Build Up

Chapter 47: Build Up

/Ah, it is once again so in my old days, is it not? I find myself back here, back in this chair, back at this desk, back at these pens. I sit down once more, and I begin writing again.

It is not a diary that I write, either, no. It is not a story that I'm telling, not necessarily. I simply sit to write down the things that I need to say, that I need to write for those who may need them in the future.

Perhaps, one day, these writings will reach someone in need of them, and perhaps they never will. However, whether they do or do not matters little to me. I suppose I may have grown a little selfish over the years, but these ramblings are for no one in particular but for myself.

And as I find myself here again, as every time, I suppose I might as well introduce myself. I am Inyraxa Aruget, a magician, and a good one, or so I'm told. Today is the first freydan of summer. Half the page has already passed, and yet, the warmth is barely rolling in.

We have it Book 5, Chapter 13 now. I have stood the test of time, even as the pages passed by for quite long now, and all my hair has already gone white. My skin has grown thin and wrinkled, and any beauty I may once have held has faded.

But I have kept some things about me. I may not be as strong, or fast, or beautiful as I used to be, but I like to think that I still have my wits about me. And I dare any of you to challenge me to ago, because I will still wipe the board with your face.

But this is not about that. This here writing is about magic, for once. Oh yes, magic. Spells that use Mp to create wondrous things. Transmission of one kind of energy into another. Forming your own magical symbols and constructs.

There are vast amounts of knowledge hidden in all corners of the universe. Symbols and runes to allow teleportation over vast distances and as often as one liked, or a spell to simply raise a body for oneself. One to steal shadows, perhaps a trick to confuse, to conjure up ice and fire, to disappear in front of someone's eyes, or to simply move things without touching them.

Magic is a very, very vast school of things, and if there is one thing I am confident in saying, it is that there is so very much more we have yet to discover about magic. And perhaps one day, someone might bring a discovery or two to me while I still am able to carry a glint in my eye and celebrate it over a glass of wine and a game of ago.

Perhaps this will serve as an invitation, to see a silly old lady and to show her some hidden parts of the world one more time./

One entry out of "The ramblings of an old Magician", written by Inyraxa Aruget, once grandmaster of the casters' round table, great magician and runesmith, "The Flower of Larima".

- - - - - -

Marcel paid Mercury with a bright smile on his face. One more mission, and the mopaaw would be given the exam to become a D rank godseeker.

Mercury on the other hand was simply happy with what he got. A full 4 Pales, bumping his total funds up to a little over 7 of them. This could get him through quite a bit of paying rent, as well as feed him for more than long enough.

Things were good. For a while, it was quiet in Stormbraver. Lucia was cleaning up what she needed to, and paying the money she owed. The merchants were imprisoned, and there were no attempts to break out of it. There was the occasional thug on the street, or confrontation between people, but it was nothing like a plot to ruin things all over it.

As time passed, Mercury made sure to keep training his mana. He had quite some experience in doing so, and recently, it felt like he had been making breakthroughs just a little easier. One day especially, when he was expanding his mana veins into his claws, he felt he finally reached the end of them.

Maybe now he would be able to make some larger cuts into whatever he laid his eyes on. At least there were only his fangs left.

But of course, mana veins weren't the only thing he worked on. Mercury slowly but surely also began to read Jurika's runecarving manual, and since he had this one to pour over, he decided to get one from Nira only after finishing this one up. It was a little pamphlet, and it started off with very basic information. To carve runes, you need to scratch the symbols into some surface. This would be in the form of tiny grooves, usually.

Technically you could use elevations, but in that case you'd need to specifically frame the rune, so there were no gaps through which mana could escape, making it quite a bit harder to produce the symbol. Still, definitely possible, and with this method, it was technically possible to print runes onto things, which was an... interesting thought.

But what Mercury found much, much more interesting were the pages detailing mana infusion. Apparently you would use different mana dependant on the rune. It was different on a case-by-case basis, sure, but there were some general guidelines.

"For runes based on offense, make sure to apply the mana quickly, and, if possible, in bursts. 5 strong pulses would usually be enough, like a spear striking forward many times in a row. For defense, it is preferable to use a single strong pulse, like a shield pushing forward, or a slow string of infusion, as though you were weaving together the rings of a chainmail armor while they were still hot."

Mercury read out loud to himself to make sure he got everything. He had been reading quite a bit ever since he came to this world, some things more helpful and some less. Because of that, he also developed the habit of reading out loud whenever he found a passage more interesting to help him memorize it.

