Ar'Kendrithyst

Chapter 50

When Erick asked about dyes on the way to the farms, Poi directed him to a cloth weaver’s business along the way. A helpful young bluescale man was glad to sell Erick some dyes, but warned him, in a legal sort of way, that death is the punishment for selling inferior enchantments in Spur.

Dyeing gems was quite normal, if one was just learning the trade, but the sale of such an item was quite frowned upon. While Erick was still digesting that information, Bluescale directed Erick to their pre-made dye kits containing 8 perfect color-matched Main and Secondary Stat dyes, formulated for the aspiring enchanter. The kits were 255 gold. Erick bought one, but knew it would likely go unused.

Dyes were damn expensive.

- - - -

With the sky raining platinum and a 300 gallon water basin already filled and inside the temple, Erick dumped two diamond fragments into the huge basin, and cast [Crystallize Diamond]. On a bit of inspiration, he turned on [Cleanse Aura] while the gems bubbled in the basin. [Cleanse Aura] was a major drain, 5 mana every second; he couldn't keep both [Cleanse Aura] and [Exalted Storm Aura] active for more than 5 minutes. But he didn’t need to.

The platinum in the water shimmered bright as it sucked into the growing gems. Thick air bubbled up from the basin. After four minutes, all the platinum had soaked into the gems; the water was clear. The thick air coming up from it now was much less than before. Erick didn’t know what kind of toxins he was creating out of the platinum rain, but thankfully, [Cleanse] was here to solve that issue before it became a problem.

Erick cut his [Cleanse Aura], and turned on his Handy Aura. This was a much easier drain; his mana began to tick back up. He Handy Aura’d the gems into the air; they were each three inches across, with a silver interior, and a layer of clear diamond over that. Erick [Stoneshape]d a fragment of the clear exterior of one diamond and put those fragments into the water. With another [Cleanse] and another two [Crystallize Diamond]s, the water resumed bubbling. Erick put the partially silver gems to the side; he would not be using those.

He renewed [Crystallize Diamond] on the new seed crystals as needed, and [Cleanse]d the water every now and again, but mostly, he left the basin and the two growing gems to their own devices, while he practiced color masking with [Ward].

Over the last few days, a great deal more memories of time spent helping Jane in school came rushing back. On the subject of color: Light was additive, but pigment was subtractive. And [Special Wards], well…

[Special Ward] was special.

Erick worked on the left side of the temple while his diamonds bubbled on the right.

[Special Ward].

A red-mask [Ward] popped up, five foot across, in the air. Erick nodded. This was good. Looking through the otherwise-invisible [Ward] was like looking through a red lens.

[Special Ward].

A blue-mask [Ward] popped up, five foot across, in the air, similar to the red mask in every way but color. Erick nodded. This was good.

But the intersection of the two [Special Ward]s was a pure black void; the two [Ward]s, each attuned to a different frequency of light, were each blocking the only light that the other one let through. Erick frowned. Just to make sure he was casting the spell correctly —selecting the color to come through based on wavelength, and not something else— Erick popped out seven smaller [Special Ward]s in the air, one right after the other, each slightly touching their neighbors.

Violet. Indigo. Blue. Green. Yellow. Orange. Red.

Very good. Erick was able to choose the light based on wavelength. He wasn’t exactly sure how he did all that, but it involved a lot of visualization and applying his own measurements to reality. Violet was 1, with the shortest visible wavelength, while Red was 100. Erick had completely forgotten the correct scale, but it was supposed to be in nanometers. How the heck was he supposed to remember that? There were bigger problems, here.

Like how, sandwiched between each of Erick’s otherwise-invisible [Wards], was a bit of black, where the combined denial of all wavelengths created a void.

Erick tried a different experiment: Instead of a mask, he produced orbs that gave off light. This time, the lightorbs combined where they touched, producing teal and seafoam, amber and umber. That made sense. They were a source of light, and not a mask. They were also terrible for enchanting. Lightorbs did not block interfering wavelengths of enchantment; they just hid what was actually there.

On a lark, Erick produced three overlapping lightorbs: Red, Blue, and Green. And yup, they worked like light. Between red and blue was magenta, blue and green made cyan, green and red made yellow. At the intersection of all of them was white light. So that was obviously working correctly.

The obvious solution to a two-part enchant was a mask that let through two wavelengths of light.

[Special Ward].

A mask attuned to red and blue appeared, like an otherwise-invisible magenta blot on the world. Erick put his hand inside, and yup, his hand was now magenta. Erick dismissed all of the [Special Ward]s, and cast an [Absorption Ward] across the whole of the temple—

Poi interrupted, “Sir. Do you really want to experiment with exploding diamonds… inside the temple?”

Erick paused. He looked over at the possibly-delicate statue of Atunir at the back of the temple. He could [Mend] the statue; that wouldn’t be a problem. But then he looked out over the farms. He said, “Shrapnel could fly pretty far, couldn’t it?”

Poi, relieved, said, “Yes, sir.”

Erick nodded, walking over to the basin. The spell was still going; bubbles broke the surface, while diamonds tumbled underwater. They had gotten big. The real winner here, though, was that the water was completely purified. Not a trace of platinum. Erick went and grabbed the stone bowls he had made yesterday and stored beside the statue of Atunir. With a bit of Handy Aura and the opening of dyes, Erick soon had four bowls filled with very specific shades of red and blue, in perfectly clear water.

With a bit of [Stoneshape], Erick had four seed diamonds plucked from the new clear diamonds. He dropped one each into the Strength-Crimson, Vitality-Cinnabar, Willpower-Ultramarine, and Focus-Cyan water. He started with the Strength-Crimson bowl.

[Crystallize Diamond].

Erick watched the diamond spurt around in the red water, but nothing changed. The red did not get sucked into the diamond like the platinum had. Erick let the gem bubble and stew, and went on to the other three bowls, setting each of the gems underwater to bubbling, smiling a bit to himself, thinking back to coloring Easter eggs with Jane when she was ten.

And then he frowned and laughed, as he remembered Jane pummeling the neighborhood boys with hardboiled eggs.

He went to his enchanting books to pick up where he left off. He renewed [Crystallize Diamond] as he let his mana recover to full. He did not [Cleanse]; that would probably destroy the dye.

