Sacrifice Mage

Se-Vigilance’s idea was to basically make use of the only Paragon we knew. The same one who had summoned me to Ephemeroth in the first place.

I couldn’t believe I hadn’t considered that gangster-wizard in this whole debacle yet. Then again, he had given the impression that he didn’t give two shits about me and had probably already forgotten my existence. Master Kostis might have stated otherwise when trying to fend off the Paragon in the Nether Vein, but I knew better.

However, Se-Vigilance was convinced it was a direction we had to explore, and I couldn’t dissuade her. Or rather, I chose not to. I could be wrong, so it might be a possibility to explore.

Of course, we didn’t have any means of contacting said Paragon. I didn’t have the faintest clue where he might have been, though the Councillor was aware that the gangster-wizard apparently liked to hang out in Claderov for some reason. Kostis had met him there.

The Councillor promised she would try to get in touch with Master Kostis. That had shocked me because my farewell with Kostis had suggested that he’d be totally out of reach within the Nether Vein.

Apparently, not so. Not if it was a dire emergency. And this qualified, according to Se-Vigilance.

I wanted to ask about the particulars of getting in touch with Master Kostis, but I was aware that I was kind of pushing the limits of how much time I was supposed to take up. Se-Vigilance promised that she’d contact me as soon as she got a hold of Kostis. That was enough.

Over the next few days, I tried to focus on training. I had two soft deadlines until which I could concentrate entirely on myself—the big auction and the progress with the artifice and the vineyards. They were all coming along rapidly, and I needed to keep up with my crap alongside them.

Of course, the first thing I tested the next day when the Scarthralls weren’t busy was the effect of Reverence Everlife on them. The idea was that we’d spar and see what effect materialized from the Augmentation.

I was naturally a bit distracted from actual combat. Lujean and the others noticed that, but I told them to keep up the pressure. It was the best way to test the Augmentation.

My distraction came in the form of me noticing just how Reverence Everlife was acting. I once again felt that mana tether between me and the rest of the cultists, which was extra strong now with several of them so close to me. It felt like there was a constant back-and-forth traversal of energy through the link, from them to me, back to them, and so on.

When the sparring properly started, the sensation got really intense. I wasn’t kidding about being distracted. As such, a good chunk of the sparring session was spent on me just getting used to Reverence Everlife being active while fighting.

I wanted it to become as natural as breathing, because if it was going to be on all the time, then it might as well become something that took up no mental space.

The bigger test came when I had the Scarthralls throw their all at me. I had to encourage them a bit, but they agreed once they understood it was for the new Augmentation. The Councillor had used her feather on the cube. I needed the Scarthralls to do the same here.

They came at me with wonderful force. Lujean yelled out as he pelted his bursting flames. Vandre summoned a huge amount of blood before flinging it at me, the whole mess sizzling and sparking with lightning at the same time. Atholaine joined the fray too, throwing her dagger straight at me.

I had to admit that even though she didn’t have magic, her spunk was certainly magical.

Reverence Everlife came to being just as all the attacks landed. It was just as Se-Vigilance had tested with the cubes in her oversized garage. At the moment of impact between all those damaging blows and myself, the connection between me and the Scarthralls almost seemed to solidify.

Well, it did solidify. Just as a brief, golden shield in front of me, not the actual link connecting us all.

The knife bounced off like it had hit solid rock. Lujean’s flames and Vandre’s blood both got repelled while leaving hardly a scratch. I was perfectly safe, without even needing to do anything about it.

What I was actually doing was observing the mechanisms of the Augmentation carefully. It was instantaneous, not perpetuating. Once the damage had been repelled, it just disappeared, only to reappear again when more attacks were flung in my direction. I was growing to appreciate that it didn’t overstay its welcome.

I also surmised that it only worked when others struck me. That was why it hadn’t manifested when I had stabbed my arm myself.

“It doesn’t return back to full health, if you will,” I said. “It retains the damage it suffered earlier. Guess we’ll have to see when it refreshes back to its best condition.”

The more important observation was that I didn’t find any changes among the Scarthralls. One of the reasons I was experimenting with them was because they’d be able to handle any potential negative fallouts much better than any of the other cultists. But it was starting to look like that wasn’t something I’d need to consider.

What was even more intriguing was the phenomenon I had already observed with Se-Vigilance. Just as the originator cube had drawn in bits of the hues of the other cubes, when the shield of Reverence Everlife formed around me, I got a bit of the Scarthralls coming into me too.

