104 (II)
Reforge [II]
“Correct. Your Chrono-Anchored Strikes are powerful, but it will be better for me, since it will give me an extra skill for repositioning aside from my spatial magic.”
Shiv considered that. It wasn’t a bad idea. Frankly, it was downright essential. The ugliness of Adam’s near deaths came back to haunt Shiv as he recalled how close the entity came to killing Adam each time it got its hands on him. “Hm. Fine. But I want something in return for this.”
“Like what?” Adam asked.
“I’m not sure yet,” Shiv admitted. “I’ll think of something...” He frowned at the Magebreaker on the table next to the broken pieces of his kukri.
"Can you mix three things at once?" Shiv asked. “And remove existing Enchantments?”
"Yes," Can Hu said, "it will take more effort for me to sift through high-level and high-Tier Enchantments. But it can be done. There is also a risk of breaking the items if I am not capable of properly completing the reconstruction effort.”
And that made Shiv consider what he wanted to do with his cloak as well. The answer there wasn’t too complicated: More spatial storage. The other Enchantments were good, but the dimensional pocket was the single greatest piece of utility he had. Maybe mix that with some Arcanite. But what about the Magebreaker? I could mix that with a dagger if the spatial magic Enchantment is removed, but that’ll make my weapon doubly-strained as offense and defense. I can see it breaking pretty fast again. No. Magebreaker stays its own thing. Or I get it merged with a shield at some point…
Then, Shiv’s gaze fell on the helmet with a diamond gem socketed into its forehead. He walked over and picked it up. No surges of mana rushed into him. No Magical Skills triggered.
Equipment Obtained: [Helm of the Farsighted Deceiver]
Tier: Master
Condition: Severely Damaged
Composition: Trollskin Leather; Diamond
Enchantments > Master Farseeing; Master Self-Mending; Minor Illusion of Self; Chameleon; Binding
As its Enchantments loaded, Shiv looked inside the helmet and winced. The interior lining was utterly consumed by corrosion, a spread of rot and decay that left the helmet borderline ruined from within. The thing felt more than a little fragile in Shiv's hands, like it was on the verge of falling apart and would fall apart if he exposed it to any strain or damage.
But the Enchantments—that's what he was interested in. Chameleon, Minor Illusion, Master Farseeing. These were all utility options as well, and more importantly, unattuned utility options. None of them projected a magical field, and none of them should clash with the Magebreaker's functions.
"Hey, Can Hu," Shiv asked, "can you fuse this helmet into the Mage Breaker?"
The Penitent directed its streams of fluid metal, threading them through the helmet and connecting it to the Mage Breaker. A spell flashed between its hands, and another shape quivered in the mercury sphere held between its industrial arms. Can Hu fell silent, and Shiv just watched the automaton for a moment, patiently waiting for a response.
"It's a good choice," Adam said off by the side, nodding at Shiv in compliment. "Farseeing will help you contend with invisible adversaries or others with high Tiers in Stealth or Deception. Additionally, Chameleon and Minor Illusion will make you an even greater terror on the battlefield. As if your Creeping Void wasn't bad enough already."
Slowly, new options for combat took form in Shiv's mind. Casting a minor illusion might be useful for baiting out enemy attacks. Chameleon would be another layer of concealment, allowing him to blend in without ever invoking his Creeping Void. That would also solve the subtlety problem. Right now, his stealth was a very specific kind of stealth—the kind that let his enemies know he was there but rendered them unable to truly pinpoint his exact location. Chameleon was quiet. Chameleon allowed him to blend in without infecting his environment at all.
Finally, the idea of escalating degrees of stealth appealed to Shiv: going from blended into the backdrop, then being detected, breaking contact after casting out a minor illusion, and then finally unleashing his Creeping Void when the situation truly devolved into havoc.
Shiv's eyes flipped over to another arcanite fragment—another piece of Absence. "I'm going to ask a stupid question, but I think I already know the answer. I don't think arcanite and Inertium are going to mix very well, are they?"
"Absolutely not," Valor said. "A magical hyperconductor and the single greatest magical nullification material known to the Integration would likely come together like Necromancy and, well, you, Shiv."