Half an hour later, Erick checked on the diamonds. None of the color had been sucked into any of the gems, in any of the pools, but something did happen in each case. The Strength-Crimson diamond was vaguely pink; the color too dim to matter. He would have to leave that in the bowl overnight, like the dye suggested, if he wanted it to turn red. But Erick wasn’t going to do that. He put the barely-pink diamond aside then [Cleansed] that water and dumped it out. Vitality-Cinnabar was brown. Not a bad looking brown, but not the color needed for enchanting; this one was a failure. Erick pulled that gem from the bowl. Then he [Cleanse]d the water, destroying the color and any leftover toxins before he dumped the water out. Willpower-Ultramarine was brown, too. That bucket of water met the same fate as the rest.

Focus-Cyan dye and [Crystallize Diamond] created a yellow diamond.

It was a pretty yellow diamond; almost the color of sunshine. But it wasn’t what Erick wanted. Physical dyes in conjunction with [Crystallize Diamond] probably did something with the elements composing the dye, instead of just sucking the dye into the diamond. Erick either needed a magical dye, like how [Exalted Storm Aura] made platinum rain, or he needed the color mask [Ward]s to work.

And since the color masks already seemed to work, Erick decided to go forward with the masks.

But first! Another attempt at [Familiar]!

Erick had taken Sizzi’s advice to heart; if his [Familiar] didn’t have absolutely everything it needed, then it wasn’t good enough to stick around. So with that in mind, Erick chained together four hard needs, one desire, and three spells.

[Telepathy].

[Scry].

[Conjure Force Elemental].

Summon Rocky, close range, 316 MP + Variable

Summon a Rocky to do your bidding.

Rocky persist until killed or dismissed.

All Rocky are the same; to know one is to know them all.

Maximum 3 Rocky; the oldest Rocky will be dismissed upon exceeding cap.

See through their eyes. Variable.

A two foot tall jumble of ice appeared in front of Erick, in the rain just outside of the temple. It didn’t do anything but sit there; if Erick hadn’t just summoned it he would have thought someone had lost their ice. But. Ah. Now that he was looking closer... Not ice. Those were octahedral diamonds. All of the Rocky’s body was made of force, but it looked like diamond. Erick chalked that up to his own muddled thoughts.

Erick poked the creature with [Telepathy], but the pile of rocks did nothing. He tried using the mental commands of [Conjure Force Elemental], but this was not [Conjure Force Elemental]; there was no innate mental link. Not only was the creature mindless, but it seemed to be missing even the barest bit of [Conjure Force Elemental]’s telepathic control system.

Erick called out, “Hey, Rocky!”

The jumble of rocks responded. Its ‘head’ lifted from its ‘body’. Five or six disconnected ‘arms’ held the little guy off of the ground. It ‘walked’ toward Erick, its tumbling, spinning body parts propelling it forward, the not-diamonds of its body glittering in the gentle platinum rain.

Erick winced. He dismissed the summon and ripped apart the spell. The Rocky brought a limb to the ground and cracked in half. The creature fell, disintegrating, scattering white ash across the ground, vanishing into a white mist that disappeared under tinkling platinum rain.

Erick frowned, then proceeded to clean up his dye experiment. Water was [Cleanse]d and dumped, dyes were put away. Erick set those four bowls into the rain, then got six more to fill with platinum water. He chipped ten platinum diamond seeds from the first diamonds of the day, making sure that the gem chips he got were completely platinum.

With a look to the sky, and a push of intent, rain soon fell harder into the bowls, which he had to adjust with [Stoneshape] to better catch the downpour. Erick threw the platinum seeds inside the bowls, cast [Crystallize Diamond], over all of them, then went back into the temple to read his enchanting textbooks.

For the next hour, he cast [Crystallize Diamond] as needed, and [Cleanse] every 10 seconds.

And he read.

When the day’s scheduled farm was over, Erick had 10 perfectly platinum octahedral, messy diamonds, each 7 inches across. Now… if they were good for enchanting? Erick didn’t know. They certainly glittered in the sun nicely, though.

- - - -

It occurred to Erick, as he and Poi walked through the streets of Spur with about 22, 6-inch-plus diamonds in multiple burlap sacks, that he knew someone who probably knew how to shape a gem.

Al, the Stone Mage.

- - - -

The Sewerhouse was as gold and covered in holographic pipes as Erick remembered, with two animated bouncing and jiggling gold slimes flanking the entrance. It was still three stories tall, too. Erick walked between the slimes, into the front show room. Savral was there, just inside the entrance like usual, all black scales and black full plate armor, while purplescale Bacci stood behind the rad sales counter. She smiled as Erick walked into the store.

Erick smiled back. "Hello, you two.”

“Hey!” Savral said, “How’s it going, stranger?”

“It’s going great.” Erick asked, “Is your dad in?”

Savral didn’t get a chance to answer before heavy footfalls sounded up from the back of the room.

“I thought I heard you!” Al appeared up the stairs with a smile on his face and a bounce in his step. He looked quizzically at Erick’s bags, but asked, “Did you come to invite me to lunch?”

“I suppose I did!” Erick rolled with it, but held up a bag, saying, “But first I have some things I’d like you to take a look at.” Erick held out a burlap sack he had organized for Al, before he had walked through the door to the Sewerhouse. “Here.”

“Ooh?” Al took the bag, then looked inside. He froze. “Oh.”

Al just stared.

Erick smiled, at first, but Al was acting a lot stranger than Erick expected. Al was just staring into the bag. Savral frowned next to Erick, peering over into a bag in Erick’s hands. Erick handed Savral bag #2 of four. Savral took out a diamond and promptly frowned.

And then his face lit up.

“Holy gods!” Savral clutched the diamond in one hand, looking into the bag, saying, “How many of these do you have!?” Savral instantly looked to Erick, accusing, “And you’re walking around Spur with these!?”

Bacci abandoned her post, quick-stepping to Savral, saying, “Oh wow. They’re diamonds, right?”

“My claws won't scratch, so I'd say they were.” Savral handed Bacci the bag, saying, “But I don’t know what the platinum ones are.”

“They’re all diamonds.” Erick said, bereft of bags. “I invented a diamond spell to serve my enchanting needs.”

Al blurted out a laugh, finally moving, then laughed louder, fuller. He picked out the yellow diamond from the bag Erick had given him, pulling it out into the light. In a flash, a spell ripped across the octahedron, sending shards and dust into the air, revealing a black sphere.

Al froze, again.

Al quickly thawed, saying, “You dyed it! Blasphemy!” Al unceremoniously tossed the offensive black gem to the ground; it rolled across the room to some forgotten corner as he picked up a different diamond from the bag. One of the clear ones, this time. Another spell ripped across the diamond, revealing a clear, perfect sphere. Al yelled, “Good!” as he ripped another spell across the gem.

