The first few days of our final two weeks here start pretty slowly. I use it to catch up on the enchanting crystals Rayke sent over and start on my new storage device. I take a lot of inspiration from the bags of holding we found in the research lab, mostly on how they are protected, as that is really what I need to figure out. Daniel and Corvax work on their own training or projects during this time, taking up most of their time. We only really hang out during our mealtime or when we have to go collect water.
Halfway through the week, we all team up and push into another quadrant of the city, searching for something to fight. Merrick did mention that several bears live in the city. After a few hours of searching, we find the edge of its territory, marked with the occasional undead, just like the last bear.
It’s almost boring how easy it is to fight undead hordes now. This bear seems to have slightly higher-level undead, too, around level seven and eight for the majority of the horde. It also has more special undead, as it sends two assassin types at us at once. They are unable to hide from me and are cut down swiftly by our enchanted weapons.
By the end of the day, we push back the bear into its hideout, a large warehouse in some kind of industrial district. It has a slightly different strategy to face us than the last bear, creating barriers around itself and its undead as we move in to face it personally. It dies just like the last bear, easier even. None of us take any major damage, and I took none, thanks to my teleportation.
I level up two times to level twenty-seven after the bear dies, getting six stat points to assign wherever I want. After some testing, I notice that my mana capacity stat seems to have a times two modifier on it from my trait, as putting in a single point makes it go up by two. I decide to put two points into mana capacity, two points into mana resistance, and two points into constitution.
We also do some slight looting after the bear dies, mostly hitting up a few places that I saw earlier that might have some good stuff and the wine cellar I found last week. We end up with quite a bit of wine and some decent furniture by the end of it. No beds yet, but at least a few chairs.
The next day all of us get back to our individual training. I had to disassemble the old core for a few parts I could reuse, but emptying it gave me the idea to use the power core from the other tower to supply it with mana, meaning it should never run out. As I empty my old storage out, I use [Inspect] on the power core and the thing the Kryntari were using to find the research lab.
[Mana Accumulation and Assimilation unit] - A unit designed to absorb ambient mana and store it for later use.
[Dungeon Locator] - A device that locates dungeons based off of the mana they release. Higher-level dungeons will be located further away than low-level dungeons.
I manage to finish the next storage device, which is much better than the storage core in practically every way. It’s about a ten by ten by ten foot cube and is packed with features. The storage space should be obscured from any prying eyes, even if they also have spatial senses like mine. It reduces the weight of stored items by nearly ninety-five percent and slows time by about that much as well. The space inside is nearly extra-dimensional, thanks to all the power that the [Mana Accumulation and Assimilation unit] is able to provide. I also manage to make it only about the size of a baseball with some slight spatial fuckery.
[Spatial Storage Core Mk. II] - A crude storage device containing a stabilized spatial expansion. This device is outfitted with its own power accumulator and supply, powering all of the necessary enchantments.
The item is nice, and as soon as I finished it, I got rewarded with a level up. I expected this, as Daniel leveled up randomly after creating a new breastplate and arm guards, and we figured out that killing things isn’t the only way to level up, but it does seem to be the fastest.
At the end of the first week, we head out for some more fighting, this time into the forest for a change of scenery. We spend the day hunting goblins and wiping out their camps. They are like a plague in this part of the forest, with camps every ten or so miles and nearly constant scouting parties. We decide to make a game of it, seeing who can wipe out the most camps by the end of the day.
I focus on leveling up my skills during this, as goblins are pretty weak, and I have to kill a lot of them to level up. Not a single goblin gives me a challenge all day, and I wipe out six camps all by myself, mostly using my sword to cut through the average goblin and teleportation for the rest. It seems the shamans around here are not good enough to stop me from teleporting right behind them. All of this levels me up to twenty-eight, but several of my skills also level up.
I’m the first one back to the meeting spot, and I assign my stat points, splitting them between constitution, mana capacity, and mana resistance. The other two joined me soon enough, and surprisingly, I won the competition. They only managed to get four camps each, but it’s clear that finding them and travelling was the biggest issue for them, one I thankfully don’t have. We manage to bag a deer on our way back and cook up some seasoned deer steaks for a victory dinner back at the tower.
The next week starts the same as the last: more training. I split my time between a few things during the day. I’m trying to come up with a way to use all of the extra mana I produce, as my mana regeneration is far greater than my capacity to hold that mana.
The class description for [Mana Warrior] mentioned making internal mana constructs, and some of the crystals from the research lab mention something similar. It seems like it’s possible to basically create internal enchantments, and that’s what I try to do. I know that this is probably not wise or safe, but I’m pretty sure I can do it. The construct I have planned is pretty simple, so it should be easy enough.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The rest of my time is spent helping Daniel with his new armor. He mostly just needs me to create mana batteries and a few other small enchantments, but he does all of the actual assembly. He’s been working through the first enchantment crystal, and while his mana control is not nearly as good as mine, he’s a quick learner and is making his own unique enchanting style, like I also have.
