Chapter 215

Time, meaning and action cease to exist to me.

But reality abhors absolutes and those concepts are slowly recreated and turn tangible again. I reach for the constant and infinite flow of Qi as my creation field pulls things from nothing.

An aspect of my interaction with Qi changed after integrating myself with the world, but I can’t put my finger on it. Even if I do leave this rare occurrence behind, something fundamentally changed in me.

I shake my head and open my eyes feeling dizzy but wired. As the lights hit my pupils, the inside of Blackwood’s shop seems brighter than the sun at noon. I squit my eyes with everything shiny and new but when that instinct goes away, my vision is so sharp that it can cut even Mithril.

Slowly the dumbstruck faces of the other apprentices and the proud beaming smile on Blackwood’s face pierce my state and I get up.

“You have done it. You really outdid yourself.”

“Uhh? I…”

He picks up and delivers to me a staff. A perfect thing gleaming and swirling with magic as runes over every inch of it. Deep steel melded with a hint of Mithril.

That is beside the gold and Mithril alloy inlaid forming runes a few familiar and a few unfamiliar ones. From a few feet away I realize that half of it is missing. There is a path for my roots to grasp and become an integral part of the enchantments he put in.

“I thought you couldn’t do this brand of… runes. Just the ones that increased stats or mimicked skills.”

“Well, normally I would have been restricted, but only because I’m in the instance. But you… you broke through and exceeded what you needed to become my apprentice before even accounting for that amazing creation field. The few other times I got its effects, it was too tenuous for me to risk using it, but carefully curating what I pulled this time… the snippets of knowledge from your mind and the perception field let me act much more freely.”

I let his words sink in as I extend my roots out. Gold and Mithril laced roots reach in completing it. So perfect is the craftsmanship that I don’t even need to ask him for the blueprint as the entire design simply flows in a single action.

I stare at it for a long time before inspecting it.

Staff of Magic

Forged and engraved by a master of the craft with Nash as its intended wielder.

All effects are halved if used by anyone but Nash.

All effects are halved without a perfectly matched engraving of living wood.

All effects increased by 20% if used by a worthy wielder.

Effects:

Attack +24/2= +12 (All deferred physical attack power is returned as control over the outcome of a blow.)

2.4% Increase in power of any magic

9.6% Increase in power of any magic powered by Qi

9.6% Increase in range of any magic powered by Qi

Resource storage: (0/1200)

“Can it actually contain Qi?”

“Test it.” He says with the best poker face I ever saw. Not closed and unyielding, but simply unchanging in the sheer joy he was already showing and therefore not giving me a hint of where his thoughts lie.

So I test it by driving a bit of my Qi inside.

A few points seem to stay in place for a moment, but then I realize it is slowly diffusing and 20 seconds later it completely fades into the air.

I try a couple more times to no avail.

“Ok, no need to rub it in my face that it didn’t work with Qi. Now try it with the Life and Vigor.”

I do exactly that slightly surprised that he knows the names of all my resources off the top of his head. He has been paying more attention than I realized.

This time the results are much more satisfying containing both effortlessly.

I highly appreciate the gift as a whole, but this particular feature doesn’t seem all that important given I had ways of storing all my resources which would grow way beyond anything this staff could contain.

I simply didn’t need Vigor storage with Aspen's overabundance. Even if I used all his pool which is thousands of times larger than mine, there were plenty of other seeds old enough to pitch in. The Life resource had also been dealt with. Though I did need to spend roughly 70 or 80 points to conjure a living vessel that could store only a point. With plenty of meditation and carefully timing the donations the last few months had me developing something that stored more than my own pool, though as I’m about to dismiss the idea, I realize something is different. The pinprick of pain from ‘harming’ my main Life container is fainter than usual.

I look at it and can almost see the puncture already healing. With regeneration like this not majorly affecting my pool, the regen rate that grew absurdly low most of the time could stay closer to the normal pace.

So he not only listens, he is a near mind reader given I don’t think I ever discussed the particulars of my resources.

“How did you know?”

“An informed guess.”

Seeing his genuine smile, I just take a step back and continue analyzing instead of driving him to reveal his secrets.

“Why did you limit the damage of the weapon?

“To give you a taste of the second tier of skills… the ones beyond level 100. I think that is the rough direction yours will take. It doesn’t seem you will go beyond level 100 in your class before leaving, so consider this an opportunity.”

“I have to thank you. How much will it cost me though?”

“This one time I have a lot of leeway, so…. It’s a gift.”

“You… “ I run the math in my head. He spent… “This is 10 Mithril coins worth of raw materials.”

“And you are now my apprentice. This and the spear I made are your rewards.” I glimpse behind him and his plan becomes obvious. A heavy and solid weapon of gleaming steel to rival the best we ever forged. In most ways even surpassing Alex’s spear. But this is no light instrument, but a brute tool more suited for Greg.

I approach and nearly heave at the enormous weight.

Spear of defense

Forged and engraved by a master of the craft.

All effects increased by 10% if used by a worthy wielder.

