, then destroy again and again in an endless symphony.

She fell, failing to protect the tree from its enemies. Her sister’s last miracle. The Sacred Tree raised what was left after her bloodline took hold of her spirit, turning her flesh into a hollowed form to continue defending the tree.

Twin recollections went through her head from that point. Harder to sift through, but just as fast all the same. She recalled being the Hollowed Sage, defending against the hordes of demons. Fighting a losing battle.

Her last memories were swirled together even worse, like two inks dropped into a glass of water. She was herself, Raiko, and she was the Hollow Sage. They fought one another. She even remembered fighting Sam.

It was not a pleasant experience being on the receiving end of his Strength and deviousness, much less to feel the cold burning ache of his Void mana.

A small part of her pitied the enemies that would one day stand in Sam’s way.

Raiko opened her eyes to the present. She emerged from the Sacred Tree’s spring, renewed, whole.

I remember now.

An avalanche of glittering Shardscript assailed her. Quests completed, Skyshard changes, and a mountain of Experience gains.

Taking a moment to instill calm within herself, she sat beneath the tree and listened to its peaceful song. The tree welcomed her back in its own way.

While the song soothed the spirit, the tree could do nothing for the wound in her soul that Haman left behind.

I will find you, Haman, even if I fail at everything else, she promised him.

The first choice to make was which Second Order Job to pick. She already had a good handle on where to take her progression and evolutions.

Raiko had little desire to entirely flip her powers into a different archetype. She already had a calling for magic and yearned to discover so much more.

She strongly believed that Shardrune Il’dran could offer far more than Worldshard Islegard had ever been able to. What she had been capable of as a Sage, could now be taken so much further.

That was why Raiko had picked the First Order Job Nomad. Otherwise, being able to wield mana rifts to begin with would have been impossible.

Assassin was instantly ignored. Samurai she hesitated on, but that was more of a spellblade permutation than a traditional form of the great katana specialist.

The image of a tall, dark, and brooding drow rose to the surface of her memories, but she pushed it down. She had to focus.

Raiko had no desire to delve into mixed physical and magical damage. That meant pursuing a particular style of combat. In most cultures, that would be some form of Sorcerer or Wizard.

In fact, Wizard was one of the choices for Raiko’s Second Order Job.

The Job used to be Sage, but things had changed in Islegard when it fused, Ascended, then shattered with Earth.

Here, perhaps the first step was now Ninja. Though a very different type of Ninja than she was familiar with.

[Ninja]

A swift and agile, highly disciplined mage turned warrior. Ninjas practice an advanced spellcasting style that blends light weaponry with igniting mana rifts to inflict both close and ranged magical damage. Few possess the prerequisite capacity to wield power augmenting Glyphs, making this Job exceedingly rare.

Though highly efficient with mana usage, much of Ninja’s expansive repertoire relies heavily upon mana. As an Islegardian variant, this Job unlocks Glyphs across all pillars of progression.

+4 Agility | +3 Resonance | +2 Control

+2 Arcane | +2 Dexterity | +1 Mind

+1 Awareness | +1 Insight

Starting Skill Spheres

[Manatuned Katana Foundation], [Shinobi Finesse]

Starting Ability

[Spiritblade]

Starting Magic

[Glyph Foundation], [Rift Magic Foundation]

Choice of (1) [Glyph Spell], Choice of (1) [Rift Magic]

Starting Trait

[Max MP Up]

Health Growth: C+

Mana Growth: A-

Finally, I can drop [Light Weaponry Foundation] for its vastly upgraded branch of [Manatuned Katana Foundation], Raiko thought with immense relief.

Her Incarnate trait, [Magic Weapon Handling], had successfully carried her through to Ninja.

With any luck, [Manatuned Katana Foundation] would act as both a spellcasting tool skill and weaponry skill in one. Even without the Glyph unlock, Ninja would be worthwhile to pick up for that alone.

Not being able to specify what type of weaponry her First Order Job could pick up was one of the downsides to Nomad’s way of early customization.

However, one of Nomad’s benefits was the ability to immediately choose [Rift Magic], so Raiko was curious as to what exactly Ninja had on offer for her.

Raiko’s focus turned towards the stats. A high, yet relatively even spread for what Ninja offered.

This was one of the notable signs that Islegard had Ascended, the sheer number of stats gained per level up.

The Shard was stronger, and therefore its people were too. A symbiotic relationship forged into the star’s essence.

The lack of Mind would have to be shored up with the bonus points, but with the additional [Max MP Up] trait and the incredibly high Mana Growth, it wouldn’t pose as much of an issue for Raiko as it might another mage archetype.

Arcane was a highly valuable magical stat, being that it directly impacted spellcasting damage. Aside from whatever terrible things Chaos mana put into the mix and the boost the [Manatuned Katana Foundation] gave.

