Before working on the runes that would create the space, I made the basic diagram for the spell, leaving blank areas wherever those runes would fit in. The first ring, of course, was the creation. Its purpose was to take my mana to create a space just large enough for what I wanted to store. The second ring was a dimensional teleport, taking lessons from the Hell’s Gate spell, which would let me send the item into the space created by the first ring.
Now, this is where it is difficult. If I were to add in the third part of the spell, which would let me summon the item back, in this same diagram than the spell would essentially do nothing. It would absorb my mana to create the space, teleport it in, and then immediately summon it back out. In order to remove that possibility, I created a separate, linked diagram. This one was used to recall the item and then collapse the space. That second step may not be entirely needed, but it was better to be neat.
With the two linked diagrams overlaid, I began work on the most essential part, the rune to designate dimensional space. If I used the wrong combination, either nothing would happen, or something very bad could happen. My first test was ‘New’ and ‘World’, which gave me nothing. Afterwards, I replaced the World rune with a rune meaning ‘open spaces’. Typically that rune would be used as a restriction, making it so a spell couldn’t be cast if something was occupying the target area.
Again, that didn’t work. I thought I might have to create a new rune for this, but since the first Archmage made the World Creation spell, the rune had to already exist. My third attempt replaced the runes with ‘Hidden’ and ‘Region’. As soon as I put those runes in the blank slots, I received a reaction from the system.
Artifact World has been added to your Spell List
Artifact World? Well, I guess that’s a better name for it than Inventory. Given that none of the runes I used were unique, I didn’t have the option of naming the spell myself. Opening up the description, I was surprised to see this spell labeled as Royal-class magic. According to Lilith, Royal magic was just a step below Grand magic.
Artifact World(1/10 Beginner) - This spell is extremely powerful, being capable of storing things in a hidden realm until such time as the user retrieves it. There is no limit to the total amount that can be stored with this spell, though larger items will require more energy. The use of this spell’s chant, as well as higher proficiency, will reduce the cost of storing items. Finally, it is impossible to steal items from this hidden space without first ascertaining its exact location.
Very nice… could the overlapping circles be the characteristic of Royal and Grand spells? Thinking back, I remembered seeing three massive spell circles in the sky when I cast Magus Wrath. Opening up my Talent window, I checked my Magical Knowledge to see if there was any information on this subject. Surprisingly, instead I found a list of all of my spells, as well as their associated ranks.
Most of my spells were on the Scholar level, though I did have a few Apprentice and Adept spells. The only Royal spells I had were Artifact World and Create Intermediate Object. And as for Grand spells, I only had Magus Wrath. But this did confirm my theory about spell complexity being related to rank.
The simple spells which were just a series of a few runes were all Apprentice or low ranking Scholar spells. Anything that used a proper diagram were Scholar and Adept spells. Then, two overlapping diagrams would become Royal spells, and at least three were needed for Grand spells.
Well, I had something more important to do right now, so I pulled my Staff of Aben-dure off of my back, holding it in my hands and concentrating on my newest spell. Over three hundred mana was consumed while multicolored lights wrapped around the staff, causing it to vanish from my grasp. Opening my spell list menu, I clicked Artifact World, and a menu appeared in front of me.
Artifact World contents
Staff of Aben-dure
Smiling to myself, I proceeded to pour in the rest of my Forest Assault Discs, Stone Keys, my axe, and various other trinkets I had. After checking the contents again, each item was clearly listed. Of course, it would be better if I memorized it, as I wouldn’t always be able to check the menu. Focusing again, this time I pushed magic into my hand and concentrated on the Staff of Aben-dure while thinking of the second diagram for the spell.
Sure enough, the staff appeared back in my hand. Though, I immediately sent it back to the Artifact World. While sending item after item into the spell, the spell itself ended up leveling to Intermediate quickly. I wasn’t surprised, since the Beginner stage of the spell rarely lasts long. On average, I’d get one point for using the spell normally, three for pushing it one level with either a chant or extra mana, and five for pushing it two levels with both.
Of course, like with most Origin spells, I couldn’t push this with extra mana because the cost was set. For my creation spells it would always be all but one percent of my mana, and with this the mana cost was determined by the size of the object. For the record, after rising to Intermediate, my staff only cost a hundred and fifty mana.
I was curious to see whether or not I would be able to use this spell on the entire Unity ship by the time we reached the mainland, but until then getting levels in Origin Magic was good enough for me. And most importantly, now that I had a safe place to store spare items, it was possible for me to mass produce now.
Unfortunately, I could only create one item at a time, even if that item consisted of multiple parts. So, one by one I began creating staffs with various enchantments with my Origin Magic. Doing so, my Origin and Enchanting talents both quickly leveled up. Surprisingly, several other talents leveled up as well, such as my Carpentry, Summoning, and Nature Magic. Enchanting a staff with an effect from a spell system seemed to contribute towards that system. Likewise, Sailing and Navigation finally leveled up.
