“I… don’t know what you mean,” Rhamiel said non-commitally. “I just got caught up in the moment, you know, uh, leveling up my Skill.
“Are you sure, Sweetie? We’ve noticed that you have been more closed off for a few days, not talking to us, asking for our advice or help. You’re still young and we’ve been living in this world for a long time,” Mom explained. She looked around her in a spin, following the sounds of the monsters arriving and circling the walls.
“Absolutely,” Rhamiel told her. “I’m sorry, I’ll do better.”
“Good,” Mom said with a nod. Again, you should have warned us you were going to do that, Sweetie,” Mom finished. “We don’t have a problem with you working on yourself, improving a skill. But a warning would have been nice, given that we have more monsters coming.”
“Yes,” Rhamiel acknowledged. He had to hold himself back from trying to justify his action. While he felt his action was right and a good choice, he had accomplished his goals. He found the Spirit Core that the Hero was after, and he had leveled up his Domain Skill. All in all, even with his mistake pushing it too far, he felt good about it.
“Good, just give us a warning next time,” Mom nodded. “No, if you’ll excuse me, I’ve got to go to the wall and help with the monster horde.”
“Alright, good luck,” Rhamiel said as she headed out.
The Monsters were heading steadily, coming towards the wall and coming at them. Many twisted quadripeds, creatures made of viscous goo, enraged animals, and bestial humanoids approached them, individuals or in groups. Rhamiel was sure his citizens could handle it, but he still wanted to help protect them.
But he could only cast his limited Outer Divine Spells another time or two each. So, what else could he do but watch or work on his next Skill?
In this case, Rhamiel could do both to some degree. He could split his focus, work on his next upgrade while keeping an eye out for anything. In this case, he had two more of his unused skills or perks that he wanted to work on: the Manatech Mastery Skill and his Blueprint Manipulation Perk.
While he was unsure where to begin for ManaTech Mastery, he knew how he hoped to learn more about it. To do so, he would require Lamar to break the old Core Generator with his Reverse Engineering Perk.
Now, he had an idea of how he would learn more about his Blueprint Manipulation Perk and make it viable. Focusing on his Architects Library, he pulled up the inventory of his unlocked Blueprints. He picked the Farm and looked at its description.
All farmlands can grow Mana Herb, QuartzSap Tree, and Mana Flowers.>
“Interesting,” Rhamiel mused as he considered his next step, thinking about his Perk. He had no idea what QuartzSap Trees or Mana Flowers were, but he already had some farmlands growing Mana Herb. With effort, Rhamiel focused on the Blueprint Manipulation Perk and the Farm Blueprint. He felt a strange tug in the System, drawing open a new menu he was not yet familiar with.
And when he was opening this facet of his power base, that was, of course, when something already caught his attention outside the wall.
Joselin was carefully fighting around a pair of humanoid corpses, covered in vines and branches that had grown into them in several places. She wielded the Souls Rebirth dagger, cutting the bodies with quick, precise cuts that seemed to chip away at them. One shambled forward, grasping for Joselin while the other shoddily drew back its arm, stumbling back with the effort, and striking at her. She sidestepped the grab of the Corpse and sliced at the monster with a pair of slices before dodging back and away from the vine whip. The first Corpse seemed to stare at her, a low groan escaping its throat. Taking a step forward, Joselin readied herself to strike again.
A second whip strike from the shambling foliage corpse caught Joselin across the side, knocking her off her feet. She rose to her feet with a groan, holding the Dagger forward and engaging with the monsters. Weaving past a swing of the nearer one's vine whip, she winced as she stepped in and drove the blade into its chest. She drew it down with a strange, fleshy-wooden sound.
Backing away from the Corpse, she sprinted towards the second Foliage Corpse with her Dagger held forward. She thrusted it into the monster just as it raised its arm up, almost losing its balance as it readied itself to strike. The whip started falling as she made contact and thrusted the blade into Corpse. She stepped back as the vine whip fell and smashed Joselin’s shoulder. She cried out as she backed away, her left arm shaking from the blow.