Al sighed, satisfied and smiling, as he held a 5 inch, diamond sphere, with what had to be about a thousand individual perfect cuts across the whole newly-prismatic surface. The gem glimmered in the light, catching and revealing an inner fire.

Erick smiled, saying, “You can have that whole bag, by the way.”

“Can you do rubies and sapphires?” Al asked, obviously hopeful. "Or emeralds?"

“Nope!”

Al cursed, then laughed, holding his cut gem, saying, “Just as well. This is magnificent. I don’t know what you’d do with them but to look at them, but they are very good for looking at.”

Erick pointed at the gem in Al’s hands. “That’s sort of what I came to talk to you about. How’d you rip that into a sphere?”

Al smiled. He picked up a messy, raw silver diamond. In another flash of light, the gem became a perfect, silver sphere. Al had looked like he was going to say something else, but then he asked, “It didn’t blacken?”

“Made with platinum rainwater.” Erick said, “I’m not sure how it worked, though.”

Al nodded, holding the spherical platinum diamond. He held it up, saying, “I was never good at enchanting, but I can cut a sphere quite well.” He looked down at the bag. “I can keep these?”

“Yes.” Erick said, “Spend ‘em now, because the spell to make them is coming to the Script in a year.”

“Spend them!” Al said, “Preposterous! I’m keeping them, and they’re going to be beautiful. My skill with gem shaping is much better than this! This was just a test,” he said, hefting the cut clear diamond. “You should learn the cut yourself. Get a wheel and the tools; learn through a thousand hours of grinding and polishing. Feel the stone, capture light inside your heart and inside the stone.” He stared at the platinum gem in one hand, then the clear gem in the other. “Though I have no idea if you can even enchant something this big.”

“I haven’t tried the silver ones yet.” Erick asked, “You want to give it a go?”

Al shook his head, saying, “They always explode.”

Erick smiled. “Then let’s go to lunch.”

Al nodded. In moments, Erick had left all of the diamonds with Bacci, who was all too happy to play with them; she also had some skill cutting gems. Erick bade her good fortune, and to have at it.

- - - -

“There’s really no way to do what you did without the practice? Physical practice?” Erick asked, over a plate of fried chicken and fries.

Al spoke over his own fried meat and vegetable platter. “Nope. Repetition is the key! You must build that mental callus with your physical hands, grinding and grinding, so that you know what you want from the spell.” He added, “You could buy the tier 2 [Gemshape] spell if you want, but it will never be as good as properly executed [Stoneshape].”

Poi ate his own lunch at another table, watching over Erick.

And Al spoke of gemcutting like it was an old lover he had spent many nights wooing, but never quite catching.

- - - -

When they got back to the Sewerhouse, Bacci showed off one diamond she had cut into dozens of smaller, beautifully radiant, clear jewels. They weren’t good for enchanting, but they looked magnificent.

Erick happily left her with her own bag of gems, then he remembered how her solid [Ward] activated the trap in the Sewerhouse, saving them all from the attackers over a month ago.

“Oh yeah.” Erick asked, “What’s that solid [Ward] you used, called? To ramp the water?”

Bacci said, “[Water Ward], but it’s only useful against water. [Solid Ward]s are tough to make and you can only have one; one in your Status and one active at a time. Al’s is better than mine.”

Al said, “[Stoneshape], [Ward], and [Airshape], all at the same time. Took me a decade to make.”

Erick frowned. “Something else to work on in my spare time, I guess.”

On the way home, Erick stopped at a wrought marketplace to pick up some quality iron.

- - - -

Back in his mage tower, Erick stored away his unworked gems and placed dozens of spherical diamonds onto the counter. Al had been kind enough to cut Erick various perfect-spheres of both the silver and clear variety.

Al had recommended that Erick [Stoneshape] some walls across everything that he didn’t want shrapnel to destroy, which was a good suggestions, so Erick went and did just that. There wasn’t enough raw material in his house to be moving the floors around all willy-nilly, though. So Erick went outside and fed logs of stone through the side of the house, into cleared spaces in his tower.

Back inside, he Aurify’d [Stoneshape] to roll the logs of stone up across his bookshelves and cabinets, fitting everything that could collect shattered gems with a layer of stone, like raising shutters. He didn’t have anything valuable that could break, but putting up these shutters was a good step to take for the future.

When everything was fitted and cleanup looked like it would be a breeze, Erick threw an 850 mana[Absorption Ward] across the whole space and down the hallway, so that anyone standing outside of the open archway to his tower wouldn’t get clipped by stray exploding diamonds.

A 3400 mana [Ward] would have to do, for now.

Erick took his ring off and put it to the side.

[Special Ward].

Willpower-Ultramarine filled the room, turning everything brilliant blue. Erick placed a one centimeter, spherical, platinum diamond gem on a stone pedestal holder he had made earlier. The books had said that channeling onto your palm was easier, but also more dangerous; using a pedestal was an acceptable degree of separation.

Extending a finger, Erick channeled mana through his Willpower, feeling the resonance within, watching it erupt into Reality as a bright, Ultramarine glow; all other hues denied. He held the flow open, refining the flare of mana into a radiant, steady fire, like that of a propane torch.

He steadied his nerves, then touched the platinum diamond.

Ultramarine flared off of the gem like a light from a mirror.

Erick kept the infusion up for two minutes, yet nothing seemed to penetrate the surface of the gem. He pulled his mana back, the flare from his finger fading. A quick check with [Metalshape] and a bracer to hold the platinum gem, proved that nothing had gotten through the mirror surface—

Erick had an idea.

He rushed to the kitchen to fill a bowl with clear water drawn from the fountain. As it filled, Erick dropped a sliver of clear diamond into the bowl, casting [Crystallize Diamond] as it fell. The water bubbled away under the surface, Erick [Cleanse]ing it every few seconds. When the bowl was full of clean water, Erick rushed outside, Teressa slowly but certainly following.

Outside, Erick threw an Ultramarine [Ward] into the air, then placed the bowl down into the [Ward]. He started channeling Willpower into the water, while it was bubbling; while the gem was growing.

The gem soaked up Erick’s resonance through the water, but imperfectly, slipping outside of the jagged triangles all over the gem’s surface as tiny flashes of light that blinked through the water and were gone. He went slowly, trying not to overwhelm the bubbling gem.

When the gem stopped bubbling, Erick stopped channeling. He pulled out a blank metal bracer and placed the octahedral gem into the setting. For a brief moment, it was enchanted for 7 extra Willpower, but then it was 5, then 2, then 1, then gone.

