Chapter 111: Chapter 111

Of course, we didn’t end up fighting then and there, right after the Mage Guild class was over. The guild did have facilities that, well, facilitated things like mages settling disputes with duels or just sparring against each other.

However, Ascelkos said that a duel for the Anymphea was a much more formal affair. One couldn’t simply ask for a duel and immediately start fighting.

“We must notify witnesses, select the proper grounds, conduct our own preparations, and only then can we actually duel,” he said very seriously. “It’s tradition, and we mustn’t buck it.”

I took a second to nod. “Sure… Why don’t you let me know when you’re ready and everything. Maybe I can send you my information so we can keep in touch with Pipe Missives.”

Ascelkos smiled. “That sounds like a good plan.”

As we headed to the guildhall’s first floor, we talked a bit more about his tribe and their situation.

“We normally have little enclaves and settlements within some of the big cities on Falsient,” Ascelkos said. “For instance, our first choice of survival wasn’t Zairgon, if I’m being honest. It was Claderov.”

“What happened there?” I asked.

Ascelkos’s expression darkened. “Claderov has grown more hostile in recent years. Even when I was a child, things were tense. More recently, they’ve been pricing out a lot of people they think don’t belong there, including us Anymphea. Frankly, we aren’t welcome there anymore, so we’ve had to look for other alternatives.”

“Terrible time for something like that to happen,” I said. “With the Blight Swarm and everything.”

“Mm, well, the Bight Swarm was just the final switch that made us realize we couldn’t depend on our old relationship with Claderov any longer. A shame, but I’m glad Zairgon has been welcoming.” He flashed a smile at me that made his grey-blue skin ripple like it was a reflection on a pond. “Like you.”

“Well, I’ve just been polite so far.”

“Your modesty does you credit!”

We left with friendly farewells after that. I realized I hadn’t asked about how the rest of his tribe was taking things. How were they dealing with the fact they had to convert from being nomads to living in a city for the foreseeable future?

Although, there was a lot of them, apparently. I supposed they were free to leave after the Blight Swarm was dealt with.

I swooped by the trade workshop before I left. Recently, I had started noticing that my regular Sacrifices weren’t quite cutting it. The mana implosion counter wasn’t being pushed back as much as I’d have liked. It only kept ticking down because of Ritual.

This wasn’t unforeseen. I had noticed how Sacrificing the same things over and over—like food, like the casts of my other Aspects, and so on—reduced the amount of mana being used by my Aspect over time. The same was true for Threaded Reinforcement. I had a feeling part of it was Sacrifice itself improving and that I was getting better and better at it, so I was having to spend less effort.

I needed to get a better grip on timing because my core’s mana implosion had to be timed right.

As such, I went to the trade workshop and tried to find something worth Sacrificing. I had three days left on the countdown timer, so I had some time, but since other methods were losing effectiveness, I wanted to be prepared.

I still had enough personal funds to not worry about money, though the hopeful infusion of cash from my upcoming adventure would be very welcome.

Turned out the main thing I was looking to purchase just then wasn’t something I could afford. They had a magical facsimile of debit cards here—because of course they did—which would verify that the purchaser did indeed possess the required funds in their account. Actually, it was just modified versions of Pipe Missives that were made to contact banks quickly.

And this time, I found out I didn’t actually possess the cash needed to buy a Spinal Tusk of an Aetherboar.

“You’re really going to charge eighteen thousand gold for that?” I asked the Ogre proprietor.

He just snapped his fingers and pointed behind me. “What’s the first rule there?”

I sighed but didn’t look back. “Technically, I wasn’t haggling.”

“Technically, you’re right. But it’s common courtesy that if you can’t afford it, you should scram.” He waved his hand dismissively at me, muttering, “And they should add a new rule about smartasses too…”

I did leave, since there was no point. Plus, the interaction had pissed me off a bit. I could have bought other things there, but I was looking for the best, and if I didn’t have enough money for it, then I’d just go about getting the money.

So, I signed up for another job at the Mage Guild job board.

It was a moving job, just like the very first one I had taken up. The difference was that instead of helping an individual merchant move his properties from his old house to his new one, I was apparently requested to assist a proper construction business. Weird. Wouldn’t they have their own movers and such?

The job was looking for both Silver- and Gold-ranked mages with any Aspects that could move things like Locomotion. I was sure I’d qualify.

I filled up the paperwork with Silhatsa.

“Are you alright?” she asked.

I did my best to clear my expression. “Yeah, I’m fine.” I tried for a smile. “Just little annoyances, here and there.”

“Didn’t think you’d need to be doing a regular job again after your successes.”

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

“Can’t coast on my past successes forever. Especially not just for myself.”

I had secured funding for the cult and other successful endeavours for Ring Four in general. But for myself? I only had that lucrative deal for the Greater Brillwyrm meat and body parts—which I had sold off for a tidy sum that was also now slowly being exhausted—so I needed something more. Something to tide me over till the next adventure.

The job wasn’t starting for a day or two, though, so I had time to focus on other things for now.

I returned to the cult and got some more training in. A part of me realized I needed to visit Gutran again and get more ranks for my physical Attributes, but I was really focused on figuring out just what my new Gravity Affix was capable of.

It was kind of amazing what Granular Control allowed me to do. I was essentially manipulating matter and reshaping things to how I wanted them to be.

That was the main vector of progression for that Affix. Control, just as it said on the tin. After I created another bulbous but somewhat airy swelling on another brick, I realized I needed a lot more practice to be able to shape things exactly how I wanted them. I hadn’t tried creating a random blob that time. A spiky protrusion was what I had aimed for, but I’d still gotten a blob.

I felt like I was making slow progress as I played around with it more, though. Especially once I really started looking into what was going on and how I could modify it with Granular Control.