Stumbling back, the Shambling Corpse drew back its arm to the side and stepped forward. The whip swung out in a wide horizontal swing that whistled while it moved towards his System Guide.
Joselin turned towards the whip, raising her Dagger and swinging it towards the oncoming vine. She deflected the whip with an audible snap, and the vine broke immediately upon contact with the artifact. With a yell, she moved forward, thrusting the blade into the Corpse's neck and twisting. The Foliage Corpse went still, freezing up and falling to the floor much like a normal, dead corpse.
Sighing, Joselin fell to her knees and breathed heavily for a few long seconds. Though she was exhausted, she was smiling as her vision unfocused and her grip on the Dagger tightened.
A coughing bark caught Joselin and Rhamiel’s attention, turning to see a large, mangy, and desiccated wolf coming towards her. Iron barbed-wire wrapped around its body, hanging from its body as it bled and sprinted at her with single-minded rage. She stood up to face the creature, readying the Dagger to fight back with gritted teeth.
Within five meters of Joselin, the wolf creature slowed and sprang at Joselin, mouth open wide and ready to tear at her face.
Dropping to the ground, Joselin avoided the bite, but the barbed wire gouged at her flesh as it passed by and circled again.
The creature snarled and whined as it came around to try again, foam and spittle forming around its jaws. There was no humor or joy in the beast’s eyes as it readied itself to strike again; only a ravenous anger existed in its dark and weeping eyes. It paused, barked at Joselin, then sprinted towards her, its breathing heavy and labored.
Joselin had attempted to rise, gritting and baring her teeth as she held the Crystalline Dagger. She opened her mouth to scream at the monster coming at her in defiance, only to not get a single note out due to sheer surprise. A lightly armored man sprinted between her and the beast, sticking the butt of the spear into the ground and pressing one of his boots on it to hold it still. He held the spear tip up in the path of the rushing monster and braced for the impact.
Bernard felt the kick as the wolf monster impaled itself on the spear and slid down it, whining in pain as the spear tip broke its other side.
Shaking his head, Bernard unbraced the spear and, with a vicious tug, pulled it out of its chest with a sickening slurp. He turned to look at Joselin and shook his head, “Why are you not using your Bow?”
Joselin stood up slowly, “I need practice with this.” She showed the Dagger. “It is getting closer to being able to use its big effect, and to use it, I need to charge it. And to charge it, I need to kill with it.”
“Then why not let your Dad use it?” He raised an eyebrow.
Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.
“Because Rhamiel gave it to me,” Joselin shrugged. “Also, I don’t think he would like it if others used it, plus I am getting better and better with it. I just got the Parry Skill with this beauty, and I hope to.”
There was a rustle of foliage behind Joselin, and Bernard reacted faster. A disturbing screech like a dying woman echoed out, making Joselin’s spine stiffen up. A single bird, coal black and about twice as big as regular crows that the creature resembled, flapped out of the bush and went towards Joselin’s back.
Leveling his spear, he thrust it over Joselin’s right shoulder and into the face of a small bird monster. It not only impaled the beast, but the thing seemed to disintegrate as soon as the spear even touched its flesh.
“Later,” Bernard instantly said, changing his tone. “That was a Hive Carrion.”
“What?!” Joselin exclaimed nervously. “Seriously?”
Nodding, he said, “and where there is one Hive-Minded Beast…”
“There will be more,” she breathed out in exasperation. “Great, now all we need is the Spirit Core that Rhamiel found, and this will become a party.” She chuckled at her own joke, smiling as she held the Dagger in front of her, slightly back, ready to thrust or cut.
Several screeches around them made Joselin circle and look for the bird creatures. After a chorus of beating wings and shaking bushes or branches around them, a half dozen black birds zoomed out of the trees and bushes to come towards them. Joselin thrust her Dagger towards one of the Birds coming straight at her, the blade narrowly missing and the bird flying at her face.