Name: Jin
Race: Human
Title: Mage, Emissary of the Underworld, Ritualist, Arcane Savant
Fame: 1670
Level: 256
Gild: ∞
Soul: 893
Health: 1050
Mana: 3125+850
Strength: 60
Agility: 200
Endurance: 200
Wisdom: 480+20
Intelligence: 500+20
Luck: 10
Attack: 10 + 52
Defense: 10 + 150
Talents: Magical Talent 27(+2), Magical Knowledge 28(+2), Navigation 8, Nature Magic 23, Summoning Magic 14, Runescript 10, Discovery 4, Divination 6, Enchanting 18, Infernal Magic 26, Arcane Marksman 8, Sailing 11, Mana Pool 9, Mana Recovery 10, Origin Magic 19, Axe Mastery 2, Carpentry 13, Staff Mastery 9, Arcane Staff 6, Aura 5
Title Bonuses: +2 Int/Wis, +400 Mana, +2 Magical Talent/Knowledge, +50% Mana Recovery
Equipment bonuses: +20 Int/Wis, +750 Mana, +50% Mana Recovery, Elemental Resistance +5%, Magic xp gain +15%
Against my expectations, on the first day alone I rose over twenty levels, bringing me up to over two hundred and fifty. Furthermore, when I hit two-fifty, I received a very special message.
Your level has reached 250! You may now awaken to your second Hidden Power.
You have unlocked the Hidden Power: Magus Mercy. You possess a link stretching back through time to the very first Archmage, the hero of the first great war, Azamoth. As such, you have been granted the second of his unique spells, a power so strong that it can restore anything to its original condition.
Magus Mercy has been added to your Spell List.
With this, I was able to grasp another Grand spell. At the same time, I checked over Denise’s skills and saw that she did not get a Hidden Power, although her level still matched mine. It was likely that people of this world were only capable of obtaining the first Hidden Power, while foreigners could receive multiple ones. Knowing that, and looking at the intervals for the first two, I could guess that a third Hidden Power might become available at level five hundred.
Naturally, after I received the spell Magus Mercy, I called Lilith to let her know. It was a magic that had orig
inally belonged to her late husband, and she had even expected me to get it eventually. Needless to say, she was overjoyed when she heard that I had gotten it.
“According to the information that appeared, it is because I have a link to the first Archmage, after all.” I informed her of the details of the message as well.
Lilith let out a heartfelt laugh. “Of course you do! Didn’t I say so before? You remind me of him more and more every time we meet. But now, you really do possess both of his Grand spells. The only other unique magic he possessed would be World Creation, which is the only Divine-level spell that’s ever been known.”
“Yeah, and that’s the one I don’t want to use. Oh, speaking of which, I did manage to come up with a different type of spatial spell. It was called Artifact World, and lets me store items in a kind of hidden space.”
“Oh, really? That is quite useful. Though, again, I ask you not take it any further than that. I’ve told you before what that spell did to Azamoth…”
“I know, Lilith. I have no intention of doing that. Though, once I get back to Hell, I plan on sharing notes with Levy. She said she’s been working on creature-making spells, so I can learn as much about it from her as she can learn from me on my item creation spells.”
“Hmm, that’s not a bad idea. You two could be considered the only practitioners of Origin magic, so working together to develop it would help you both.”
“Right. I think I’ve got an idea of what I want my next spell to be, as well. I’m not really sure what it will rank as, but it should be pretty good.” A small grin formed at the corners of my mouth, thinking about what I wanted to do.
“Ohh? Sounds like you’ve got quite the plan. I’ll let you get to it, then.” With that, the call was dropped, and I went back to work on my next spell. Truthfully, I was almost certain that it would be a Grand Magic on par with Dariel’s Emperor Storm, but I had no idea how long it would take me to make.
My first goal was to make several stone tablets on the ground with Origin magic, which I would draw the diagrams on. Given my abilities, stone was more useful than paper, since I could easily erase and redraw whatever I wanted. In total, I made five tablets. Each diagram would work as its own spell, but when I combine them all it should create something incredibly useful.
The first diagram was easy, it was a spell that would allow me to control the flow and intensity of the wind in my surroundings. The spell itself was named Wind Control, and I was able to test it out on the deck by pushing more wind behind the sails of the Unity to propel us faster. All in all, that spell was a grand success.
The second diagram was a bit more tricky. It was one that would gather the water in the air and condense it into clouds, then shape those clouds according to my will. In order to test that the two spells went well together, I tried overlaying them in my mind. The result… was something I hadn’t expected. When casting the new spell, I created a tornado in the distance. Thankfully I was able to extinguish it by ending the spell.
On the second day, I worked on the third diagram, something that Darion gave me the idea for. Its purpose was simply to call down a lightning bolt from the sky. Unlike my normal Lightning spell, this was more powerful, while also only striking a small area. The fourth diagram was one to further condense clouds to create rain, and control the rain with my power.
When I combined the first four spells, what I got wasn’t a Grand magic, but a Royal magic spell, Thunderstorm. The fifth diagram was the one that sent it to the next level, as it took all four spells, combined them, and then amplified them over a wide area. I hadn’t quite expected the results to match so perfectly to what I wanted, but I didn’t plan to complain.