"When dealing with elemental runes, you will want to keep the mana as close to the element as possible. Boiling and wild for fire, calm and steady for water, unshakeable and solid for earth, and light and fast for wind. These are basic examples, and of course there are far more things to be discussed, but these will be a topic for another day."

Essentially, to optimize the power of his runes, he didn't just have to change the volume of mana and the runes actual physical makeup, if he wanted to really put forth some good runework, he needed to make sure the compatibility between mana and rune were solid. Interesting to note, for sure.

And apparently, there were even more tricks to this. Hm, now that he knew, at least he'd be able to gain experience.

Sadly for him, these few sentences already had taken up quite a handful of pages, since the notes were handwritten and quite unruly, with lots of things crossed out. Chaotic, for sure, so reading out loud was even more helpful.

But these net few pages?

A true treasure trove.

Whoever the fuck wrote this book was a saint to Mercury's eyes. The next few pages of the book were filled with the explanation of runes, detailing how to best carve them in Jurika's opinion, before providing an actual DRAWING of them. It even included detailed information on how it worked!

Of course, there weren't many of them, and two even had a small rip in the paper, so Mercury couldn't quite get the full picture, but there were a few runes. He simply learnt the titles until he got a chance to practice more closely, but he noted those down in his mind. There were pierce, slash, heat, cold, and a shatter rune. The two destroyed ones would have been crack and shield, which would have both been nice to have, but Mercury was really most excited about pierce.

Pierce!!! He had always used sharpness on his rocks, which was a very nice general rune to have, but for projectile weapons, what better rune could there be but pierce? Pierce must be one of the most basic and necessary runes for ranged weaponry, because that's exactly what that would be supposed to do.

He almost jumped when he read it!

But alright, since he now had this absolute treasure of wealth in his hands, and was slowly making headway with the guild, he decided that perhaps Stormbraver was a good city to spend some time in. Avery promised to help him find a good tracker, and the public library was filled with a good handful of myths and old stories.

Mercury hadn't given up hope yet, not even close to it. If anything, now that his options were a little wider, he had even more hope! Slowly, but surely. He would grow strong enough to someday see them again, and found his kingdom with them. No matter how long it took, he would, he swore it on his name, on his very self.

For a moment, Mercury sighed to himself. He didn't want to make a habit of being stuck in the past, but sometimes he simply had to look back. He still blamed himself for it a little. But he wasn't shackled by it anymore.

If anything, he was driven by it. He knew that to get everyone back, he needed to look forwards, always forwards. And right now, that forwards was cutting more rocks into shape and then carving runes into them that increase their power manyfold.

It was tedious work, sharpening the rocks, but at the very least he could see his <Crude Weaponmaking> Skill rising in level. It was at 8 after a few more days, by which point he had made all the rocks in his backpack into basically stone darts. There were 28 of them in total. Maybe a little overkill, but still probably necessary if he got into a tough fight.

Whatever the case, this was certainly enough for him to take down ordinary human adults. His <Novice Runecarving> Skill had also levelled up a little, up to 5, so he was pretty sure he was doing decently for a beginner.

Of course, this did take the better part of a few days, especially since grinding the rocks down and carving the shapes into them already needed him to use his mana veins and sometimes sharpen his claws again, and then he also needed to meditate to regain some more mana to activate the runes, and man it was a pain, but hopefully it would be worth it.

And only 2 days after he was done finishing up the rocks, while he was doing some meditation, growing his mana pool and trying to get in touch with his stamina, he heard the bell ring. The city had an attack on it coming up, and well, as a godseeker, he was absolutely invited to the dang party.

- - - - - -

Avery was half asleep from work by the time the bell rang. He hated the sound, the deep thump and the following ringing. It threw him off his balance, always seemed to make his heart skip a beat.

Avery shook his head as he forced himself awake. It was a little trick he used to force his body's fatigue out, coursing some stamina through himself and quickly tensioning and relaxing all his muscles. Made for excellent training to build up mass, and also gave the body a kick right in the day.

Ah, right, warning bells, those were still a thing. Shit, was the city under attack? Damn, it was predictable though, given that Birk had been here as a spy. He had even told the council and they had called back some of their most recent garrison, but there was still a frontline to be held against those northern folks.

Avery shook his head. Whatever, it was time for him to go to battle. They would be coming from the forest, as it gave them the longest period of hiding. South was the opposite of their origin, and northeast was a lake, so the west it was.

