Chapter 339
One thing Jacob had not considered was the fact that having access to all the flaws of a multipotent Skill Crystal meant that the Skill Crystal could become anything — and its own state of multipotence meant there were countless flaws around it.
He had so far shattered exactly six Mana nodes of different sizes, the last of which was apparently an Imperium node, which was quite rare to find at this depth in the mine. But he had sliced through so much of the Mana Crystal Stone — leaving both Foreman Ivan and Princess Yekaterina completely stunned — that he had gotten to a deeper layer of the mine all on his own.
By wielding the sword in his left hand, using the Primordial Magic amplification it provides, and covering himself in the Wrath of Blade — which, by the way, he finds a ridiculous name for such an esoteric spell — Jacob is able to slice through the Mana Crystal Stone like butter.
However, despite the ease he had while working the stone — an ease he had never found before in his entire life as a miner — Jacob still didn’t have a good solution for the nodes. Princess Yekaterina kept saying that all he had to do was to think about what he needed, and so he tried for a movement Skill Crystal — something perhaps to do with the fire that he could wield. He could shape the Heartfire wherever he wanted, but if he had Skills to give it a better shape, he would need to think less during battle. It would make him faster, it would make him better, and it would make him overall stronger.
Yet every time he started to work on a Mana node, the same thing happened. Jacob had built a flaw-finding muscle. He could not look at the node without thinking of all the flaws that the node held. And if he thought about all the flaws, the node would simply crumble, because the node reflected the Mana that was emitted toward it — and also something more esoteric, like the artistry of the approach. And Jacob’s approach was to find all the flaws. But if the Mana node reflected all the flaws, it would simply crumble to dust.
That was giving Jacob a massive, massive headache. He had never imagined that the Grimoire could actually become a liability.
Still, both Princess Yekaterina and Foreman Ivan understand the value of what Jacob is doing. And so, by the third day of him destroying every single Mana node he comes across, they start putting an actual crew of experts beside him.
Well, it goes a little differently.
Jacob is brought to the most proficient miners in the depths of this mine in Zamorye. But when the old-timers see the young man, they look at Foreman Ivan, whom every single one of them outranks, and they say, “Have you lost your damn mind? Have you got rocks in between your ears? Why are you bringing us a kid? Do you wanna slow us down?”
Foreman Ivan doesn’t even get to reply. In this mine, the miners are way more important than the foreman. The foreman is more of a manager, there to assign the spaces and make sure that everything runs smoothly, but the mine is effectively run by the miners themselves. Some of these miners are actually family of Princess Yekaterina, and she has to incinerate them with her gaze when they look at her weirdly for having dressed up as a miner.
Jacob just waits for the little spat between Foreman Ivan and the others to stop. Then, half an hour later, when nothing is getting resolved and they’re now just shouting insults at each other, he takes out the pickaxe and the sword.
“What the hell is he doing?”
Jacob simply goes to the rock and carves it easily, just as he had done with the rock above, with his pickaxe. Seeing how he’s peeling the Mana Crystal Stone and how he’s wielding a sword while doing that, everybody almost gets a stroke.
“Holy. Wait. What is that pickaxe?” one of them mutters.
Jacob stops and holds it in front of him.
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“This is Rafnov’s pickaxe. I got it from a heritage site, and I passed a few of Rafnov’s Trials.”
Jacob says, “I can help you guys. I hear that there is a war going down and that you need as many Skill Crystals as possible. So if you want, I can join the crew and help you guys out. I don’t really emit much attuned Mana, so the Mana nodes are untouched — at least the ones I excavated above. If you will have me, I would also ask you to help me out with figuring out how to convert the Mana nodes myself. I’m really struggling right now.”
Seeing how humble Jacob just acted despite having carved the hardest Mana Crystal Stone in the mine, all the miners are mind-blown. One of them — Myshkin, a middle-aged member of the royal family, Count Myshkin to be precise — extends a hand to Jacob as if he hadn’t been insulting the young man just minutes ago and says, “You’re welcome. We were really excited to get a new member. You really went above and beyond any of our expectations.”
