Working for Varia isn't so bad. I get a place to stay, supplies to improve my skills and my coworkers are mostly fine. There is the downside of working 12 hours a day, but I can take breaks and work on personal projects any time, provided I met the quota of duplicated Artifacts. It's been around two months that I came to the city and all in all, they have been the easiest since I woke up on that abandoned lab.

Mazurka left the city six weeks ago to run some errand for Varia that hopefully will help with the magic-block cuffs the Aesirite put on her. I kinda miss having her around, Morgus is really boring, to be honest, he doesn't talk much and is always looking forward to the end of his shift.

I learned quite some things about how the city works too. Artifacts are much more common here than it used to be on the village, while people there had an occasional Artifact passed as a family heirloom, here, Artifacts are a fundamental aspect of everyone's lives: Guards use enchanted armors and weapons; Investigators use items that detect magic usage, reveal blood marks or track people; Workers use enhanced tools like the Strength Glove or the sharp cutter; Merchants use weight reduction bags; Lovers like to use a device that glows stronger with the intensity of their love and another one that glows according to the proximity of the other person wearing them, although both had been the cause of quite the unpleasant situations… So Artifacts are a necessity much like electronic apparel used to be from where I came from. Or from When I came from, to be more precise.

Even so, Varia said I may actually break the economy in a few years if I keep growing at the rate I am. Professions dedicated to Artifact crafting aren't that common, even with the high demand. Most normal crafters can copy runes but few can make Artifacts with imbued charges and they can't scan the information of an Artifact as I do, so the process takes far more time for them, which also explains why most of the Artifact crafting is done by droids, they have many years of experience, can scan items and the inability to use normal magic incentivize them to use Artifacts, although Skelones and Varia said droids take longer to learn skills than other people, they also suspect my rate to be faster than normal given my 'can read the system' condition.

It's been quiet, these days. Nothing big happened and it has been a while since I had any memory-dreams or that weird kind of virtual reality dream I had where I met with a sealed ancient creature of unknown intent… So yeah, I have been doing okay. Yet… I still feel like there is some emptiness inside me, I am not sure if anyone here thinks of me as a true friend. Sure, Skelones care about me but I think he may feel obligated to, given what happened when he left me or he is just kind to everyone, but it may be my insecurity talking. The worse of it all is that even though I am safe inside the city walls, I am still afraid of being captured again, and the constant threat of the Ghost Strain coming, and the risk of someone being after me keeps me awake a few more hours at night. Yes, the mask hides my face, but how long until someone with a detection device shows up? Who would be able to have a good quality sleep like that… At least I had some quite good skill growth these days.

◇Artifact crafting is now level 14 ◇Aesiri is now level 5 ◇Efficiency is now level 5 ◇Arcane knowledge is now Level 14 ◇Mana Manipulation is now Lvl 10 - Improved mana manipulation. ◇Mana Manipulation is now Lvl 12 ◇Scan is now Lvl 8 ◇Temporary Mark is now Lvl 10 - Can now use a total of 3 runes, either core or modifiers. ◇Temporary Mark is now Lvl 13 - Duration is now 3:00 - Cooldown is now 4:00

Those skills are really helpful, its far easier to manipulate mana now, so I can transfer the charge from the rings to artifacts or use the mana myself far easier than before. Oh, the temporary Mark is really strong now too, and I only have a minute of downtime and most fights would last a minute at most so it's enough time. But what I think to be the most useful is the number of Runes I learned while working here. Most of them were for tools, many people requested lighter or heavy objects, sharper weapons, hard to break pieces for construction and stuff like that. There were also Varia’s personal requests and my own research that I am doing in order to build my artificial arm with their help tomorrow. I could actually learn more runes but some Artifacts are almost impossible to replicate, either because the Runes cannot be seen or because of the complexity and amount of Runes used as there is almost no way to figure out them when combined.