The Deathless let out a grunt of displeasure at that. That was all the convincing he needed. Still, this was a good mixture, and more importantly, it would fix up his Magebreaker.
"Yes," Can Hu said finally, "it can be done. In fact, I am certain I can do this. However, fusing the diamond gem will take a bit more consideration. Do you wish for it to be placed on the outside? It might affect the vibrational frequencies of the Inertium if placed along the way and render the structure vulnerable.”
Shiv shook his head. "I don't care about the aesthetics. I just want functionality. Arrange the composition whatever way you see fit, so long as it works."
"Understood. I will create an extension for the gem then."
And at once, the synthesization process began. Both items rose off the table as streams of fluid metal poured into them. A layer of gleaming, bubbling mercury swallowed them, and the layers were promptly meshed together, fusing into a singular pool as Can Hu continued the crafting process. Then, there came a flash of light by his side as Adam's Unique Skill triggered. The Azure Dawn hovering above the Gate Lord's head flared bright, and a beam of concentrated radiance poured into Can Hu.
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For a brief moment, Shiv caught a flash. A flash of what Can Hu used to be: a towering, chrome-shelled weapon of war, sporting multiple limbs bearing heavy weapons—guns of every caliber and every variety. But within its unfurling chest was the shape of a faceless pilot, and they held out a hand, reaching toward Shiv.
But with another pulse of brightness from Adam's Righteous Dawn Prevails, the illusion faded, and Can Hu, in its current form, emerged from the illusion. Even so, the Penitent looked better than before. It worked more efficiently, even as its joints screamed with every articulation and minor movement. It didn't seem as fragile as it once was.
A twisting spiral of spell patterns circulated the mercury pool, and the faintest hints of Geomancy mana ignited in reality. Most times, if you didn't have the right Magical Skills, you couldn't perceive someone else casting the same category of magic. Before Shiv had Biomancy, his death at the hand of the high vampire came as a mystery—a gesture and nothing more.
But now the world was alive with color, and Can Hu was channeling so much magic, straining its Crafting and Geomancy skill fusion so hard that it bled its wavelengths into the physical spectrum of the world.
"Godsdamn," Shiv muttered. The pool of mercury composing both items lit up like a second sun in the room. It wasn't as vibrant as Adam's azure sun, but it was no less potent, no less impressive. Slowly, Can Hu began to compress the sheen of mercury in on itself. It crushed harder and harder until it began to sink, until a shape emerged: the shape of a vibrating gauntlet.
A smile emerged on Shiv's face. The Magebreaker had been restored, but it was more than the Magebreaker he remembered it being. The gauntlet was larger, and more importantly, it blended with the background as he stared at it for too long, its colors mixing and merging with the cold metal of the teleportation anchor. Connected to the gauntlet were several arm straps, all made of leather. They ran all the way up toward Shiv's shoulder, if judged by the length, and at the end, the gem gleamed, fastened to the intersection of various straps.
Can Hu's Geomancy mana faded from view, but the finished and reforged Mage Breaker hovered in place, held by Can Hu's strings of fluid metal. "Does the composition please you, Pathbearer? I think I can still make a few adjustments."
"No," Shiv said, cutting Can Hu off. "It's good. In fact, I kinda like the new design. Good job, Penitent."
Can Hu raised its shoulders back as a hint of pride exposed itself. "It is only proper."
Shiv reached out and ran his hand into the Mage Breaker. Suddenly, he felt a new sensation inside. So that was where the leather went, Shiv mumbled. A soft leather glove clutched him. He would have complained about the temperature being too hot if he were still Pathless, but after all he'd experienced and all his new recent evolutions, a little heat didn't bother him anymore.