It was so odd. My blood boiled and writhed a little like my veins and arteries were turning into living things. I got a strange feeling of unmoored-ness, like I was just a bit more separate from the world and its rules and laws than I had been before. Certain impulses pinged off my psyche like bullets hitting a tank’s armour plating. The briefest surge of bloodthirst, the faintest sensation of restlessness and hostile aggression.

“As if you weren’t crazy enough already, Cultist Ross,” Vandre said after we had tested how well the shield performed when attacked from various angles—it worked just as well. “Now you’ve got a power that negates all attacks automatically?”

I tutted. “Honestly, Vandre, you should be happy it is what it is. My earlier suspicion was that it was straight up immortality.”

“Immortality?”

Lujean looked at the younger Scarthrall flatly. “What are you gawking at, idiot? We’re immortal too, technically.”

“Oh… right.”

Honestly, Lujean should have looked at me that way. I had forgotten that the Scarthralls were technically immortal as well. Although, undying might have been a better term. Their weakness to light stood out as a glaring record-scratch on their immortality spiel.

…which explained how Reverence Everlife was guaranteeing me immortality. It wasn’t going to let me die, even from things that could potentially get me killed.

This story originates from NovelFire. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Unless someone extremely strong came along to bash me with their powers.

Now I was left wondering if it extended to things like dying of starvation or hunger, or drowning, or even disease. My earlier tests had revealed that my body still felt pain and hunger and all that, so I was stumped on where this new Augmentation of mine drew the line. If I prevented myself from eating or Sacrificing food, would I just turn into a desiccated husk that still had a beating heart and was technically alive?

Would my heart even be beating in that case? It was a muscle, which needed energy to function, but no food meant no energy so—

Argh. I was tying myself into knots. It would work as it intended to work. I’d discover it all in due time.

For instance, I wasn’t sure what I was supposed to make of the sensations of others feeding back into me whenever that shield manifested. I also didn’t know if there was a distance limit. If I was in a dungeon but all the other cultists were wherever they normally lived, would the Augmentation even come into being. And what actually was the limit?

I put it out of my mind for the next few days as I focused on training up other things. It was nice that in a couple more days, I finally got the Gravity Affix I was going for.

[ Affix Unlocked!

You have acquired a new Affix for your Gravity Aspect.

Affix: Repulsion Burst ]

[ Rank Up!

Your Power, Spirit, Fervour, and Thauma Attributes have risen by one Rank.

Your Gravity and Entropy Aspects have risen by one Rank.

Your Paths of Starforged Firmament and the Auric Hierophant have risen by one Rank

Power: Gold VII

Spirit: Gold VII

Fervour: Gold VIII

Thauma: Silver X

Gravity: Gold VII

Entropy: Iron X

Path of Starforged Firmament: Gold VI

Path of the Auric Hierophant: Gold VI]

It was kind of funny seeing Fervour as the strongest thing in my entire status. Gold was kind of crazy.

I spent most of the next day just training with Repulsion Burst. No, I didn’t actually have to be punching and kicking to create those spheres of repelling, violet-hued force.

With Manifestation, I could create it in the air without much trouble. It was just faster when I performed after a Power-fuelled motion because my first Augmentation, Mana Injection, often created mana in the air faster than Manifestation could. I could then use the Augmentation-borne mana to channel Gravity and its newest Affix.

At the end of the week, I paid a visit to the Kalnislaw lands. Ascelkos was pretty happy about showing me how they had finished constructing their version of greenhouses.

“Oh wow,” I said, surveying the whole area. “You guys have been busy.”

Normally, I’d have been looking at wide open land filled with grape trees and the like. Or rather, open space where there would be grape fields eventually. Now, I just saw rows upon rows of the greenhouses covering the entirety of the area. There were even some kindly Anymphea going around and showing the construction to the Scarthrall fieldhands.

“I like to think us Anymphea are more on the efficient side,” Ascelkos said with no small amount of pride.

“Guess you’re just waiting for the artifice then,” I said. “Don’t worry, Linak is making pretty good progress on it last I heard. He found a bunch of new runes to handle the mana load better.”

I felt weirdly off saying it like that. Like I was pushing everything onto Linak without doing anything to help. And… that was kind of true. I didn’t have much experience in artifices, so I had left it up to him while taking care of everything else I needed to pay attention to. But that didn’t mean I couldn’t assist in other ways.