After removing the gem from its holder, Erick threw out a 400 point [Absorption Ward] at his feet, then began [Stoneshape]ing the imperfect gem into a sphere. Erick had proven that he could enchant through water, into the gem. This was good. Now, he needed to test if he could trap the enchantment into the interior using platinum rain.

When Erick had regenerated enough mana and carved the gem into enough of a sphere, Erick tossed the gem into the water. Inside an Ultramarine part of the world, Erick gently channeled Willpower into the water, and into the gem. Resonance flowed inside, bouncing around inside the sphere; little of that light escaping now that the gem was spherical. Erick opened his [Exalted Storm Aura]; a pillar of silver clouds stretched directly upward. Platinum rain fell like a sudden summer downpour, straight down, instantly soaking through all of Erick’s clothes, and soaking into the water.

[Crystallize Diamond].

Erick’s blue flare started to flash through the reflective platinum water as bubbles appeared; Erick pumped up the flow of mana through his Willpower, increasing what might be getting through to the diamond. The gem crusted over, a thin layer of platinum covering the sphere, growing into triangular plates, fully covering the clear center.

Or at least that’s what Erick thought was happening. He couldn’t see through the water as soon as platinum mixed with the clear. Erick continued to channel Willpower into the experiment, though. He even cast [Cleanse] near the end, having forgotten about that detail this whole time. Thick air spilled into the storm.

Erick let the storm rain until the diamond stopped bubbling.

When he pulled out the gem, under a clearing sky, Erick realized he did not need to go so far with the rain, or the mirror shell. No color had soaked into the 3 inch diameter silver octahedron.

Erick put the unwieldy gem into the metal bracelet, then put that bracelet on.

Yup. No enchant.

Or...

Wait.

Erick began carving away the outside of the gem, practicing his spherical carving, scattering platinum diamond dust onto the ground. He stepped out of the Ultramarine [Ward] to better see what he was doing, though that didn't really help. After a minute, Erick might have carved deep enough, down to the original clear sphere inside. He locked the gem back into its bracer, and got a surprise.

It was a plus eleven Willpower bracer.

And then Erick remembered that, except for rings, Willpower and Focus items needed to be placed around the head for them to work best; Strength and Vitality could be placed anywhere. Erick [Metalshape]d the gem back out, then turned the bracer into a diadem. He placed the gem into the diadem, then put it on his head.

It was a plus thirty-one Willpower diadem.

Erick felt a little heady as his Willpower jumped to 61; this was nothing like the power he felt having a higher Strength, but there was still some kinda expansive feeling to the experience. And then he laughed; this was perfect! He held the diadem to his head, hopping up and down while the white clouds of his [Exalted Storm Aura] flowed away with the winds above Spur.

The diadem crumbled around his head like so much fragmented force, ash to dust.

QUEST COMPLETE!

Enchant an item, or items, that give you twice as much Mana, then wear those items, consuming them in the process. 1/1

Reward: Double your Base Mana

Particle Mage

Spend 100 mana to discover if a Particle spell is possible, greatly reducing the risk of Errors.

If you witness a Particle spell and you understand it, you may unlock that spell for free.

Major Mana Shaping applies to all Spells. Altering ongoing Auras is considerably easier.

Double Base Mana

Erick scrunched his face in a small display of anger, laughing at his goal completing but mad that his item was gone. He sighed. He felt calmly expansive. As his mana slowly started ticking up, Erick realized he had a lot of extra points to spend. He dumped 10 of them into Willpower.

Erick Flatt

Human, age 48

Level 39, Class: Particle Mage

Exp: 4,257,054,608/10,233,415,500

Class: 4/6

Points: 6

HP

600/600

600 per day

MP

1031/2400

6000 per day

Strength

20

+0

[20]

Vitality

20

+0

[20]

Willpower

40

+0

[40]

Focus

50

+0

[50]

Favored Spell waiting!

“Now that’s some healthy mana!” Erick said, a renewed feeling of stretching taking hold in his body. “Hmm.” He frowned. He was feeling quite stretched, actually. “Hmmm.”

Teressa asked, “Are you okay, sir?”

Erick looked to her, as his feelings of expansion turning to queasiness. “Ah?”

“You’re tilting, sir.”

Erick blinked, trying to understand. Oh. Yes. Everything was slightly leaning left, wasn’t it; or rather, Erick was leaning right. He stood up straighter. He blinked again. Queasiness dialed down to expansion, then began to settle into the background. Erick felt his space, steadying himself, looking all around. Equilibrium slowly returned. Breathe in; breathe out. He hopped on one foot; he stretched his hands up to the sky, then he touched his toes. He still felt a little stretched, but the feeling was almost gone, now.

“Okay. It’s fading.” Erick asked, “Is that normal? For a big Willpower and Mana boost?”

“Yes, sir.” Teressa said, looking out across the Human District. “Would you like to do the rest inside? Perhaps with a downspout leading into your tower? After a change into dry clothes?”

“Oh!” Erick was soaking wet, wasn’t he. He laughed. “Yes. I think I will, Teressa. All excellent ideas.”

- - - -

Clean water wasn’t a part of what [Cleanse] could disperse, so Erick changed into another set of clothes. When he was dry again, and after making some afternoon coffee, he set to work changing how his tower handled rain, and water.

With the ease of his Handy Aura and [Stoneshape], Erick refitted the top of his mage tower into a series of gutters that led to a space on the right of the tower, at about knee height. Inside the tower, Erick built a trough. At one end of the trough was the intake; at the other, an exit. With another application of [Stoneshape], Erick opened the hole in the tower and connected the trough to the gutters outside.

Erick started up the rain. Platinum water fell across Erick's house in a torrential downpour, racing down the gutters to splash everywhere inside of the tower.

With a few frantic adjustments, Erick eventually had a constantly refilling and emptying trough of platinum water, seven feet across, three wide, and three deep. He wouldn’t actually grow the diamonds in here; the growth process gave off toxins of some sort and he wasn't about to become a Pollution Mage, if such a thing even existed. He would use this trough to refill stone bowls as needed.

… He certainly was using a lot of water in his magic, wasn’t he?

Erick bought [Watershape].

Watershape 1, 1 minute per level, medium range, 10 MP

Slowly move minor amounts of water around you for 1 minute per level of Watershape.

Exp: 0/100

… The temptation to level a new useful skill was great, but Erick had needs, and he needed 50 Focus in some enchanted gear.

So he got right on that.

He had several properly sized. clear-spherical diamonds already, thanks to Al, so he skipped the growing process, since infusing a growing gem with a Stat didn’t seem to do anything besides produce a minor light show.