It was just limited by the severe mana costs. I couldn’t practice for too long. Still, I gained some interesting insights.

A key aspect of the Affix was that it couldn’t create new matter. It was simply taking the existing arrangement of atoms and reshaping them into a different, overarching arrangement. That explained why those swellings I created on the brick were always lighter and airier.

I was drawing on the topmost layer of the brick’s material, pulling it away from the actual body and deforming it into a blob which covered a larger area. The same number of atoms in a large space while still retaining its solid state of matter meant the “swellings” were really just oddly shaped lattice structures which led to porous pockets and the feeling of airiness.

After using up some mana potions, I tried to make the spikes I was aiming for. I had to focus Gravity’s effect in an increasingly smaller radius, drawing out less and less material the higher it rose.

It took about an hour just to accomplish that. Constant, constant, constant practice before it finally worked and I had a thorn big enough to kill people on one side of the brick. I had managed to make it stiff and thick too, so it wasn’t light and fragile like the swelling.

That night, I decided to take at least a few hours of proper rest to give my brain a break.

The benefit of having the option of using nights productively—not that sleep was unproductive in the slightest, but good luck telling my brain that—was that I could spend a little more daytime with the others. The Scarthralls seemed to recognize this and took full advantage.

“I want to get over my—my fear,” Lujean said.

I tilted my head a little. “Fear, huh?” He had been one of the Scarthalls most excited to be an adventurer, taking to everything with a strong gusto, without showing an ounce of hesitation for anything yet. “Fear of what exactly?”

“Fear of getting hurt and then needing to regenerate, I guess.”

“Can you explain some more?”

He did so. It was a twofold thing. One was that Lujean didn’t want his fear of injuries to stop him from reaching his goals. This would be especially true in the case of a fight, where hesitation might spell disaster. The second consideration was improving the associated Aspect.

“I’ve got Aspect of Bloodsalve,” Lujean said. “It’s one of those inherent Racial Aspects that came with being a Scarthrall. Since Aspects only improve if they get used, I figure I need to get hurt so it can actually work and heal me up and gain ranks that way.”

Right. Racial Aspects. Not Racial Paths. Lady Kalnislaw had mentioned that Racial Paths usually appeared at Silver for Scarseekers and Scarthralls, but Racial Aspects didn’t need any associated Paths to manifest.

Not for Scarthralls at the very least.

“I’m not so sure,” I said. Frankly, I was a bit uncomfortable with the whole idea. It made me think back to that fight against Glonek in the temple. “But there might be a compromise.”

Lujean nodded vigorously. “I’m open to anything that can help, Cultist Ross.”

“Don’t be so desperate. Anyway, I was thinking we could spar… a little more intensely than we’ve been doing so far. At least when it comes to one-on-one sessions. It would help me too, since I can exercise and stretch my own capabilities that way. You’d just be taking a handy beating if I wasn’t holding back.”

“Handy beatings sound like exactly what I’m going to need!”

I tried not to laugh. “Probably. But we don’t want to go overboard, though. If at any point things start getting too difficult, don’t hesitate to bring it up.”

Lujean nodded. There was a fire in his eyes, and his muscles were tense with anticipation.

Just as promised, I didn’t hold back. Lujean came at me with everything he was capable of too. We were going through hand-to-hand combat then, because I was sure—and I was right to think so—that my bare fists would be strong enough to deliver the kinds of blows that would need treatment from his Racial Aspect.

I blocked him, then punched him as hard as my Power allowed, sending him actually flying back a dozen feet or so with a cry.

Lujean got back up on wobbling feet, his right arm bending at an awkward angle and growing an ugly ruddy purple bruise where I had struck it. He was breathing hard, his face flushed. Obviously, he wasn’t alright after a hit like that, but I still wanted to ask if he was okay with continuing.

And then his Aspect worked its magic.

In moments, the swelling went down, and the arm righted itself. I even heard a very distinct snap as it went back to its original location and orientation.

“That was—” Lujean stuttered.

“Traumatic?” I offered.

The Scarthrall laughed. It sounded a little ragged. “You’re strong, Cultist Ross. Real strong.”

“Honestly, I don’t think either of us have seen real strength yet, Lujean.”

“Maybe.” He shuddered and then took a deep breath. “Alright, we keep going?”

“If you’re sure you’re okay.”

We kept on sparring that way. I made sure not to hit any particularly sensitive or painful location. Arms and legs, occasional strike to the chest, that sort of thing. I did end up headbutting him in the face once though, but that was because he got cheeky and tried to do it first when he thought he had an opening. It was honestly an instinctive reaction.

“Thad wud… crul!” Lujean said while clutching his broken, bleeding nose.

“Oops,” I said. “My bad.”

I did appreciate that I was getting to push myself too. Thanks to our practice through the rest of the day, I even got a rank up finally.

Your Power and Vitality Attributes have risen by one Rank.

Your Gravity and Ritual Aspects have risen by one Rank.

Your Path of the Archon Apostle has risen by one Rank.

Path of the ArchonApostle: Silver IV ]

It was a little surprising that my Aspect of Ritual had ranked up too, but I figured that was Enshrined Growth coming into play. I was due for a rank up through the Augmentation.

Path of the Archon Apostle had also ranked up too, likely because I had been helping the Scarthralls a good deal. It wasn’t ranking up as fast as I’d have preferred, however, so I’d need to up my efforts in that direction.

We finished up our training for the day and then I received another message from the city guards. They were sending in the second and last batch of freed, innocent Scarthralls.

Which meant they’d include one named Tural. Follow current novᴇls on novel_fіre.net

I grimaced, once again remembering the brutality of the fight at the temple. This was not going to be fun, but I’d need to see it through anyway.