To be fair, I had said I’d find something to help at the auction. And now that I had the invitation I needed from the Ascelkos and the Anymphea, I wouldn’t have any trouble attending.

We chatted a bit more about inconsequential things. Ascelkos really was a pleasant guy to hang out with. He was way better at me at socializing, effortlessly switching between things that were serious and outright funny one-liners with a tremendous amount of grace.

I was almost a little sad to wave goodbye as I headed out.

“I’ll be seeing you at the auction, then?” he said.

I nodded. “I’ll be there. I’ve got my eyes set on something specific, after all. Are you looking for anything in particular?”

“Not really.” He had a look that I could only call dreamy. “We’ll see if there’s anything at the auction that catches my fancy. They’re bringing in things from other places, you know. From Sinthesar and Vyorel and others besides. Places even I haven’t visited!”

I could hear the excitement in his voice, and I had to admit, I really was curious about them too. What were Sinthesar and Vyorel Kingdom like? What would have happened if I had gotten summoned there instead of Zairgon? After everyone I had come to know and care for here, I didn’t regret my time in Zairgon. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder.

“Speaking of new things…” Ascelkos said slowly.

His tonal shift made me pay attention too. A couple of men were walking by on the other side of the street, their eyes roving over the lands behind us. One of them, a tall, gold-feathered Plumefolk dressed in the kind of flowing garb I was absolutely certain was foreign, tried to come over. His companion restrained him, before whispering something in his ear.

I had mostly only seen Linak’s beaky smiles so far, so watching the almost malignant one this Plumefolk threw in our direction definitely had me raising my eyebrows.

“I wonder…” Ascelkos mused. “Do you think we should go say hello?”

There was almost a challenging glint to his voice, like he was itching to pick a fight. Sometimes, his affability made me forget that one of the very first things he had done was challenge me to a duel.

Before I could make a decision, the snooty nobles gave us a couple of parting sneers before departing.

“Those clothes are from Claderov,” Ascelkos said. “It seems the auctions’ participants are already arriving.”

I wondered if they had decided against stirring up trouble because Ascelkos was present. The Zairgon noble had obviously mentioned that to the Plumefolk.

I was about to head out to Gutran’s place to train up my Attributes, but an unavoidable distraction arrived in the form of a letter from the Councillor. Not Se-Vigilance. This was from Wargrog, the Councillor who had known Elder Escinca personally. Apparently, he was the one who possessed the means to contact Master Kostis, even within the Nether Vein.

“I only received a mere scrawl,” Wargrog said. I had once again been bidden to visit Ring One, where I had been directed to a rather bare bones office filled with lots of text. Books in shelves, scrolls in cubbies, cabinets upon cabinets worth of files and folders. “But it might prove enlightening all the same. Please, Cultist Moreland. Take a seat and have a look.”

“Thank you, Councillor,” I said.

The seat I was offered was rather lush, despite the businesslike setting. I pored over the message that Master Kostis had sent.

It turned out the Councillor’s main way of exchanging messages with Master Kostis was by a pair of Enchanted metal plates. The scratches on one side of one plate would show up on the same side of the other plate. With a bit of ink and some paper, the messages could then be copied like reverse block printing before the metal healed itself for more scratches.

Honestly, it was basic but kind of ingenious at the same time. There was, apparently, no distance limit. Whatever connection of mana existed between the plates could coexist through the barrier that the Nether Vein presented, albeit at a limited rate.

“It’s very slow, as you can see,” Councillor Wargrog said. “Takes almost a day to heal, so you can’t send too many messages at once. Unreliable for fast communication.”

I smiled at him. “But if you need to say something urgent, then it works in a pinch.”

Wargrog’s tusks gleamed. “That it does.”

The message from Master Kostis was simple and to the point. I learned scant little about how his expedition into the Nether Vein with the Kalnislaws was going. He said they had made fantastic progress and would soon reach the other side of the continent. Which, considering it hadn’t even been two months since he had left, was kind of wild.

The Kalnislaws had also found traces of their son, seemingly. Kostis didn’t expand on what those traces were, but I supposed I should be happy for a family finding the remains of their long-lost child. Regardless of how much of a bastard Zoltan was.

For me, the most important bit was obviously at the very end. Master Kostis didn’t say much about the Paragon we were hunting, likely because we hadn’t been able to tell him much about why we were looking for said Paragon. But he confirmed Councillor Se-Vigilance. The Paragon, the gangster wizard called Shubratha, would indeed be found in Claderov.

We’d need to make our way there sooner rather than later.