◇New Core Rune: Electricity level 1 ◇New Core Rune: Sharpness level 1 ◇New Core Rune: Weight level 1 ◇New Core Rune: Hardness level 1 ◇New Core Rune: Magnetism level 1 ◇New Core Rune: Heat level 1 ◇New Core Rune: Motion level 1 ◇New Modifier Rune: Enhance ◇New Modifier Rune: Diminish ◇New Modifier Rune: Gather ◇New Modifier Rune: Disperse ◇New Modifier Rune: Connect Creation affinity is now 10% Space affinity is now 25% Wave affinity is now 90% Light is now level 6 Arcane is now level 6

Some useful and funny Artifacts I made using my improved arsenal of runes: the Orb of Light Absorption, which suck the light of the environment, creating darkness around it; the Flashbang Helmet, something Gleen and I made for a adventurer so that he could blind his opponents with light, but still keeping his eyes protected by the visor; the Electromagnetic Staff, which has one positive end and one negative end, capable of pulling and pushing iron and steel; And finally a heat bomb, something I got using Gather-Heat-Enhance-Explosion, it slowly accumulates heat until it gets to the point of exploding, Or so says the scan, Haven’t tested that one.

My health is the same, I wish anxiety and depression had some progress but it is the same as before. I know I can't just stand and do nothing to make it go away, but I don't know how to deal with those and I don't really know any shrinks around here.

Health Integrity Physical State: 100% Fine Mental State: 80% Anxiety (-20 WIL, -5 END) depression (-20 WIL, -5 END) Total: 90% Seek psychological treatment Stats Strenght 115(+15) Endurance 106(+16) Reflex 122 (+22) Intelligence 149 (+49) Willpower 96 (+36) Charisma 101 (+1) Staff dam: +6% dagger dam: +1% Short Sword dam: +6% mind res: +1% Electricity res: +20% dark magic res: +1% Pain res: +1% Force res: +1% Skills Fighting Level 12 +12 str, ref, end Artifact Crafting Level 14 +14 int, +7 wil Climbing Level 1 +1 end, str Aesiri Level 5 +3 int Staff Mastery Level 6 +6% staff dam Friend of the squidcrabs Level 2 +1 Cha (+2 when squidcrab) Arcane knowledge level 14 +14 int, +7 wil Efficiency Level 5 +5 Int Mana Manipulation level 12 +12 wil, +6 int Battle magic level 7 +7 int, ref, wil dagger mastery level 4 +4% Dag dam dual-wielding level 4 Survival Level 2 +1 to ref, end, wil. +2% mental res Unarmed Fighting Level 8 +2 to str, end, ref. +1% force res Short Sword Mastery Lvl 6 Level 6 +6% short sword dam. Abilities Temporary Mark Level 13 Scan Level 7 Runes Core Attuned 1/1 Electricity Level 1 Space 25% Light Level 6 Time 5% Wave 90% Arcane Level 6 Creation 10% Sharpness Level 1 Weight Level 1 Hardness Level 1 Magnetism Level 1 Heat Level 1 Motion Level 1 Modifiers Learned 8 Bolt 100% Explosion 100% Aura 100% Enhance 100% Diminish 100% Gather 100% Disperse 100% Connect 100%

At least getting better brings me some confidence in my chances to solve whatever trouble the world may throw at me. And now I have another trick in my sleeve too, I been practicing using the rings mana as fuel for magic, bothering Morgus with questions as much as I could. I decided to attune to Light, for now, It has more utility for me, especially since the modifiers I learned basically equal to a different spell each.

A weird bassy noise disrupts me from my daydream, making me jump from my bed, almost tripping over the armor I left right beside it. Light fades from the room a little and the decoration of the wall in front of me gets warped… Actually, it's all warping. Whatever confidence I had left me at the moment a louder noise resounded in the room, making me fall back to the bed.

Suddenly, everything is back to normal; with the exception of the woman now in front of me. Short hair, about the same age as me, wearing fine robes and holding a staff, with a grin on her face…

"What the hell, Mazurka!" I say with my eyes wide open and holding my pillow to defend myself.

"I knew that would surprise you, hehe… By the way, just call me Mazu. I am back, Kali, as is my magic... haha" Mazu says, laughing at my scared face.

I breathe a little and calm down before asking her "Is that space magic? How does it work?"

"Yes, I can only bend space if it's not very far, although this staff helps. How have you been?" She says, her voice sounds like she has a genuine concern. Good thing she isn't here just to scare me.

"Well, I improved a little… I know 17 runes now." I say, smirking.

"17… The fuck, Kali. Are you a monster? Do you know how much it took me to learn 3?" She says, with raised eyebrows.

"Well, some Runes take more time. I barely got anything with space, and I tried." I say.

