48 48 (1/2)

Rainer looked at the rings being prepared as a gift for all VIP auction attendees. They were the mimic [Rings of the Nalmar Knighthood] he had created. They only improved Strength and Constitution, but a +2 bonus for a ring designed to work seamlessly with other enchanted items was significant. Especially since both those attributes had a quality of life effect for non-warriors, but of course few Mages would waste attribute points just to feel a bit less pain or feel a bit healthier.

”I thought you said, and I quote, 'That is the most moronic idea I have ever heard. If you ignore my council on this I don't care how powerful you are, I'll find a way shave that stupidly silky hair off your head and shove it in your mouth. Then you can make 'Baa' noises just like that damn goat-chimera stupid shadow of yours.”

Elelaria had the good grace to blush for a moment, remembering the one time she managed to lose her temper with this infuriating man. She happened to be a little tipsy as well. Though she was blushing more so over his high-pitched rendition of her voice along with the hand-on-hip posture. Several of the servants she had hired - with a promise at a chance at a permanent position - gave their best efforts not to laugh at them. They, of course, were not aware whether such a thing would get them killed by their new master. Laws tended to bend around the powerful.

Someone so young and immature shouldn't be so strong… Of course he would also remember word for word what she had said.

”That was before I knew your true aims of the Guild. Now, such a show of enchanting skill is exactly the thing we need to attract Enchanters to our side. Yes it'll lessen the price of everything we show after, but that is not a concern anymore. Also I'll need a few more.”

”What? I thought I already counted all the VIPs? There should even be-”

Elelaria shook her head, ”VIPs? That's the wrong way of looking at this. We are here to recruit Enchanters. And attract future recruits. What are these pitiful rings to us? Anyone who is attending will get one, and we will not make a show of it. We'll hand it out with the first drink. We won't even announce it. Perhaps some will be careless and not even notice it's value. Lucky for whichever servant or mistress they gift it to.”

Ele's own face cringed when she said 'pitiful'. The idea of handing out so much potential gold for free… After all, while relatively weaker to a Tier 2 warrior, 4 total attribute points could make all the difference for a Tier 1 Trial Taker. And that was ignoring the general benefits a non-conflicting ring would have for anyone.

But the prestige it would bring overrode any of the greed in her mind - If she only cared about money she could just ask her grandfather for handouts. And it was now inline with her Lord's goals.

Rainer ran a hand through his 'stupidly silky hair'. It looked like he'd need to work overtime with his Avatar to get them ready for tonight. Maybe he should head to the Abyssal Planes to take advantage of the time difference? But he was in far too good of a mood to care about some boring work.

Francis looked over the destroyed battlefield, the marred field already being fixed with magic as non-combatants cast spells over it. Ashes scattered with the wind as magic burnt corpses down past the capabilities of a normal flame.

Soon the evidence of thousands of lives lost would only exist in memories.

His grandfather and the three leading Mages of the army fought in an aerial duel. The Wind and Lightning Mage acted with a variety of spells, using his wind to deflect and block strikes while he attacked with lightning. He was joined by a Fire and an Ice Mage - a pair of twins who managed to somehow combine their elements in an explosive way. But they lost ground slowly but surely.

Every few seconds Frederick would form yet another tendril of Arcane to lash out as his opponents. Dozens of them reached out from behind him as they swatted and cut through magic easily. His grandfather looked more bored than anything else, yet he had told Francis not to interfere.

A show needed to made, he said. And it couldn't be a boring show of his grandson knocking the three of them on their heads after a teleport - there were millions of ways for clueless, magic-less generals to reason that such strength was only superficial and could be easily countered.

The rest of the enslaved Mages had either been killed or freed by now. Unlike Mages of other worlds, these ones had next to no knowledge or experience in dealing with a teleporter. It might not have even helped with how silent - magicically at least - [Void-walking] was. Most didn't even notice him before it was too late. It barely took any effort to knock them unconscious and then free them once things were over. As only the most powerful Mages used Domain-type magic, it likely wouldn't have mattered even if he had used a regular space-related teleport.

They talked animatedly with their fellows, too excited about their freedom to care about anything else. Though Francis grimly noticed that all the former enemy Mages were all male. He sincerely doubted the other half was missing due some chivalrous notion of women not participating in war. Suddenly the guilt he felt for helping in the killing of so many faded a bit. It was hard not to blame the so-called innocent soldiers for supporting a regime of slavery.

He, for once, felt a bit bad for how Rainer would react to a memory. War was not a pleasant thing. Though he wondered if he should use his Void-deadened self to go a bit further. The more ruthless he made Rainer, wouldn't the safer Kara and Luna be? That was assuming his entire self wouldn't just be flavourless memories when he rejoined with Rainer. Then any efforts would be pointless as it would as laughable as Rainer growing less moral from any video game he played or movies he watched.