Jacob almost laughs at how shameless the reaction is, and all the miners behind Myshkin nod.
“Indeed. We could sense that there was something special in you. It’s just that Foreman Ivan presented you poorly.”
Jacob turns toward an angry-looking foreman who’s now staring daggers at them.
“Well, you know, I need to do this because I need my citizenship. They said I have to work in the mines for five years first.”
“I’ll grant you the citizenship,” Count Myshkin says. “Just excavate a few Mithril Rank Skill Crystals for me, and you can have it.”
“Oh.” Jacob smiles and then turns toward Foreman Ivan. “Does that count?”
And judging by how bristling and silent and furious the foreman looks — and how the princess looks just as angry that their own ploy hasn’t really had much effect on Jacob — they say, “Yes.”
“All right. Let’s get to work then.”
And so, for the next week, Jacob just joins the group of miners, mostly working in silence. Apparently, excavating Skill Crystals from Mana Crystal Stone is an extremely demanding job. But they immediately removed any chains that Jacob had left and moved him out to some lodgings just beside the mine. And they weren’t miners’ lodgings — Count Myshkin has a large villa where he and his team stay between shifts. Sometimes they work overnight and even two days in a row, since they are all high Rank. But Jacob is pretty consumed by using the Wrath of Blade constantly, and he is the reason why they take so many breaks. None of them seems to resent Jacob for that, though. Actually, they have all stopped excavating Mana Crystal Stone themselves and just focus on the actual Skill Crystals.
- - -
“I’ve never seen a prodigy like you,” Count Myshkin says with a smile as they dine in the villa after cleaning themselves up.
Jacob took a long, warm bath and is now finally able to ask a few questions.
“So, about the Mana nodes…”
“Um, yeah, I’ve seen what you’ve done. Didn’t really have time to comment on it, but…” Count Myshkin takes on a thinking pose, putting a hand on his chin and looking up at the ceiling. “All the Mana nodes you touched crumbled to dust. You said it’s because you think of flaws. You can visualize so many flaws on a blank slate that the only thing that appears is destruction. That’s the first time I hear of something like that. But it’s also the first time I see anyone carve through Mana Crystal Stone like you do.”
“Well, I think that the reason why it’s so easy for me to go through the Mana Crystal Stone is because I can see the flaws in it. So I can just naturally go through it.”
Jacob is using an approximation of what he’s actually doing — more like a perfected Wrath of Blade rather than looking for flaws in the Mana Crystal Stone, since it doesn’t really have flaws or weak points as one would traditionally imagine them. And so the Grimoire is not really able to spot such things in it.
“In Zamorye, we believe that Skill Crystals are a gift. They come from the labor in the mine, but they give back as much as they take. When you clear the space so easily…” Count Myshkin trails off now. “I doubt it’s a problem of effort. The only thing I can think of with any solution is the Book of Blade.”
“The what?” Jacob perks up.
“Inside the Royal Library, King Blade left a book about Skill Crystals. But the book has to be peeled page by page with his own Skills, so that only the worthy could read what he had to teach. So far, the best we’ve managed is to read about thirty of the hundred pages he left behind.”
Jacob raises an eyebrow.
“Oh, so there is a way for me to maybe learn more? And wait — when you say Blade, you mean that this Primordial Spell, the Wrath of Blade, is from—”
“It is from King Blade. Some get confused and think it comes from the blade on the pickaxe, but no, it is one of our ancestors’ first names. He was a close relative of Rafnov.”
“I see. And he was named… Blade.”
“He had quirky parents. It is a running joke in all our population, so yes, I understand your surprise.”
“Okay, can I access the Royal Library?”
Count Myshkin laughs.
“Yes — if you marry a princess, Jacob Cloud. Only royals can access it.”
Jacob deflates.
“But let me get my niece here for you. Maybe we can arrange something.”