"Hmm, good luck with that one." She says while walking to the window, opening it with a slow push and looking at the streets below.

“So, what are your plans? Do you want to stay working here, go somewhere else, or what?” Mazurka says.

“I guess my abilities would be more appropriate for the work I do here rather than going out into the world.” I say

“Okay, but what do YOU want, Kali? You can defend yourself, I fought along with you so I know that. And your abilities will improve according to what you do, so that isn’t an excuse.” Mazu says.

“Well… I don’t know where I fit in all this. I can’t go back to where I came… Not that I had anything worth it there and I don’t feel like I belong anywhere, really. But I enjoy being around you guys so…” I say, looking down while I think of something more to say.

“Varia wants me to visit some very old ruins that may be of interest to you. According to what I have been told, they might be related to the ancient civilization that may be responsible for everything… And brought you here as well. I would rather have people I know, trust, and enjoy having around, so… Come with me.” Mazu says, extending her hand and looking into my eyes as if she could see right into my soul. How could I say no to an adventure? To be honest with myself I have not been feeling amazing here, so yes, I nod to her and take her hand, she then says “let’s speak to Varia, ready?” And I answer “uh… Yes?”

Mazu walks through the wooden floor of the room while holding my hand. The same bassy sound from before is here again, this must be her warping spell at work. Colorful dots appear around us, I think it is mana, but it is changing colors so fast… The dots slowly stretch until they became lines and I notice the place is all warped up. A loud bass sound and we are inside Varia home, tons of papers are flying all over and the droid looks as angry as it could be, considering they are wearing an expressionless mask. I hope that coming here like this wasn't a mistake...

“SHIT, what the hell? If I was a human I would have shit my pants right now. You made me throw up the papers I had just pilled up in alphabetical order… Well, whatever, it's fine, I am fine, they are just papers. So, good to see you are back with your spells. Do give me the Artifact, please.” Varia says to Mazurka.

Mazurka extends her hand and out of nowhere, An object with a familiar geometric shape appears, distorting the air around it a little as it does. I played enough RPGs with dices to recognize it as a Dodecahedron, a 12-sided object with pentagons on the sides, but I am clueless of what it does so I quickly scan the object before Mazu hands it to Varia.

Name: Artifact Nullifier

Description: Creates a field around it where Artifacts are nullified.

There was no more description, but that was enough to get an idea of what this does and how powerful it can be. If used against me in a fight, for example, it would render me completely useless. Scanning didn’t show any charges so it must be self-sustainable and I think there are no visible runes inscribed, judging by the quick look I was able to get before Mazu handed it to Varia.

“Well done, this may save many lives in what is to come.” Varia says. But what is actually coming? Could it be…

“The Ghost Strain. They use highly advanced Artifacts and we don’t know exactly what they are going to do, so better to be ready. There was a fight in the valley between them and the Aesiri but they vanished a little bit after and we are having a hard time dealing with their scouts, they can be quite hard to see.” Varia says. As I found out a while ago, Varia has some political role in the city, being here for so long. Although not one in charge, the droid helps with the city administration and has a voice when decisions are made.

“So, there won’t be any immediate danger, right?” I ask. It would be harder to leave the city if someone would attack it, I could help with supplying the defenses and I would just feel guilty to leave it at a critical time.

“No, it’s just politics. You prepare yourself and let people know it so you avoid conflict. Why are you here by the way? Is there something wrong or you just wanted to appreciate my sculptures?” Varia says.

“I need her to come with me. She can scan and fight quite well, is well-versed with Artifacts, and a good company. It can get quite lonely in these ruins, you see.” Mazu says.

“I would normally persuade you to give up, but this is a really important mission. And I like my workers to work with what they feel comfortable doing, so sure, go ahead. But first, we need to build that arm of yours. We had scheduled it for tomorrow, right? Let’s do it now then.” Varia says.

Mazurka has a confident smile on her face, one that probably means everything went according to her plan. Varia goes downstairs and a couple of minutes later comes back with a big wooden box, probably with supplies and tools. “You, take it. Let’s walk to the warehouse and no more warping around here” Varia says to Mazurka, who takes the box and makes it disappear. Where does stuff go when she does that? I am definitely going to ask her when I get the chance. Now, we have to prepare ourselves for making my mechanical arm...