Emperor Storm has been added to your Spell List
Nature Magic has risen to 25 thanks to the creation of a Grand Spell
Very nice… I gained a level automatically for creating a Grand Spell? I smiled wide at the message. It had taken me three full days to perfect the spell, having to go back and alter a few lines between diagrams to properly link them. Nevertheless, I was impressed that the spell I created was the same one that Dariel had used when we fought the Nature Dragon’s forest army.
Still, for a five-layer spell to not reach Divine rank, there was no telling how much it would really take. Lilith had told me that Divine magic could change the fate of the entire world, like when Azamoth made Heaven and Hell. Compared to that, it’ difficult to even imagine anything else on the same level of power.
Looking at my new spell, I decided to wait and try it out, later. To be honest, the spell I wanted to make was one which would let me control the weather however I wished. Given the flexibility of the individual spells, I had assumed that this combination would work. Even without that, though, I could combine the effects of the various spells I made to get several different weather results. I just wouldn’t have them all together in one convenient spell.
Another thing I learned from my Magical Knowledge when I looked for information on Grand Magic spells, was that all spells ranked Grand and higher must be cast with their full incantation. In order to balance their tremendous power, they required long cast times and enormous mana reserves. Back when Dariel cast Emperor Storm, she used all of her mana to do so, and was unable to fight for a little while.
As I thought about all of this, I looked at Denise’s and Cynthia’s abilities. She was making considerable progress during these last three days, so it is safe to assume that this ship is treated as an extension of myself while I am controlling it. Likewise, Denise seems to have mastered quite a few more abilities. Unlike Cynthia, she wasn’t training anything new, so all of her levels went to things she already had.
I should probably have Denise learn something new as well, shouldn’t I? Even though I thought that, I had no idea what would be good for Denise to learn. In terms of being a ranger, she was already top notch. Archery, Reflex, Speed, Hawk Eyes, and Swordsmanship were all at the master level. I could have her learn martial arts, but with our current formation she wouldn’t have much need for it.
Maybe give her some basic magic? No… her stats are terrible for magic. Also, I remember they said that the natives of this world either have it or don’t, so she might not even be able to learn it. Even though I was trying to think of something for Denise to practice to expand her skillset, I couldn’t come up with anything.
Well, it wouldn’t be that bad even if she doesn’t learn anything new. As far as I can tell, talents don’t stop leveling. Given Lilith’s level of power, it should be possible to reach at least level one hundred in any given talent. Of course, she’s had thousands of years to reach that point, as well as using that time to train her physical abilities as well.
For the remaining four days, I continued creating dozens of staffs with Create Advanced Object, enchanting them and immediately discarding any failures with Arcane Inversion. I never made the same staff twice, either. Sometimes I would give them Mana Stones with my spells on them, and other times I would directly enchant the staff with my magic.
Similarly, I also created several other items that I placed on my person as well. The most important of these items were my Status Glasses, which allowed me to activate a Read Talent effect on anyone I saw by channeling a small amount of mana into them. I also made my first fully infernal item with the techniques that Lilith gave me. This item was a pitch-black earring imbued with my Scan spell.
A special quality of infernal items was that they were capable of possessing a mind of their own, to some degree. My earring, which was called Foresight, would alert me of any impending ambushes if my Scan spell wasn’t active. It is fortunate that Foresight worked for me, as infernal items are capable of rejecting their user. I think it is possible that an item is more likely to bond with its creator than someone else, however.
While making my armory of enchanted items, I happened to fully master the Earth Spear and Ice Lance spells. The only benefits that came with mastering those two spells were increased damage and the abi
lity to fire multiple shots at once. I even got close to mastering Create Advanced Object, though on the last day it stopped increasing at 450/500. I probably needed to make something important in order to get any progress now. At the same time, however, I almost had no spells still in the Beginner phase.
Finally, while doing this work I was able to receive several levels as well. Thanks to how high my Wisdom already was, I managed to bring it up to 500. When I did so, I didn’t receive a new talent like I had been expecting. Instead, Mana Pool and Mana Recovery each rose three levels. Maybe those were going to be what I received at 500 Wisdom?
By the time we pulled into shore, I was ready to hit the road. This week of nonstop training had managed to raise me up all the way to level 281. Looking at Cynthia’s sheet, I felt my face pale a little bit. She was still fifty levels below us, but she already far outclassed Denise in both attack and defense, as well as health. If the two of them were to spar right now, the only thing that she could rely on would be her insane speed.
From what I saw of Cynthia’s sheet, I was able to determine that the bonuses to attack stack with each weapon. So, a master of both spears and swords would have a much higher advantage than someone who had mastered swords alone, unless they had enough expertise with a sword to equal both weapons. And now, Cynthia had already mastered three weapons, and was working towards a fourth. By the way, the stacking bonuses do not apply between melee and ranged weapons. So, even though Denise has mastered both the sword and bow, she only gets credited for whichever she is using.
The Dive: Birth of a Hero Page 24