It gripped the front of her collar and screamed in her face as it pecked at her cheeks, testingly. Joselin panicked, taking a step back, raising her arms to pull the bird away from her face with her free arm. The bird held on, pecking at her hand as she tried to pry its talons away from her. Then, with a snarl, she gripped the bird with her free hand, raised the Dagger, and cut at its neck with the Soul's Rebirth.
While fast, they couldn’t take any real damage, dying after taking two to three good blows from either of them.
“Lord Rhamiel, I have some news for you!” someone called to him outside his Mana Generator.
Looking briefly, Lamar Headley stood there with a wrapped bundle and a self-satisfied smile painted on his face.
“I’m sorry, Lamar,” Rhamiel said. “I’m afraid we are under siege right now. I’m busy watching to make sure they don’t die. So, unless this can help keep them safe-”
“Oh, then good news! It probably can!” Lamar cheered. He quickly unveiled the bundle he was carrying. He lifted a wooden stick with rather strange-looking symbols spiraling down from the tip. Around the base of the handle where Lamar was holding the item was a thin layer of what looked like dull crystal, Core Crystal.
“What is that?” Rhamiel asked frantically. He was curious, but he needed to pay attention to Joselin’s fight to make sure she didn’t die.
“A Spell Wand,” Lamar answered.
“A Spell Wand?” Rhamiel repeated back.
“Yes,” Lamar responded.
“With the part you are holding covered in what I think is Core Crystal?” Rhamiel clarified. “What is a Spell Wand?” he asked before he could push ahead. “And why do you think it can help?”
“My apologies, Lord Rhamiel, I forgot that you know not much of these things. A Wand is a magic tool with two main varieties. Casting Wands that act as a medium for casting, I believe Elgeia Setalla uses one of these. And then there are these, Spell Wands. These are engraved with runes that, all together, represent a certain spell. This one is mine, and it contains a spell called Kinetic Bolt. I use it as a defensive tool if monsters get too close. It’s not incredibly powerful, but it should help me prove a theory. Lord Rhamiel, where is your nearest cable?”
Rhamiel directed him towards the cable that fed towards the Architects' Library, and the man found the Core Power Cables after a long minute. Rhamiel could see the cable with ease; it seemed to glow with a blue-white light. But the Mad Artisan could not find it despite the glow. After he did find it, Rhamiel chose to ask.
“It glows to you, eh? To me, it almost camouflages into the surroundings, almost like an old vine. But now that I pick it up, I can feel the constant stream of Mana pushing through it. It's fascinating, but why do I wish to try this?” Lamar pressed the Core Crystal-covered wand handle to the cable, and it automatically connected.
It took a few seconds to properly fuse together, and Rhamiel took a few seconds to check on Joselin and Bernard. Joselin was drinking from a waterskin while Bernard fought back a duo of those Shambling Foliage Corpses. While he wasn’t as elegant as Joselin, he was faster, moving just barely inside their range and thrusting his spear in before backing away and moving to the side to repeat the procedure while Joselin rested a little.
Rhamiel felt the Wand connect to the Wand and the magic spell within. Inside the Wand was a framework, like when he placed the wireframes he used for building, only these were generated by the runes that encircled the Wand. When Mana passed through the Wand, it filled the framework, and the spell was cast.
Energy erupted from the Wand; a translucent bolt of magic shot up towards the sky.
[Skill Unlocked - Structured Spellcraft Level 1.]
[Structured Spellcraft Level 1 - While being able to cast spells like a regular denizen of the world is impossible for you due to your mineral Physiology, you have found one of the workarounds available to you. For every level of this Skill, you gain the power to use more potent spells, gain mana efficiency with this type of casting, and gain more power.
Current means of spell casting: Up to Tier 1 Spell Wands.]
“What is this?!” Rhamiel raged. “You mean to say that I got my hopes of being able to cast spells normally up for no reason!”
“What? What is it, Lord Rhamiel?” Lamar practically begged, raising his voice to be heard before Rhamiel got upset again.
Rhamiel said nothing. In his upset state, he was not sure he would not go off on the Artisan. So Rhamiel just willed the description of his new Skill towards Lamar and waited a moment for his response.