With three, 2-centimeter spherical gems in a bowl of platinum water and a Focus-Cyan maskward in the air, Erick channeled mana through his Focus, producing a cyan glow. He put his hand entirely into the water, making sure he touched each gem under the reflective platinum surface, to infuse them directly. He pulled his hand back, but still fed the experiment with Cyan resonance, hopefully still charging the gems out of his sight. A quick activation of [Crystallize Diamond] locked in the glow, as platinum soaked into the gems. Erick turned on [Cleanse Aura] and thick air escaped into the tower. Erick cut [Crystallize Diamond] early, with a push of his own mana to disrupt the ongoing spell, only 20 seconds into the experiment.

At the bottom of murky water, rested three octahedral, platinum diamonds.

The outsides of the gems didn’t matter when they were this thin, so Erick picked up one gem and placed it into an iron crown. The crown gave him 21 Focus. Erick quickly [Metalshape]d the other two gems into the crown. He felt as the gems connected to each other; as the enchantment in all three began to resonate, and then calm.

It did not explode.

Erick breathed a sigh of relief. And then he put the crown on his head.

QUEST COMPLETE!

Enchant an item, or items, that give you twice as much Mana Regen, then wear those items, consuming them in the process. 1/1

Reward: Double your Base Mana Regen

Erick saw the blue box as he felt the crown disintegrate around his head. There was no opportunity to inspect his Status before the crown vanished, because he fell backward, onto the stone floor of his tower. And then he sat up. He blinked a bit. There was a shadow looking down at him.

With her blond hair flowing over grey armor, Teressa grunted, “Hm.”

Erick said, “I’m good.”

“Massive Stat swings are not great. I would advise against continuing to experiment in this way.”

Erick smiled. “You sound like Poi.”

Teressa grinned as she held out her hand. Erick took it, and was suddenly placed on his feet by the very tall, very muscular, armored woman. She said, “You should go to bed early.”

“Another great idea!”

There were a few chores before bed, though.

Erick renewed the Air Conditioning [Temperature Ward] in the house. Then he used 2100 mana to create an 8400 point [Absorption Ward] throughout the whole place. Sculpt Spell proved itself valuable, yet again, making the [Ward]ing process much easier than before; he didn't have to use Mana Shaping X for 500 mana. And because it was so easy, Erick redid all the [Alarm Ward]s and several lightorbs that looked a bit dull; they were not up to his standards anymore.

By the time Erick had [Cleanse]d himself and the rest of the house, he was feeling quite mentally exhausted, but he was still able to spend 2300 mana on a [Personal Ward] before he went to bed, giving him 4600 points of protection, on top of the 8400 point [Ward] already inside the house.

Erick hadn’t felt this secure in a while; there was still the [Solid Ward] to learn, though. He’d chase after that tomorrow, along with several other valuable pursuits.

Erick Flatt

Human, age 48

Level 39, Class: Particle Mage

Exp: 4,257,054,608/10,233,415,500

Class: 5/6

Points: 5

HP

600/600

600 per day

MP

1031/2400

12,000 per day

Strength

20

+0

[20]

Vitality

20

+0

[20]

Willpower

40

+0

[40]

Focus

50

+0

[50]

Favored Spell waiting!

Particle Mage

Spend 100 mana to discover if a Particle spell is possible, greatly reducing the risk of Errors.

If you witness a Particle spell and you understand it, you may unlock that spell for free.

Major Mana Shaping applies to all Spells. Altering ongoing Auras is considerably easier.

Double Base Mana

Double Base Mana Regeneration

- - - -

Erick briefly woke up when Jane touched his mind.

‘Huh. Whazzat. Sleeping.’

Jane laughed, sending, ‘Early night, eh?’

‘Class Quest completion. Wiped out.’

‘Then I’ll keep it short: Neutrinos.’

Erick woke up a little; enough to think, and to send, 'A scanning spell attached to neutrinos that goes off when it touches the thing I'm scanning for.'

'Exactly! You can use the neutrinos from the sun, too. Just need to stand with the sun at your back.'

'Maybe. I'll work on it. Love you. Good night.'

‘Love you, too. Let me know how it goes!’

- - - -

Erick had forgotten to put his Strength ring back on last night.

When he put it on in the morning and his HP started to tick up, it crackled. The ring dropped from plus-10, to plus-3.

Well that was shitty!

Erick went to his tower and promptly made a plus-23 Strength ring with the technique he had created yesterday. It barely looked different from the red one, but when that platinum thing slipped on his hand! Oh man! He was a college frat bro pumped up from the gym and ready to PARTY. It took a hot minute for Erick to realize he was not, in fact, a college frat bro. He forcefully calmed himself. He smiled.

He made several other enchanted objects and tested them out with Poi and Teressa's help, swearing both of them to silence because it was more fun that way. When it was time to go to the farms, Erick put several of his new items into his shoulderbag.

- - - -

The walk through Spur was different today than it was yesterday, or even the day before. People seemed quieter. [Weather Ward]s had been erected all over. The blue signs that had read of random [Withering]s happening throughout the city ‘two days from now’ had been replaced with signs saying that random [Withering]s would be happening today, and for the foreseeable future.

Erick wondered if this mass preparation was the kind of reaction Silverite had hoped for.

- - - -

An hour into the rain, and one more failed attempt at [Familiar], passed without remark. Erick read about enchanting while the cows mooed, the bees buzzed, and farmers farmed. And then Silverite and Mog showed, walking up the temple steps.

“Uh!” Erick said, “Hello, there! What brings you out here?”

Mog smiled, about to say something else, but she paused, and said, “You look different.”

Before Erick could answer—

Silverite said, “Kal’Duresh is asking for you. It shouldn’t take long, but please leave the talking to me. But for now, can you please [Withering] Spur, first?” She added, “I’ve already informed Apogough; there is no need to worry about the cows.”

She wanted to do this in the middle of farming time? It wasn’t a problem, not with Erick’s new massive stats, it just seemed odd. Erick took care of the maintenance of his [Exalted Storm Aura] first, by popping out a pair of parakeets with [Conjure Force Elemental]. He transferred the storm to the one not on his shoulder.

He said, “Okay. Sure. But everyone knows to put up [Weather Ward]s now. Won’t that stop potential Daydropper hideouts?”

She smiled. “You’re not the only archmage in Spur, you know.”

Erick had a moment of inspiration. “… Can you [Scan] specifically inside [Ward]s?” He added, “It would decrease the area your [Scan] needed to cover by quite a lot.” He asked, “But how do you punch through antirhine?”

