A Relatively Powerful Mage

The mana demand in Celestia continued to grow. Imri had noticed that nearly everyone now had some use for it. Of particular note, those tasked with establishing the settlement's agriculture could use mana when they planted crops, improving the rate at which it would grow to maturity and improving resiliency. It wouldn’t be long before Celestia would have its first crop of potatoes.

The first permanent structures were starting to take shape, being built faster than any pre-integration structure despite their lack of heavy machinery. Several of the builders had become dual class and profession holders with the addition of earth mages to their mundane building profession. They also used mana on key pieces of materials, strengthening them permanently like the other crafters. Most of the time this was done to reduce the amount of lumber needed, something they were in short supply of. They also were constructing the buildings primarily from bricks to further conserve the lumber.

Caroline had been hard at work, and her diligence bore fruit. She had come up with a better solution to the difficulty they were having harvesting powerful monster corpses. Apparently, the Cliff Drakes had a powerful stomach acid that could dissolve almost anything that wasn’t a Cliff Drake stomach. She had refined the acid, producing a powerful solvent that could be applied to break apart just about anything. She had also developed solutions that would render a material more malleable for a time. While this was essentially what a tanner did to a hide before passing the hide to a leatherworker, her new solution was geared towards the bones of the powerful monsters. This had given rise to an enterprising individual who gained the profession called a Bone Shaper. He used a variety of magical and mundane means to shape the near-indestructible material into usable armor and weapons.

All the industry was all well and good for Celestia, but it meant no one had surplus mana and the communal mana crystal was in a perpetual state of emptiness. It was also obvious that an infusion of mana into the budding settlement would drastically improve productivity.

Imri looked over the panel that Avery had constructed. It was far from elegant, the item had been constructed from various scraps of metal no one had found any use for. Thin grooves of geometric patterns made the entire panel resemble a giant circuit board. The copper wire had been soldered onto the end, allowing the contraption to be connected to the mana crystal.

Imri accepted the finished product, thanking Avery and paying the man handsomely. Avery complained it was far too much, but Imri was having none of it. His own wealth was plummeting rapidly as he financed various projects with his own money, mostly relating to food and building production. Still, he had plenty of credits and he could only buy so many level 10 cores before their utility fell off.

With the panel taken care of, Imri began his portion of the project. It was, without a doubt, the single most tedious and repetitive enchantment he had done. Unfortunately, he needed to painstakingly inscribe each mana absorption rune with care, every point of mana efficiency being important. His only break from the tedium was a few runes with auxiliary functions. The first was an automatic shut off if the crystal ever filled to capacity, something Imri felt was unlikely anytime soon. He had also added a rune that could be tapped to turn the device on and off, though again he didn’t think it would be off much. Finally, he had created a few runes to calculate the rate of mana absorption, similar to his mana density reader, though this one would measure actual mana into the system. This included the amount spent to keep the mana absorption functions running and the amount sent to the crystal.

After the better part of a day was spent inscribing, he looked at his finished work. It looked even more like a circuit board now as the numerous runes provided a contrast to the various metals. With the communal mana crystal plugged in, Imri infused mana into the enchantment. Ever so slowly, the numerous runes began to light up, one after another as more mana was drawn in. He inspected the makeshift screen, which again wouldn’t have passed pre-integration accessibility standards. He was relieved to see that the mana absorption number was rising, though the entire system would take hours to be fully operational. Imri tapped the rune that would shut off the device, not having the patience to wait for the device to become fully operational. This was only a test run and he had seen enough to know the enchantment was working as designed. He took out his highest-level core and began the process of finalizing his work. It took almost the entire core of a Cliff Drake to finish all the various runes that had been inscribed. Fortunately, the overall mana efficiency went up by a few points from using the higher-level core, just like it had when he had created the utility knife of spatial tear. He infused a small amount of mana, having very little left available after spending so much time working. It hadn’t been much mana, but slowly the panel absorbed more mana than it used, allowing the device to start functioning. It would still take hours, the final version wasn’t much more efficient than the test version.

Item Mana Efficiency Description

Panel of Mana Absorption 196 A large panel designed to absorb ambient mana. It is perpetually self-powering as long as the amount of mana absorbed exceeds the amount of mana needed to operate the enchantment. Excess mana is sent to mana storage via leylines.

Imri Padar has reached level 14 in Runic Engineer (2F)

Primary Stats Gained New Value

+1 Strength 121

+1 Willpower 147

Secondary Stats Gained

+1 HP 135

+4 MP 301

+2 Crafting Efficiency 328

Imri put the mana absorption panel out of his mind, a watched panel wouldn’t charge any faster. Instead, he investigated a crowd that had been gathering around the outskirts of the settlement. It turned out to be the first of the hunting groups returned, though Imri knew Emelia and her group were not back yet. It was Sylvi’s group, having successfully hunted one of the giant porcupine-like beasts. Even with the beast disassembled in pieces that could be hauled, it was obvious the creature had been even larger than a Cliff Drake, and had far more meat. Now, their food was only limited by the dimensions of the icebox pit they had created to freeze things, which still had a sizable amount of Cliff Drake meat. Someone had also managed to create a small makeshift shed that could be used to smoke a large portion of the newly acquired meat. They had also carried as many of the gargantuan quills as they could manage, those likely needing very little alteration to make effective spears.

“The actual fight wasn’t very interesting, the only hard part was tracking one of them down. They hardly ever move and easily blend in with the terrain. They’re not particularly fast or hard to hit from range, and our bows easily out-range their quills. It took a lot of arrows to bring the thing down though,” Sylvi explained.