Francis let out a long breath as he blew his bangs out of his eyes. Someone with as little time left as him shouldn't be bothering with depressing things like this. It was time to go hunt some Divine followers for entertainment.

Sitting in his reserved balcony seat, The Tideborne Guildmaster spun a thin silver ring in his hand.

He wasn't sure what to be more impressed with. The company in attendance, the enchantment that was so self-contained the chances of interference bordered on impossible, or the Fae wine in his glass. He had no regrets over rushing here.

It wasn't as if heading across the ocean was particularly difficult for him. Like all the higher-ups of the strongest Mage's Guilds, he had an inheritance related to the Northern Empire. They all sought to become Magic-touched, which was why on occasion they discussed killing the Fire-Touched Goblin in the North, making up all sort of reasons to hide their envy.

While the exact methods differed, there was considered to be four steps to it. Changing one's Mana with an element, changing one's Soul, using one's Soul to change one's body, and using one's body to change the Soul in turn - repeating step three and four until their race completely changed.

As far as he was aware, no one alive had gone past the second step - apart from that infernal Goblin - which is why he skipped it all together and focused on his body, though he became unable to affect his Soul. He lost out on the extra life-span and Talent, but was able to use one of his Guild's highest spells, [Crossing Oceans], which let him teleport across bodies of water as well as let him partially teleport as water vapor, among other water innate abilities.

”To think, they wouldn't even clear a balcony for me.” A girl who looked like she just turned 13 sat at his table, completely disregarding his subordinate who she pushed aside with a manipulation of chilled wind. She dressed like a young girl trying, and failing, to look mature.

”Seraphine, a pleasure,” he answered, doing his best to keep a smirk off of his face. How this 600-year-old granny thought it was appropriate to act and look like a spoiled brat was beyond him. ”And it was you who did not even send your Guild to reserve a spot.”

”Some upstart hosts an auction and expects me to reserve a spot? How is this my fault?”

He pursued his lips as he felt it was quite funny to call the man who fought a descended Divinity and killed Yazir an 'upstart'. Just the fact that the Frostborne Guildmaster didn't force another guest out of their seats proved that Seraphine was just as cautious about this Enchanter's Guildmaster as he was.

She didn't show restraint when dealing with almost anyone after all. Himself clearly included. He doubted anyone but the Fireborne and Farseers would be willing to directly challenge this newly risen Magus. They were the only two that had any real defenses against truly powerful teleporters due to inhabiting both the old Imperial Palace and old Imperial Mage's Tower, respectively. That, and they were the two strongest Mage Guilds.

”It is not your fault at all,” he placated, ”I'm sure the waiters can bring you a glass.”

She gave him a weird look before sniffing the wine and snatching the ring from his hand, using that distraction to float his glass over to her as well.

”They better, or you'll be out of a drink.”

He only chuckled as his hand disappeared into vapor and grabbed the glass back, ”I'm afraid you are too young for this, my dear.” As if he would risk not getting to taste Fae wine. He'd trade half his wealth for a jug of it if he could.

He planned on breaching the topic if he got a chance to meet the mysterious - supposed Archon - Nvos. Only years of self-restraint kept him from bribing the people in the lower seats for their glasses. And their rings for that matter. These rings alone had him doubting the Archon title far, far less.

Stupid old men and their greed for Fairy Dust denying him such a pleasure. What was the point of living even another thousand years if you accomplished nothing more of merit?

He cringed and looked away as Seraphine pouted at him over the stolen wine. It would have been cute... if he didn't know that there was an ancient old calculating woman underneath it. He was only saved from further discomfort by another ring and drink arriving, and the auction starting.

The Tideborne Guildmaster froze in shock. Continually rising bids echoed in the background. A shining suit of steel armor stood displayed in the center of the auction floor, the Enchanter's Vice-Guildmaster barely managed to get the description out before being drowned out by increasingly large bids.

[Helmet of Might: An enchanted Steel Helm that increases the power of the wearer. +7.5 Strength, +5 Dexterity.]

[Item Appraisal], while technically rarer than regular [Appraisal] - considering an entire race had access to the latter - existed outside of the Fae population, in either the form of an inborn Talent or the ridiculously complicated spell from the old Northern Empire.

The other four pieces of the set were not much different. Everyone in this room knew what such a set represented, and were more than willing to pay out the nose for it he noted as the bid reached 2,000 Gold Imperial Standards. So long as the class wasn't too rare and the Trial taker not too incompetent, such a set almost guaranteed Trial success.