We decide to skip the midweek fighting day, as all of us are on the cusp of either finishing an item or technique, or in my case, ready to create an internal construct.
Once I finish the blueprint for the construct, I sit down at one of the chairs in the basement and start carving. The pain is unlike any I’ve ever felt before, like someone is scraping away the bones and flesh and putting in mana channels, which is exactly what I’m doing. The construct will be placed in my chest, near my heart, and is a combination of my [Mana Shaping] and [Concentration] skills.
It takes me about six hours from start to finish, mostly because I work very slowly and take breaks often, not wanting to fuck this up. By the time I finish, I’m covered in sweat, and my head is pounding from overuse of [Concentration] to focus my mind, but the construct is finished. Once I make sure it’s all correct and won’t kill me on activation, I turn it on, letting it feed on mana directly from my heart.
[You have created a new internal construct]
[Mana Concentration and Circulation System] - An internal construct designed to condense mana and automatically circulate it in a predetermined path.
As soon as it turns on, I feel it work exactly how I wanted it to. It takes the mana coming from my heart and [Concentrates] it, raising its quality, and by extension letting me hold more mana. The secondary purpose is to have it circulate my mana all around my body, freeing my mind from the task.
We hit up the city the next day, as we all want to test our new improvements. Daniel now has armor over all of his limbs, not quite full plate, but getting close, with mana stones embedded all over them, mostly for storing extra mana. Corvax has successfully learned to manifest his sunlight outside of his body and is eager to test it against something strong.
We decide to head deeper into the city today, as we’ve never been to the core of the city, where the giant black spire rests. As we head deeper, I feel the ambient mana become denser and denser as it starts pushing against the little bit of mana we all release. Once we get to about a half mile from the center, the mana becomes too dense, and we have to turn back. I think we all got some kind of mana poisoning from it, as we had small amounts of death mana inside us for a few hours until it was naturally expelled by our mana.
We decide to head into another quadrant of the city and search for whatever lives there. To nobody’s surprise, it’s another bear, and it dies just like the other two. I start to wonder if we’ve become ridiculously strong, but then I throw that idea out. It’s more like we just counter these bears really well. With me opening portals and constantly changing our position, we can pretty much avoid getting surrounded by undead and instead just pick them off in small groups. Most undead end up dying to Daniel’s shots anyway. The only real challenge is the bear and its few elites.
I snag another two levels, going up to thirty from this fight, and allocate the points the same as I have been. By the time we get back to the tower, the sun has set on another successful day.
In the morning, Merrrick returns, a few days earlier than he said he would. I portal him up just like last time.
“Good news, everybody, time to go to civilization. Pack up and be ready to leave in an hour.” He says before walking up to me. “Did you get it done?” I toss him the ball that is my [Spatial Storage Core Mk. II]. “This is pretty solid work, a bit simple, but that’s good. It should work fine.”
“So, where’s the stuff I’m smuggling, and how am I getting it into Barad unnoticed?”
“You will meet a caravan on the way to Barad. The caravan leader is the one you’re smuggling for. She should have everything already packed and waiting for you. I also have not negotiated any price or anything. I felt that should be up to you since you’re doing all the work and I’m just a middleman here.”
“Good, I might still say no if I don’t like the look of things. So where am I meeting her?”
“I’ll take you there. Get your stuff packed up first.”
Everything I own fits in a single bag. Of course it’s a bag of holding and still has some extra space. Corvax and Daniel take all of the materials, as they plan to either rent out or set up a workshop in Barad, and I don’t want to carry that stuff around.
An hour later the four of us stand outside the tower, looking over the city.
“I might miss this place, just a little bit.” Daniel says.
“I’ll miss the times, not the place.” I respond, and Corvax nods. “But the tower is pretty nice, and we were just starting to furnish it.”
“Well, daylight’s burning, fellas. Let’s get moving on.” Merrick interrupts.
I take one last look at the city before turning around and opening a portal into the forest while checking my status one last time.
[Ray Alder] - [Self Made Space Mage] lvl 30
Race
[Human]
Active Skills
[Space Control] lvl 20
[Mana Shaping] lvl 18
[Concentration] lvl 11
Passive Skills
[Mana Sense] lvl 18
[Mana Stabilization Field] lvl 9
Traits
[Adaptive Affinity]
[Beast mana-heart]
[Mana-Body Synchronization]
Constructs
[Mana Concentration and Circulation System]
Affinities
[Space]
Stats - Body
[Strength] - 32
[Dexterity] - 38
[Constitution] - 38
Stats - Mana
[Regeneration] - 124
[Capacity] - 60
[Resistance] - 30
Primary Quest
Leave the island of First Landing.
Time remaining
[335 days 1 hours 14 minutes 14 seconds]
Completion Reward: Continued survival, ???, ???, ???
Punishment for failure: Instant death