Sylvi had been boasting about how everyone in her hunting party had gained a level, some of them two. Her jaw dropped when she learned Imri and Caroline had far outpaced them from the Cliff Drake hunt. The night was raucous, as they toasted and celebrated the first successful hunt.

The next day the other two groups returned, with Zhaire’s group returning first, sometime around midday. Zhaire grumbled, agitated that his group hadn’t been successful. He was only further agitated when he learned how successful the time away had been for everyone else, especially Imri. He was mollified when Caroline brought out her second heritage elixir. This was one made from the Cliff Drake. She warned him that it was more potent than the one Sylvi had taken, offering a slightly more powerful rank up, however it had a much higher suggested constitution at 140.

While Caroline meant well, that had been the wrong thing to say to Zhaire. All he likely heard was that it was more potent than the one Sylvi had taken. He threw caution to the wind practically yanked it from the alchemist's hands and downed it in a couple quick gulps.

While 140 was a monstrous constitution number, Zhaire had nearly that amount. He also was further past the minimum recommended level. Due to this, the transformation was painful, but Zhaire remained coherent for the entire thing. While some of it was similar to Sylvi’s, his bones broke and his muscles were remade, one part was far worse. All of his skin was replaced, sloughed off in large chunks as new skin grew in. Zhaire screamed in agony as his skin was shed, most of the few remaining onlookers to the gruesome transformation looking away at this point. Eventually, after a couple of hours, the process ended and Zhaire collapsed to the ground. He was too drained to care about the disgusting components that his body had expunged.

Despite the brutal nature of the heritage rank-up, Zhaire smiled as he stared into space, likely reviewing his improved stats. Just like Sylvi, it wasn’t just the improved modified stats that weren’t visible, but his entire body looked physically more impressive, though the change was more subtle for a man who had already had the physique of a professional athlete. For Zhaire, the supernatural change had been to his skin. It wasn’t obvious when first glancing at him, it looked the same at a cursory glance, but on closer inspection, Imri could see his skin had a different, harder texture, almost like his entire body had become calloused.

Despite Zhaire’s discomfort, he was obviously pleased with the results. His new heritage emphasized how tough the lizards were to damage, gaining most in survivability-related areas. He gained two traits, Impervious Skin which reduced all damage by an amount equal to 10% of his constitution. This was especially effective from lighter attacks that required a weak spot in armor, with his entire skin now effectively being armor with no gaps and no extra weight or other movement restrictions. However, It didn’t make him invulnerable, the Umbral Tiger had likely done almost 200 damage from its swipe that disemboweled him. His new skill would have lessened the damage slightly, but Zhaire still would have been seriously injured. His second trait was Drake's Regeneration. It provided a 5% increase to his HP regeneration rate while also allowing him to regrow lost limbs.

After Zhaire had finished gloating, he left to retire to his tent early. Teresa followed behind, reminding Zhaire he would need to bathe before anything else. It wasn’t long after that when Emelia’s group returned, making Imri immediately forget about Zhaire.

Emelia was covered in dirt, her hair messy, and generally looked worn down. She brightened when her eyes landed on Imri’s. Imri closed the distance between them, embracing her, and kissed her passionately as the two of them were reunited. The discussion of what each had been doing was put on hold as they not so discreetly sauntered back to their tent. They both knew what they wanted through their Empathic Bond. The reciprocal nature of the bond also made sex even more intimate, not that Imri had much to compare it against. He delighted in knowing when he pleased her, and whether it was from experience or improved physical stats, he didn’t know or care.

They briefly caught up with each other while Imri recovered for a second go. Emelia was practically giddy as she explained Orion, her Starseeker beast companion. Her first question had been asking Imri if he could teleport the massive creature to the plateau. When he had laughed she gave him a mock pout, though he knew she was genuinely disappointed, no matter how ridiculous the request had been. She knew that Orion was safely absorbing mana storm, so she wasn’t too worried, though she did mention exterminating every Umbral Tiger so the Starseeker would be completely safe. When Imri listed all that he had accomplished, she just nodded, as if Imri was describing a mundane day at the office.

“Did you develop a mind-reading skill too?” Imri asked.

“No, though there is a teenager named Antonio who we found wandering the plains who can read and control minds. His twin sister Veronica can move shit with her mind,” Emelia said as if that bit of information had slipped her mind.

“So how come you aren’t surprised about my new spell or the Cliff Drakes?” Imri asked.

“If I got surprised every time you come up with some new enchantment or powerful spell, I’d be living in a state of being perpetually surprised, and only an idiot is always surprised,” Emelia pointed out.

“And these psionic kids? What’s their deal?” Imri asked, still feeling slightly miffed that she didn’t seem impressed with his accomplishment but letting the matter go.

Emelia explained how they had come from Kansas City, chased out of the city by giant dog ogres. She also added her suspicion that they had been ostracized by at least one group when their powers were revealed.

“Why? Wouldn’t everyone want powerful people in their group?” Imri asked.

“That's true for everyone who is like you, but most people aren’t always so rational, especially around someone who can mess with their mind,” Emelia said with a wide grin that suggested she had predicted he would react this way.

“I have a mental resistance thanks to your skill, so why would I be paranoid? I should meet with them, secure their allegiance, and convince them to stay long-term,” Imri said.

"I think they would really appreciate that, those kids have been through a lot."

"Everyone has been through hell," Imri said sadly.

“Ready for round two?” Emelia asked, abruptly changing the topic with a mischievous grin. Imri was about to reply that it hadn’t been more than fifteen minutes since the last time, but her hand slid into his boxers and they both knew he was ready to go.