Mog chuckled. “Finding it is the hard part, and Mana Sense just isn’t enough.”

Silverite said, “There are better ways.”

Erick had another moment of inspiration, but he kept it to himself.

He nodded, asking, “Right now?”

Mog asked, “Can you reach the whole city from here?”

Erick frowned at her, saying, “Of course I can.”

Mog smiled; she was teasing him.

[Domain of the Withering Slime].

A white sphere formed around Erick; thick air spilled into the sky. Shadowolves died as the Withering Slime crashed across the city, like a hyper, intangible tsunami. Pushing the spell east caused Erick a bit of a drain, but not enough to actually dent his 12,000 regen; seriously, he had so much mana now, looking back to a month ago…

Erick was a completely different person.

The first mimic came through Erick’s notifications, and was immediately followed by twenty more.

After two minutes of crashing, intangible air, Silverite said, “That’s enough, Erick.”

Erick cut the Domain, while maintaining the rain. White ash flaked away from the core around him, as he said, “56 mimics, 81 wolves. I expected more mimics, honestly. There’s quite a bit more people killing mimics around town, aren’t there?”

“It’s pretty great.” Mog said, “Four times as many people in Spur now as compared to same time as last year.”

Silverite said, “Preliminary results are good. Merit has been informed—”

Mog frowned, deeply.

“—about several interesting locations we did not know about before, but that is her job, now. We have another task, in another part of the world.” Silverite held out her hand to Mog. “If we could all please depart, with all possible haste.”

“I didn’t see anything, though?” Erick asked, “What happened?”

“Your Domain is great for hiding a large [Scan].” Silverite beckoned with one hand; her other already in Mog’s. “Let us be off.”

She seemed in a hurry; she had probably timed all of this precisely.

Ah. She was doing this while Erick was at the farms because everyone expected him to be at the farms.

Erick put his hand in Mog’s—

- - - -

Erick reappeared in Kal'Duresh in the garden he had visited before, about ten feet from the gazebo from before, while the white castle and its hugging tree loomed close by. Baroness Pirazel Xelxex stood inside the airy white gazebo; two guards flanked her outside of her regal space. In any other time, Erick would have taken a long moment to notice that Xelxex’s magenta skin was beautifully offset by her lovely green dress, but he was on the clock.

Silverite stepped away from Mog, saying, “Greetings, Baroness.”

Xelxex said, “Please proceed.”

Silverite looked to Erick, who took his cue well. Soon, Kal'Duresh was filled with crashing, thick air. Erick watched Silverite with Meditation active the whole time, trying to see if she was casting anything, or if any strong magics were coming off of her. And then he saw it. A pulse of dense magic, heavy but super thin, radiated from Silverite at roughly the speed of a blink; if Erick had blinked, he would have totally missed it. And now that Erick saw the spell, he saw that it did not actually come from Silverite, but from her belly.

Something was inside of her, casting a spell.

Xelxex asked, “Anything yet?”

Oh. Right. Erick was cleaning Kal’Duresh right now. He looked over the notifications.

He said, “Wolves. Mimics. If there are Daydroppers then I’m not seeing any.”

Xelxex nodded, but she did not seem relieved. Erick gave a bit of thought toward his parakeet back on the farm, still providing rain; the chain of mana and spells flowing from Erick, to bird, to other bird, seemed stable. Erick gently prodded his ongoing spells, making sure all of them remained stable, as he turned back to Silverite.

Now, Erick wasn’t about to hold his growing theory up as a surefire answer, but he was sure that inside of Silverite was a [Familiar] or a [Conjure Force Elemental] from one of the other archmages she had mentioned.

Silverite spoke, “My sources tell me that there are five likely spots where someone could be storing Daydroppers.” She held her hands out into the air. An intricate blue [Special Ward] appeared, looking like a miniature map of the Kal’Duresh, but with large red spots here and there. “These are the culprits.”

Xelxex took a step off of her gazebo, inspecting the map Silverite had created.

After three seconds of looking at the map, she said, “Pop them.”

Another blast of invisible force rang out from Silverite’s belly.

Erick stilled as twenty four new notifications came into his view. “I just got notifications for 24 Daydroppers.”

Xelxex did not have to turn to her guards. They were already moving. Erick saw dozens of telepathic lines come off of all three of the incani.

More notifications came.

“Uh.” Erick said, “Seven shadowcats.”

“Fu—!” Xelxex turned a shade of darker magenta, spitting, “Why are there still cats!” She forced herself to calm. If he hadn’t seen it, Erick would not have guessed Xelxex was spitting mad just a moment ago. She said, “One problem at a time. Silverite. Thank you for your assistance. And also, thank you, Archmage Opal. Archmage Flatt. You may turn off your spell, now.”

Archmage Opal? At least Erick had a name, now.

While the white sphere around him disintegrated into the breeze, Erick checked his Kill and Exterminate Quest, just to make sure his next question hadn’t already been answered. It hadn’t. So he asked, “If someone is purposefully doing this… Growing Daydroppers to use on a population... Why haven’t their names been added to the Kill and Exterminate Quest? They’re actively working with a systemic threat to Veird, right? This seems pretty weird to me that no one else has been added to the list, now that we've uncovered someone preparing for a killing.”

Xelxex looked to Erick. Silverite turned her gaze to Erick as well, but the Mayor's look was one of slight displeasure. Baroness Pirazel Xelxex looked like a cat who had found a new toy.

Erick continued, “Or is it weird to find it weird?”

Xelxex innocently asked, “Who do you think should get added to the list?”

The Silver Star on Erick’s chest suddenly turned warm. He touched it. The metal didn’t burn, but it would burn if given enough time. Erick frowned. He said to Xelxex, “Whoever is guilty of planning mass murder via Daydropper should get added to the list.” The star got hotter. Erick clutched it, then said to the sky, “That’s just fucking stupid, you know. It’s probably not the humans. It has to be a Shade. There were cats down there.”

The Silver Star went cold in Erick’s hand, like a switch had been flipped.

Xelxex harrumphed.

Erick looked to her.

Xelxex's eyes were narrow, her lips taut. She sighed out, then said, “You’re probably correct. This might not be the work of Helix and his ilk. You can’t hold shadowcats against their will and you can't control them unless you're a Shade.” She frowned, looking away to the east. Far, far in the distance, laid Ar’Kendrithyst, looking a tiny raised portion of all the other brown land. “Kill and Exterminate Quests don’t add new people to the list unless they've used the plants to purposefully harm sapient beings; accidental killings have a much higher threshold for inclusion on the list." She paused. She said, "Now that you mention it: I’m surprised Planter hasn’t already been added, but this would explain why; he would want the debut of whatever new evil he’s made to be world news. What better way to accomplish that than by killing one of Ar'Kendrithyst’s connections to the greater world and putting himself on the Kill and Exterminate Quest.”