There was no dedicated Dual Wield trait or skill, which was rather suspicious. That was something Raiko did not want to go without. Not that she had any choice. There was an ebb and flow to mana rifts that was better accomplished with two bladed weapons, rather than one.

Or so she recalled. The finer details were dulled by the lost knowledge from all those skills belonging to old Islegard.

Ninja’s Dexterity was quite a bit lower than she expected, but it seemed that Agility was taking on a more influential role in her build.

Maybe I can pick up Dual Wield through training, or simply level ups. There’s always the Third Order Jobs as well.

You have selected [Ninja] as your Second Order Job.

Please confirm your selection.

The influx of knowledge was welcome. Strangely enough, Raiko felt more like herself.

[Spiritblade] would let her channel mana through a light weapon to emulate the manatuned enchantment for a limited period of time.

That enchantment was quite difficult to come by, especially in a shattered realm of floating islands and scattered peoples.

It was even more unlikely for that specific enchantment to be bound to a katana rather than, say, a great hammer or some other equally useless weapon type.

That had been one of the few upsides to being targeted by the oni. They liked to steal weapons.

Being able to tap into Glyphs again, the symbols surged to life upon her left arm.

You regain [Glyph: Sculpt].

Interesting, that Glyph is tied to my Path, rather than my Job, Raiko realized with the influx of knowledge. It seemed the type of Glyph would vary depending on what pillar of progression it originated from.

Sculpt affected the world, and so it originated from her Path.

For Ninja’s first Glyph, Raiko elected to go full utility. While Sam’s cat was a healer, as a group, they had little else in terms of support.

Everyone needed mana, and no one among them could craft potions yet. While Professions were in dire need, in the meantime, Raiko could shore up that weakness.

Startling those resting in the pool, Raiko sliced dozens of mana rifts into the air in order to expend MP. Frost rifts shifted to Wind partway through.

Her Chaos Path at work.

Sitting back down, liquified mana pooled in her palm. She pressed it against her arm, casting [Glyph: Refresh].

Though casting [Glyph: Refresh] consumed a decent amount of MP, it also regenerated it. Over time, it would give Raiko back more than she initially spent.

Or else it’d just be pure garbage, she thought scathingly.

Additionally, as a Ninja, she could cast Refresh upon others. Though, at her current capabilities, she could only upkeep one instance of [Glyph: Refresh].

That’ll improve in the future. I’d like to be able to balance that across a whole party.

While the Glyph couldn’t keep up anyone’s MP indefinitely, not at its current Common rarity certainly, it would extend how long any one of them could keep using Arts, spells, and the like.

It’d be excellent for training, reducing the amount of time needed to rest. Though, in combat, it’d serve best for improving the uptime of healers.

If I had a spare mana potion, I could test to see if the two effects stack together, Raiko thought with frustration.

That would just be one mystery that had to wait. As much as she thoroughly enjoyed exploring how magic and the new powers here worked, mana potions were a resource that needed to be carefully rationed.

Moving on, she sifted through all the [Rift Magic] choices. Not quite as many as she would have liked, but that was fair.

She only just picked up Ninja after all.

As much as rifts were her primary way of dealing damage, certain spells seemed able to alter their properties.

Maybe this is a way I can take a little control back, since I can’t conjure any specific mana type at will.

Keeping in line with [Glyph: Refresh], Raiko selected [Rift: Mana Draw], a spell that restored a slight amount of mana when attacking a monster afflicted with [Mana Draw].

With Raiko’s Job selections settled, she directed her attention to communing with the Sacred Tree.

Several choices awaited her. Though the Sacred Tree had lost a significant amount of power, it was still appropriate for First Layer mana.

Perhaps she would never tell Sam the lengths she went to in order to join him. No need to make him feel responsible for something that was her choice to make.

The final say had been up to the tree.

All the same, she couldn’t help but wonder what it would have been like if she had stayed in the Second Layer….

One Skyshard ability stood out to be more vital than the others. Raiko held herself back from picking [Guiding Mana Currents] but struggled with the decision.

Being able to survive came first, rather than finding Haman and many others, didn’t it? [Boughs of Iron] would protect them all.

There was no reuniting with anyone if their Skyshard was obliterated out of existence by a passing nest of monsters.

And yet, she could not bring herself to weaponize the tree. The act would be blasphemous. It would tarnish her sister’s memory.

Maybe I’m not being entirely selfish, Raiko tried to tell herself. Sam’s friends are out there, and many other Islegardians. Not just Haman.

Unwilling to resist any longer, Raiko picked up [Guiding Mana Currents] for the Sacred Tree.

Her senses blossomed and expanded far beyond their Skyshard. Raiko became all too aware how small and insignificant their little island was amongst the overpowering currents of the First Layer’s cloudsea.