Then, he checked his combat baggage. He made sure his backpack was full of the supplies he needed. He double checked his potion belt, diligently putting some things he might need in there, and then, Avery specifically made sure to bring heaps upon heaps of raisin bread to a fight.

If they wanted him to keep going, he'd need some sugar, and the carbohydrates in milky bread were just perfect. Also, he just really liked the bread, so they'd better get him a monthlong stock when this was done.

Ah well, he'd be paid one way or another. Avery smiled to himself. When he thought like this, it really felt like he was a mercenary, but he himself knew he wasn't.

There was a Mercenaries' Guild, too, after all. He wasn't that. He was a godseeker, and he was goddamn proud of it.

Avery granted himself those thoughts as he stretched. It was second nature to him now, warming up to make sure he could perform to his maximum potential, so he could think next to it.

He was proud to be a guild master, proud to be a role model to all the other godseekers below him. To him, there were a few things important. Honor wasn't one of them, and neither was pride in a fight, but outside of that, he felt there was a certain need for them.

To be proud meant to be behind something with your whole being, no matter how other people judge you for it, and he was very, very proud of the guild he was part of. He was proud of its newest member, a quick learning mopaaw with a good sense of humor, of all things. And he was proud to be its master.

Avery knew he wasn't in Stormbraver because the city paid him well. He could get another station that would probably suit him much better, but really, he liked it here. He liked the members, and he liked his influence on them. To inform them that they were not simple mercenaries to do any job as long as coin was paid.

They weren't killers. They would defend, sure, but they wouldn't mercilessly kill. If possible, he wanted to avoid killing. Because killing was what mercenaries did.

He had been a hired blade, or leg, rather, before. He had been on battlefields, and he had snapped men's necks as though they were twigs. He had seen the very carnage, that reduced people to their primal instincts, and he had sworn that this wasn't his life.

No, he wasn't a mercenary, not a warmonger, not a sellsword, not a killer for hire. He was Avery Beckham, the master of the Stormbraver Godseekers' Guild, a man who protected this city down to the last bit of life in his leg, and he was done with his goddamn stretches.

And so, Avery headed out to the battlefield.

- - - - - -

Of course, Avery wasn't the only one who held some value for this city in his heart. There were many more people here than him, and apart from the godseekers, there were other factions, too.

One very familiar one even, as a priestess with platinum blond hair, almost long enough to touch the ground, stepped out on a balcony and leaned over it. She heard the warning bells and the panicked yelps below herself and she sighed, her ocean coloured eyes sweeping slowly over the city.

"Why is it, Iris, that this city seems to mind me so?"

"Pardon, m'lady?"

Lucia sighed another long sigh, turning her back on the people below to look at her attendant.

"I asked why this city seems to hate me so. They have been hostile to me since I came here, have put me on trial, and attempted forgery against me, where only so few took my side." She gripped the ring of interwoven metal on her finger hard enough to maker her knuckles turn white.

"M'lady, I understand this had been difficult," Iris said, and she could see Lucia almost flinch. Not because she was hurt, but because she was restraining her mockery. After all, what did Iris understand, what did she know? Very little, truthfully, but her lady held back once again. "And perhaps, this city minds our presence yet. Perhaps it will even mind it in the future, but that means not that hope is lost."

"These people need our help, m'lady, your help, Lucia. And what would our order, our mercy, even amount to, if it were applied selectively, if it were only shown to those we view as deserving? That is no longer order, that is no longer freedom. That, m'lady, is tyranny."

Lucia shook a little in place, her eyes cast downwards, as Iris took a step closer. For a moment, there was silence, but then Iris took the priestess' shoulders and turned her back towards the people so far below them.

"Look at these people, m'lady, and tell me what they have done wrong? Perhaps not all of them are believers, but certainly some are. Perhaps not all of them are silent ones, but some are. And perhaps some of them have sinned, or are even sinning at the moment, but even then, those deserve mercy in our order. Because they have their place, and their place certainly isn't as a charred corpse in a burnt down city."

"You are right, Iris, I know in my heart that you are, but- I- I just... It is hard, sometimes."

"I know," Iris said, running her fingers slowly through Lucia's hair.

"I just- I wish that- I-"

"It is alright my lady. I know. And one day, that time will come, and until that day, we simply have to wait, and give order to those who need it most."

And after another few moments, Lucia nodded and composed herself.

"You are right, Iris," she said with a low smile, "as you always are. Well then, if order is required, it is what will be given. Would you..."

"I will be by your side, my lady, as I always am," the maid said with a firm nod. "We will go through this, together, as we always have."