Every Guild of note had a set or two of this kind of armor, but because they had it was exactly why they had to be careful with it. After all, if they loaned it out and the Trial taker failed, it would massively decrease the future power of a Guild. Not only that, having a personal set meant you could help a family member pass their Trial. Something they couldn't really do with their one or two Guild sets unless they qualified on their own. And many of their Guild sets were showing signs of age, as it had been centuries since an Enchanter was good enough to make them.

Even just one more could provide a dozen Tier 2 warriors to serve the Guild.

For it to be sold in auction...

As he saw the Fireborne Guildmaster competing, he lost the desire to win it. At most he'd raise the price. There was no point comparing wealth with the Guild that headed the northern slave trade.

He didn't even need to goad the fiery-tempered Mage, as the price easily ended up at 77,000 without his help. It might have gone higher if people weren't a bit cautious at dealing with the Fireborne.

That was close to the gross amount his own guild made over 20 years. Holding an auction with Neutral City merchants and clan leaders in attendance was a smart decision. Strangely enough, they didn't seem disappointed over losing…

If this guild continued this way, the price would of course start dropping quickly. He personally hoped for that, if they could then start making and selling items that would be useful for even someone like him… he couldn't help but look forward to a society that advanced towards the 3rd Tier.

Did Archon Nvos not realize how much he had just strengthened the Fireborne by selling such a thing, or worse, did he not have a reason to care? Perhaps mortals were not as scary to deal with after you fought off a descended Divinity, imperfect host or not. He really wished he could have seen the battle, he didn't know a spell or skill that could get through their Divine defenses that could be cast without a group of mages.

Maybe he should consider talking to Archon Nvos about his Dungeon Team...

His eyes boggled as a slightly better set of armor was put out right after. He chuckled as he could practically see the heat radiating off the vibrating Fireborne Guildmaster. Looks like his earlier wish might be coming true after all.

”Rainer, Luna wants it, let's bid for it.”

”Luna… ” he said, looking over the Fairy currently glamouring herself as a Moon Elf - the closer to the original form the better the Glamour worked - and sighed, ”I can make you anything here, but better.”

”But it's not the same.”

Luna pouted and leaned on his shoulder as he looked out from his secluded balcony. He had been a bit wary when Ele spent so much of her own money, and borrowed from her grandfather, to set up for this auction hall in time, but they were already far beyond having the means to pay it back. And no doubt they'd be holding plenty more auctions in the future.

”Don't worry Luna, as soon as the auction is over we can go somewhere and just buy random things.”

”Really?”

”Of course.”

Luna hummed happily and was no doubt thinking over what to go and purchase.

He glanced over at Sarah practically bouncing in her seat. The greedy little thing. What did she even plan on buying? Her own city? But he really couldn't have gotten even close to this far without her simplified enchantments and he would have given her even more than 5% of all profits related to enchantments if she asked.

Rainer returned his focus to [Void Detection] as he kept an eye on the auction and its host. No reason not to take precautions. No doubt he'd be meeting many people tomorrow after tonight's auction, so all the more reason to make sure nothing happened here and now.

Kneeling next to his Avatar in the white void, Rainer tried, and failed, yet again to contain both Arcane and Void in the same body. He got through merging them closer to his Soul easy enough, but they destroyed his body too quickly for him to try and figure out a solution, which echoed to his pools and caused them to go out of control. The impossible black light that formed when the energies and his soul collided still gave him a shiver every time.

The only thing he gained in the last attempts was he felt he was getting closer and closer to level 6 of [Avatar Control]. If he reached level 8, Amer had told him that it was equivalent to having two brains. And two of himself in battle.

Too quickly…

He thought and then laughed. How did he forget about it? Especially when it was half reason he learned new enchantments so quickly?

With Talvara's help he set up the next attempt and got started. Maybe [Arcane Awakening] could help control the energies when they flooded into his body through his Soul...

”Are you manipulating time?” she asked, incredulous.

”If it makes you feel better it's far too expensive to be useful outside of here.”

”It does, thank you.”

His attempt was quickly interrupted by someone sending a message to his Soul. What did Francis need from him when he couldn't even reach his former Avatar?

The better question was how could Francis contact him?

Francis floated above an encampment. It had taken seventeen kidnappings, but he had finally found out who the Chosen of this particular Divinity was. Rather than a Mage or the Head of the Church as he expected, it was an unassuming Knight-Captain in charge of punishing rogue Mages. Unassuming if you ignored the sheer amount of Divine Power in her that made it seem like her Divinity had already descended. Perhaps even more than that.

A perfect gift for Talvara.

He waited a few hours until they headed to sleep. Even though the Divine Power made her stronger than most, this was still a system-free world. He Void-walked into her tent and sent a lightning-infused fist at her stomach, only to stare in shock as a shield of Divine Power covered her.