Equipment Obtained: [Armguard of the Unseen Magebreaker]
Tier: Master
Condition: Perfect
Composition: Inertium; Trollskin Leather; Diamond
Enchantments > Attuned Mana-Nullification; Master Self-Mending; Master Farseeing; Minor Illusion of Self; Chameleon; Binding
Once he equipped it himself, he began testing out his new capabilities. First, he blended into the backdrop just like the Mage Breaker did. Then, he projected a minor illusion, and that was when the gem along his shoulder flared and channeled out a stream of light that created a copy of Shiv. To his surprise, the minor illusion mimicked his every action, and he could move it further or closer to him as he pleased. Ultimately, however, it was just a mirage, and a keen-sighted adversary could likely see through it.
But finally, he triggered the Farseeing Enchantment, and suddenly he found himself capable of casting his gaze further and further. It was like his eyesight was magnifying with every thought. Soon, he peered at a specific patch of the wall and saw everything there in vivid detail. The smallest cracks revealed themselves to him, along with chunks of grime lining the edges of said cracks. He enhanced his far-sight even further, and his gaze slipped through the crack until he was staring at a surface of uneven and partially chipped obsidian—the exterior of the tower. A flood of nausea swept through Shiv, however, and he shook his head, trying to dislodge the feeling.
"Ah, Farseeing, eh?" Adam asked, smirking. “How do you feel?”
"Yeah," Shiv agreed. "Is this what it's like to be you all the time?"
Adam tilted his head. "No. It's incomparably inferior to what I have."
Shiv winced in response."So your hearing, your taste—
“Even my touch," Adam replied. "All that is of my Awareness has been amplified. My Hypersense was superior to Farseeing in every way. It's an evolution gained when you strain all of your senses in combat, not just your gaze. A hawk relies on more than just its vision. Father prepared me well.”
Shiv let out a whistle. And then he thought back to how Adam was uncomfortable when he was surrounded by large crowds, how he often preferred to soar alone to keep moving.
Then Shiv thought back to a certain incident in a certain apartment a few weeks ago, and a posthumous feeling of regret hit him. "Shit, Adam. I didn't know it was so rough for you. I, uh, I kinda feel like a bastard now for doing some of the stuff that I, uh... you know. So. Sorry.”
Adam studied Shiv for a moment, and then he let out a quiet scoff. "It's alright. I learned to live with it. Part of having a high Awareness is understanding what to focus on and what to ignore. Actually, this is something I’ll train you to do. Everything you see is important. You need to learn to distinguish between different details and detect the subtle things as well."
For the first time, Shiv was honestly intrigued by the prospects of dramatically improving his Awareness. It was more than just another thing for him to do now. “Sounds good. I’ll show you how to cook, in exchange,” Shiv offered.
“I…” Adam blinked. “You will?”
“Yeah. Why not? It’s a useful skill.”
“I don’t even have Common Cooking,” Adam said.
“The perfect chef wouldn't have a Cooking Skill. Means you haven’t shit the bed enough yet to disgrace yourself with a level.”
“What?” Adam asked, incredulous.
“It’s something Georges always said to me when I messed something up bad early on. You want to fuse something next?" Shiv asked. "I've got my go."
Adam shook his head. "No, we do your priority Equipment first. I want you prepared."
"Prepared?" Shiv asked. "Prepared for what?"
"Someone needs to survey the surface. Well, two people. You and me. I'm not exactly sure where we will emerge once we pass through that gate, but I can tell you this: If Sullain’s army is competent at all, they will have scouts hidden in places nearby. Pocket dimensions, hidden strongholds, scouts, and the like. More importantly, I want to know who else is watching. Lastly, even if I can cast out my Awareness, I want to stay close to the gate. I cannot direct the core once I leave these boundaries. And I have not set up a proper or strong enough teleportation network yet. I might be able to travel quickly using the Veilpiercer, but..."
"Yeah, but it's best that I risk myself instead of you," Shiv said, finishing the ugly part of the statement with a nod. Adam tried to hide his awkwardness, but Shiv just shrugged. "Yeah, it's fine. I've got no problem with it. Frankly, I like it this way. You can be the hunter and I can be..." Shiv thought of the metaphor he was making. "Well, I wouldn't even call myself bait. Maybe poison bait."
"You're my killer rabbit now," Adam declared with a slight smirk. "I need the wolves to come out of the woods so I can see them. And you need the wolves to come out of the woods so you can tear their heads off.”