“I assume ‘Planter’ is some Shade?” Erick asked.

Xelxex said, “He likes to seed Ar’Kendrithyst with Changeling Vines to see what grows, while he keeps his Arbor full of the nastier stuff, like Sweeping Angel mushrooms and Onyx Rain trees. He also maintains some of the rarest medicinal herbs on the entire planet, like Sword-Spike and Radiant Lilles—” She paused, listening to a tendril of intent coming off of her head. “We’ve just gotten confirmation that an uncovered Daydropper has appeared in the Arbor in Ar’Kendrithyst.” She paused again. “And everywhere else.”

Silverite was scanning the sky while Xelxex spoke. She pointed, saying, “There it is.”

Erick looked up.

A white [Scry] eye, rimmed in darkness, floated far, far above, barely visible against the blue. Erick would have never noticed it if Silverite hadn’t pointed it out. But now that everyone had seen it, it floated down.

Erick popped it with a smash of Focus, scattering the spell like so much ash, saying, “Fuck that guy.”

Xelxex laughed once, then she stilled.

Erick went still, too; probably for the same reason as Xelxex. A familiar notification appeared and then changed, right before Erick’s eyes.

Atunir has identified a global danger to Veird!

Kill and Exterminate!

Arrox Geller of the Halls of the Dead,

Parox Geller of the Halls of the Dead,

Denutha Odaari of the Halls of the Dead,

The Shade known as Planter, of Ar’Kendrithyst,

and the plant:

the monstrous Daydropper Vine.

Fully grown, the Daydropper transforms living air into dead air at an unprecedented rate.

Reward: 10 ability points, to each of the 1000 people who most contribute to completion of this Quest!

Mog asked, “I wonder who he killed?”

Silverite said, “People go missing all the time, unfortunately.”

“From here, as well.” Xelxex frowned, then said, “Well! I'm glad I don’t have to lead a purge against Frontier.”

Silverite produced a glowing pink truthstone.

“Bah.” Xelxex turned her nose, saying, “Allow a Baroness her little lies, Silverite.”

Silverite said, “We’re leaving.”

Erick looked through his notifications, quickly adding up what he saw, to say, “105 mimics, seven shadowcats, 24 Daydroppers, 181 wolves.”

Silverite held up the now-green truthstone, saying, “Quite an infestation you have here, Baroness.”

“When you have a city as large as mine, Mayor, these are problems to be mitigated.”

Silverite smirked, putting a hand in Mog’s. Erick gave a nod to Baroness Pirazel Xelxex; he was met with a gentle smile in return, as he grabbed Mog’s other hand.

- - - -

Back in Silverite’s office, the very first thing Erick did was activate his daily [Divine Scan]. Silverite and Mog noticed; they waited for the results. Sure enough, the Scan returned several dozen results, all of them to the south, between 20 kilometers and 160 kilometers away. The Shade called Planter must have been standing out in the open, too, because the Scan showed him to the south as well.

Erick started off with, “So these Daydroppers in our neighborhood were not part of some machination from Frontier. It was just another Shade.” Erick stressed, “That we should kill.”

Mog looked at Erick, her eyes slightly squinted, her mouth in a frown. Then she turned toward Silverite.

"What?" Erick asked.

Silverite kept her face completely calm. “Frontier had Daydroppers.”

“What!”

“They were experimenting on them.” Silverite said, “Several hours ago, in the early morning, several agents of Spur infiltrated an antirhine-shielded laboratory under the streets of Frontier. Inside, they discovered mature Daydroppers and mages researching the plant. When Helix was confronted with this proof, and when I threatened to deny him any help with further Shade attacks, Helix decided to turn on the researchers. I remain completely unconvinced that Helix was not completely aware and complicit in the acts of these plant mages, but the fact remains that Helix chose to play the part of an honorable man.” Silverite added, “Since he will be administering his own justice to those plant mages, I fully expect many of them to disappear into the Greensoil Republic, never to be heard from again, but fully involved on other projects.”

Erick listened. He said, “Okay. So. The only problem we have in front of us now is this Shade called Planter?”

Silverite frowned, shook her head a little, then nodded, saying, "Correct enough to be true, as far as all the information we have tells us."

“Then...” Erick said, “We should send out an expedition to murder this Shade for what he has done to whoever he killed, and for whatever he threatens to do to us outside of Ar'Kendrithyst.”

“It’s not that simple.” Mog said, “We can’t kill a Shade without—”

“Without angering the rest of them. I know, I know.” Erick said, “But this is different. This is a problem. Not some nebulous threat that needs to be worked around. Planter needs to die.”

“We cannot send someone directly against Planter.” Silverite spoke, “But I basically agree with you, Erick.”

Mog protested, “I wasn’t disagreeing! But there’s complications, you know?”

“There are always complications, but Planter is visible to the Divine Scan as long as he isn’t behind antirhine.” Silverite said, “Killzone has already sent a team to investigate one of the nearby Daydroppers. We will know more in the coming hours. Right now, my preliminary plan is for you, Mog, to gauge the people walking through your door, to see if they could actually kill a Shade.”

Mog said, “I already know several people I can tag for this.”

“Good. Then the plan will be to assist those people; Spur will not be taking on this fight directly.”

Erick said, “I would like to be included in this, somehow.”

Silverite stared at Erick; not harshly, but methodically.

Erick waited.

Silverite said, “Okay. What can you do?”

“You mean besides a Staff of the Withering Slime?”

Silverite frowned a little. “You can already make one of those?”

“Not yet, but I’ve made—” Erick picked his shoulderbag off of the ground by his seat. He started pulling out a few small items and setting them on Silverite’s desk. “I’ve made some really nice Stat items.”

He set out four rings; one of each Stat, for 25 points in that Stat. Two bracers; one for 35 Strength, the other for 36. A crown for 51 Willpower, and a chain link belt for a whopping 55 Strength. Not a single one looked good; Erick was not the best [Metalshape] artist, but he was getting better. The problem was, was that every one of them had prominent, spherical platinum gems, central to their designs, and Erick was not proud of that vulnerability.