“I mean, it’s pretty good for a level one Skill,” he commented. “Unfortunately, from what you have told me, you may not be able to cast spells like everyone else. You are not a mortal spellcaster like Elgeia, nor any kind of known Spirit Core. You are a Civilization Core, a wondrous thing for us in these dark times. I mean, this is potentially very powerful, like a ballis-”
Lamar paused, staring out into space for several long seconds as his eyes moved back and forth as if reading a System Prompt. But they were glowing a fluorescent orange color as the trance seemed to go on.
“Eureka!” Lamar shouted, raising both fists into the air with a strange cheer. “Lord Rhamiel, I have an idea. May I see Hutch?”
“Sure?” Rhamiel said, unsure what else he could have told the man.
With a wide grin, Lamar practically sprinted towards the Architects' Library. He was yelling at the top of his lungs, “Huuuutch! Where are you? Ah! Come on, I need you to help me design a thing!”
Rhamiel turned his attention back to Joselin and Bernard, only to find their situation only mildly better. Joselin’s breathing had evened out, and her wounds were healing while Bernard fought the monsters. They approached in small groups of two to three, mostly Foliage Corpses or Barbed Wire Wolves, small enough for them to handle. Their situation was not as critical as it had been only a moment earlier.
He released the breath he had been holding and relaxed a little as he returned to his work.
Trying again, Rhamiel found the process of using Blueprint Manipulation on the Farm Blueprint simple. He was pulled into a state of hyperfocus, nothing else seeming to catch his attention beyond the wireframe of the Farm Blueprint.
For a quick moment, the Core was disappointed at the lack of any difference with this Blueprint. The format looked nearly identical to the Wireframes that he would see while placing them. The only difference was the many pronounced points where the frame lines met.
Moving with a little bit of instinct, Rhamiel mentally grabbed the boundary of the Farm and pulled. The Farm's border expanded to a sharp point, and the resources needed to build it increased with its size.
Rhamiel balanced the Farm's border by extending another corner and experimenting with this new feature.
Rhamiel did not take long to learn a few things about this Perk. First, it allowed him to combine compatible Blueprints. It allowed him to add a house or granary to the Farm Blueprint, but not the Blacksmith. He had to make the Blueprint bigger and increase the overall resources needed to build it by a certain amount.
Second, that he could imagine adding specific resources from his imagination and create minor structures. The System at least labeled them as Minor Structures for this purpose. Things like signs, torches, and tables could be added.
Third, and most importantly, he found he could design and save custom buildings. Still, he immediately chose not to save any. His few attempts were terrible, even before the System prompts told him.
“No, I will figure this out,” Rhamiel growled.
“My Lord? Lord Rhamiel, can you hear me?” Lamar called, drawing the Core from his focused task.
“W-what?!” Rhamiel shot out, losing focus, and found the Artisan standing next to the Core Generator, looking rather frightened. “What is it, what’s wrong?”
“I- I’m sorry for disturbing you, Lord Rhamiel,” Lamar stammered, gaining confidence as he spoke. Raising a hand, the Mad Artisan shook a rolled piece of parchment towards the Core while announcing. “But I had inspiration, which gave me an epiphany that I had to work on, and I did it! I made us something useful.”
Extending a line of Mana towards the rolled vellum, Rhamiel got a prompt.
Rhamiel selected yes.
Rhamiel looked through the information within. Immediately ecstatic, Rhamiel gushed at the new Blueprint. “This is amazing! Can we build this thing now?”
“There’s the issue, My Lord, No,” Lamar said. “We still need the blacksmith building and the Blacksmith himself to make the nails.”
“AH!” Rhamiel shouted. “Iron. Always holding me back! Gah!” Rhamiel fumed. Then the word choice caught his attention. “Wait, the Blacksmith and the building, but not the iron?”
“Have you not seen Karrow recently?” he asked curiously.
“No, why?” Rhamiel pushed.
Coughing into his fist to clear his throat, Lamar said, “Well, he found an iron vein. He said it wasn’t a big one, but he insisted it would last for a bit.”