All effects are halved if used by an unworthy wielder.

Effects:

+22 Atk

+22 Vitality

Skills:

Knockback: 10 Mana per use

Shield Ally: At least 100 Mana per use

“I tried to make it a little more general so Greg could use it. There wasn’t a good restriction to add to increase the power in his hands, but it’s better than anything you have the capital to buy or make just yet. It turned out a little strange, but it will work.”

“Well, thank you,” I say simply. But he just keeps staring at me until I start to get uncomfortable.

“I’m the one to thank you.”

“Why?”

“You didn’t just unlock plenty of benefits, you gave me unprecedented freedom in the instance months before the earliest I ever heard anyone getting it and even doing that is so rare and requires an exceptionally trained Aether wielder…”

“Yeah. I get it…”

“No you don’t, because you didn’t just become my apprentice, you opened the way for a second one with the stunts you pulled. Not sure what exactly, but it doesn’t matter, you gave room for one of the duo to join. With how rare talented and true lovers of the craft are, I had basically resigned myself to missing out on the opportunity. Your race is blessed with three people with a chance to achieve the pinnacle of the profession.”

“Well enjoy teaching them,” I say wholeheartedly. “Now about the benefits of becoming your apprentice…”

“I can’t give you everything today, but now I have a lot more leeway in how I handle things and I can already give you two books. Real books on smithing and engraving that align closely with how your humans implement runes. It’s too bad you won’t be here for the lectures in person, but I don’t think you will let that stop you.”

I spend another hour getting the gist of his teachings and barely containing myself to implement everything I’m learning in this class. Then I make sure all the recorders for his upcoming lectures are in full working order before leaving. I have little more than a day before I leave and so much was added to the plate.

As the blue sky comes into my field of view, in the corner of my eye the ever growing tree beside the town hall takes a huge part of the real state much to our ‘Mayor’s’ dismay. Tourists surround it, as it has ever more become an attraction to any of the hundreds of daily passers through to our village. Few passed here without other business at hand, but nobody failed to stare and admire the fifty meters tall tree with its newest inhabitant.

So far, he had proved to be an ally eagerly fighting at the end of the month, though he was far from his optimum state after having lost his limbs and the lower torso even twice.

I reach down and power both my repulsing runes drawn through my body and the reflectors underground.

With a deft touch that only years in the time chamber had given me, I push a hint of my Qi out of my body to extend the range of the magic while the perception field provides unprecedented feedback on its use. I still didn’t quite match Merlin’s capability of wielding over a thousand runes simultaneously, but I could hold my own in many cases and even exceed him when it came to my mental dexterity by a good margin. I climb the thirty meters effortlessly. With the smooth wind blowing past my face and mixed attire in the form of light leather and root weaved cotton.

After all, even if I wasn’t wearing full root armor for convenience, nothing beat the instant capability of wielding my roots in such a small form factor.

Touching the ankle of the Titan sprawled back on one of the larger branches, the sense that it is talking to someone else is unmistakable. A moment later I feel the two distinct voices reach me.

NASH… Come talk?

Join me. – The little seed asks for help given the limited way it can interact with the Titan. Though it is not like I can do much better.

Are you enjoying the sun?

Yes, long time without proper Sun Bath. Good for skin.

I have felt that as well.

Though this not good sun. Something wrong with light… But better than nothing.

Yes. System. Eye in the sky.

His snort feels like a kid blowing a raspberry. The disdain and mistrust are obvious but I don’t drive him to talk ill of the system. I came for something else.

I will leave tomorrow.

So soon.

I said a month last time we talked about it.

But so soon. Can I come?

I… That will be your decision, but I can’t promise safety with the stunts I’m about to pull and you have been helpful around here that I don’t want to take you if you are not sure.

Ahh, confusing words. Baaaahh…. I stay, fight. Grow strong. Then bonk the eye in the head until it turns right.

I feel thin streams of Aether in the air at his declaration. The simple conviction of his words was enough for the universe to nearly bend to his will. I chuckle out loud which rattles my bones when he imitates me.

Yes, bonk the system in the head. Bonk. BONK. BONK. BONK. BONK

Only he could say something like this so simply that I almost believed him. In many ways, the single minded track his mind had was reminiscent of my best friend.

After you deal with the system’s small green minions. There will be real sunlight. A star old enough for you to properly bathe. I could probably take you even closer so that even your skin would get crisp.

You… Flying metal things… expensive.

I sense his shock as I refer to starships, but I just shrug it off.

Cheap and slow ones. We made them before the system, we can make them again.

He stares at his hand and the confusion in his head settles. He extends his arm out for me and after only a brief pause I shake the pillow sized hands as best as I can.

The world disappears as gravity that has nothing to do with a planet pulling us to the ground settles around us. The entire universe warps and reality is overturned by a tremendous will. A healing creature rescued from the worst cage I ever witnessed. A being that didn't rely on the system. A contract forms between us deeper than anything the system could establish and my heart is fully hardened when I realize how serious he is.

Your word must be true. I need the power of the sun to bonk the system’s head.

You will have it.