“Before you try one out,” Erick held up his platinum ring, saying, “This ring is 22 Strength. I, personally, can’t handle the higher Stats. And there’s another problem:” He held out the Strength ring he had bought from Ruby’s Reds; it was blackened, fully cracked and useless. “The Stat items I made seem to destroy all the other Stat items you’re wearing, except for other Stat items also made with platinum gems.” He held up his ring again, saying, “Poi and Teressa helped me strain this one before it was time to leave for the farms. I did 4 full HP iterations, Poi did 4, and Teressa did 4; Rats would have helped, I'm sure, but it was his turn to sleep. This ring was 23 Strength before all that testing. It’s 22 Strength, now." Erick added, "I will not be making a Staff of the Withering Slime; I am very aware of the danger posed in creating something like that. But you tell me if Stat items have the same issue.”

Silverite picked up the Willpower ring; Erick only recognized it as the Willpower ring because he had put a tiny Ultramarine blue [Ward] mask onto the stone. She put it on her finger. It slid into her skin, but only slightly. She hummed, probably looking at her Status.

Mog picked up the belt, smirking, saying, “I could use it as a bracelet.”

“That’s 55 Strength, Mog. It will break any other items you’re wearing and make you feel funny.”

Silverite paused. She and Mog locked eyes, then both of them looked at the belt in Mog’s hands.

“55!” Mog asked.

“Yup.” Erick said, “And let me tell you, testing that thing was an embarrassment for everyone involved.”

Mog laughed, holding the belt with a bit more reverence, saying, “I got nothing on me to break; I don’t wear Stat items around town,” as she wrapped the belt around her wrist. She gasped. She breathed hard. “Ohh.”

Silverite picked up the Strength ring and slipped it onto a different hand than the Willpower ring. Her silver skin fluttered under her clothes for a brief second. “That’s a heady experience.” She took both off, and turned slightly stiff, saying, “Ouch. That did not feel good.”

“They don’t play well with each other. One is good, two is not great,” Erick said, still looking mostly at Mog. “Higher Stats feel really weird.”

Mog flexed her arms; her clothes stretching with the motion. She said, “It feels… pure.” She looked at the belt on her wrist, then slowly took it off. She blinked hard as the item fell into her other hand. “That’s someadjustment, alright! I gotta take a nap. Ha!” She set the belt onto Silverite’s desk, saying, “That’s a quarter-million gold item, right there, but people don’t buy or sell these. They kill for them.”

"What!" Erick exclaimed.

Silverite decided, “This is what I’m going to do. Firstly, you’re not allowed to sell any of these to anyone—”

“Buh!” Erick said, “What!”

Silverite, disbelieving Erick’s sudden outburst, added, “Mog just said that people kill for these! So! Firstly: No selling any of these items. Instead, you will be assisting Spur in the indirect killing of Planter. Mog can set this up with a quest from the Adventurer's Guild, but what we will do is have one of... something… I don’t know. A crown for 55 Willpower or this belt for 55 Strength— which is all quite absurd, mind you.” Silverite jabbed her finger at the chain link belt, saying, “Any one of these losing 1 point every 12 iterations is even crazier.” She continued, “We will have the items you make as rewards for the team that kills Planter. I was already planning on a gold reward, but this is much better, and should attract much stronger people. Are you amenable to this idea, Archmage Flatt?”

Erick was very amenable to that idea, but... He frowned. He said, “I was thinking I could make some smaller things, like rings or whatever, for the Army. What do you think about that? Poi says they don’t usually use Stat items because they're so unreliable, but these seem pretty tough… So?”

Silverite thought.

Mog seemed to be thinking, too.

“Maybe.” Silverite said, “Strength rings for the mages, Willpower rings for the warriors. If they fall into the hands of the Shades, I don’t think it would matter much, considering the Shades would have to give up all their other...” Silverite stood up and went to the shelves at the side of her room. She plucked a tiny red-jeweled ring from from an open box. She slipped the red ring on one hand, then went back to the desk and picked up the Strength Ring, to slip on her other hand. The second she was wearing both rings at the same time, the red ring cracked; smoke escaping from a blackened jewel. Silverite hummed. Then she took off both rings, and said, “This is a wonderful trap.” She smiled wide. “I love it.”

“Good! That’s what I was thinking, too.” Erick added, “Like anti-cursed items.”

Mog laughed. “Do you think they’d break cursed items, too?”

“I’m not even sure what a cursed item is. The books didn’t say much about them.”

“They’re items that drain Stats, or Health, or Mana, which cannot be removed except with the help of a priest or a doctor.” Silverite said, “They can be very deadly because when you drop below Stat multiplying ability thresholds, those abilities turn off.”

"Yup." Erick said, “That's all the books said about cursed items, too.”

“I have some cursed items I can test,” Mog said, picking up the Strength ring. “I’ll let you know.”

Silverite picked up the Willpower ring, saying, “I will give this ring to Darenka for testing, as well.”

Erick smiled wide, saying, “And I’ll go home and start making some more rings.”

Mog asked, “How are you making these, anyway? I’ve never seen silver gems.”

“They’re diamonds.” Erick said, “I invented a diamond making spell and the rest is technique.”

Mog laughed loud, like Erick had said the funniest thing she’d ever heard.

Silverite just smirked, saying, “You should not answer that question ever again, Erick. That’s why I did not ask.”

Erick grinned, calling her on her bullshit, “Don’t pretend you didn’t already know.”

Silverite laughed.

- - - -

In the middle of grinding diamonds with [Stoneshape], as the evening sun painted the sky outside of Erick’s mage tower in shades of pink and gold, Poi appeared in the archway leading to the rest of the house. He cleared his throat. Erick turned toward the sapphire dragonkin.

Poi said, “Your rings destroy cursed items, but they are lessened and eventually consumed in the process, turning to naught but dust.”

Erick smiled. “Awesome.”

Erick went back to grinding diamonds.

He had already ground out [Stillness] to level 10 by throwing the spell into the sky and dismissing it, over and over, hours ago. [Watershape] was also level 10, just because he could; it made working with water much more fun. [Crystallize Diamond] got powerleveled to 10, too. The only thing left to grind was diamonds and higher tier magic.

So Erick ground diamonds into spheres, preparing to outfit an army.

He paused.

He threw a hundred mana into the air, along with a question about attaching [Scan] magic to neutrinos.

His own voice returned to him, ‘Nope. Electrical charges are easy to manipulate because everything interacts with electricity and electricity interacts with everything, but these ‘neutrinos’ are barely there. This is a hard-no, Erick.’

Erick nodded; he figured as much.

Over the next hour, while grinding diamonds into spheres, Erick rephrased his question multiple ways, attaching different ideas to possible neutrino-based [Scan]ing spells. Every time, the answer came back the same: 'No'.