Her eyes snapped awake, but it was a pointless gesture as a [Blade of the Void] stabbed through her hastily made shield and made way for a lightning covered hand, sending her into unconsciousness.

Francis frowned and took out his [Blade of the Void]. He swung it where he felt the distortion and felt something 'snap'.

No Divinity would be descending here. He glanced at the frayed connection with [Arcane Revelation]; the abrupt stoppage of a Divinity descending into her body had created a strange frayed line of connection. After staring at it for a few moments, he used [Void Detection] to check if the Divinity was attempting to descend again. The energy tickled the edge of his detection range, like it existed both in and out of reality.

A powerful sense of power entered his mind as his [Archon] class kicked in.

[Skill Gained: Divine Detection lvl 1/10]

He felt a ringing in his head when he tried to directly detect the energy in her body, but it was easy enough to feel another connection trying to enter her body. With how clearly he could feel it, it was plenty to just counter it with [Soul Manipulation] and a little help from [Devil's Soul Language]. He got the understanding that her being unconscious was the only reason he could stop this so easily. Her Soul seemed to resist against the foreign connection automatically.

He Void-walked her away, and then Void-traveled to an empty stretch of land, dropping the injured woman on the ground. The ritual to sacrifice her to Talvara called for blood, and the wound he caused offered plenty.

He paused for a moment, staring at his hand that reached into her stomach wound for some blood, wondering if he should be doing this before shaking his head. There was no way she became Chosen without killing at least one innocent Mage, especially with her current role hunting rogue ones. And he was never one for sexism when it came to showing no mercy to his enemies. Powers that transcended biology removed any real gender differences. Her being a pretty blonde was inconsequential.

Drawing the ritual circle was easy enough; most of the leg-work was done from Talvara's side, the ritual itself only enhanced her and acted as a signal for her. Even someone with no skill in rituals could manage this.

Half-way done, a voice echoing behind him caused Francis to jump to his feet.

”Slave of the Void, to think you've found your way to a place beyond the system. How is it you have kept your strength?”

Francis stared at the hovering face of Divine Power, which looked like it was trying to guess where he was standing rather than actually seeing him.

”Do not think, Defier, that your silence will keep me from finding you. Looks like one of the abomination's incompetent slaves has finally stepped beyond his mortal station. But it is for naught.”

”What do you want?” Francis said, stepping away from the Chosen and using [Flesh Manipulation] to continue drawing the ritual. If his prior experiences were any judge, Divine Sight didn't work against his magic either.

”So the slave speaks? How you have found yourself on this planet and were not torn apart on entry is beyond me. I have hidden this Chosen here and she is of great importance to me.”

Francis raised an eyebrow. Why was he revealing that?

”If you are willing to let things go, I can free you from your servitude with no loss of power.”

Francis knew that Talvara had no control over her followers, but he wasn't sure if she could indiscriminately take back her Void Will.

”If you tell me how you traveled here through the ambient Mana I can gift even more… Hmm… you… how do you have Mana and the Void within you?”

The floating face's eyes were now staring directly at him.

”Magic.”

”Ha. That much is obvious. You grow more interesting. I am a Divinity of Magic, why not cooperate with me instead of that abomination who calls itself a goddess?”

”A Divinity of Magic who enslaves Mages? That's hardly a ringing endorsement.”

”Ringing endorsement? Ah, you are using translation magic. How my followers choose to interpret my creed is up to them. I need only their faith.”

In other words, you couldn't care less about your followers except what they can do for you. Not a surprise.

Francis wasn't done with the ritual and decided to keep talking. He was wearing a hooded cloak so it wasn't as if he needed to hide himself.

”What can you offer?”

”A sensible man. I can connect you with my followers within the Imperial Magiocracy. Reaching the 3rd Tier and extending your life countless times would be within your reach. Disconnecting you from that abomination would be simple.”

Francis gritted his teeth as this thing kept calling Talvara an abomination. He may have thought it himself, and it was likely true, but that doesn't mean he had to be okay with others calling her that. He wouldn't be a man in love if he was rational.

A man in love…

Shit.

”Well?” the Divinity asked after a long period of silence.

”Just thinking over how I can pull a Divinity from their realm and rip out their spine. Do you even have spines? Maybe I should just feed you to my pet instead,” Francis said with a deep grin as he completed the ritual. Talvara reached out from the Void moments later, taking the Chosen with her.

”You dare?!”

”All the time-” was all Francis could say before being blasted away by a wave of power. He tumbled head over heels several times before he managed to grip the ground. Even then he slid several dozen feet before stopping.

He didn't even have time to consider [Void-walking] away as he stared at the figure appearing in a storm of Divine Power.