Echoes Of The Seven

“How many attempts do you think it’ll take until we get one that works?” Pravala asked. Eris shrugged.

“No idea, but all we need is something that lets us see outside the Obelisk. Once we get that, then I can focus on making something else that lets us use the connection to get out. Boost.”

At that last word’s command, Eris felt a shudder of warmth and tingling ripple over her skin from the contact of the older woman’s gentle hand on her shoulder. It pierced through her shirt as if it weren’t even there, making Eris genuinely uncomfortable- it was as if Pravala were caressing her naked skin. Still, Eris grit her teeth and focused on ignoring the energy, and the ever-present pinching sensation in her mind surrounding a skill being inadvertently brought into the foreground.

Excellence {Active} {Evolution 1} {Level 94}

For each Crafting Point spent on Excellence, the Potency of the craft is increased by {4700%}. This bonus is increased by {9400%} when 50% or less of your total Crafting Points are spent on this ability.

Eris and Bailey had spent several minutes earlier in the morning discerning what kind of numerical values each of her skills would give when enhanced by Pravala’s boost, along with determining which skill would be the best one to boost for the biggest results.

Lots of number crunching led to the result that boosting Adept Artificer ultimately led to a finished product that was just under fifty-two thousand times the Potency of a mundane object, and thirty-five thousand times as durable. Both of which were numbers that left Bailey genuinely speechless- something Eris wasn’t even sure was possible. However, it turned out that boosting the end multiplier, while effective, was just barely beaten out by boosting her CP in general.

Bringing Enhanced Crafting Points to level ninety-four meant that Eris had two thousand, three hundred and seventy-five points to spend on her skills. Unfortunately, but also exactly as Eris expected, the secondary aspect of gaining more points to spend as she put points into a single skill maxed at five extra points per five points put into a single skill. In other words, it flat-out doubled her total CP from twenty-three-seventy-five to four thousand, seven hundred and fifty.

Even though the end multiplier of Adept Artificer was significantly weaker, having that many points to spend on Excellence and Unbroken meant that the finished project (if their math was correct) equated to roughly fifty-three thousand five-hundred times as strong and thirty-five thousand six-hundred times as durable. A small increase compared to having boosted Adept Artificer, but every little bit counted. Of course, the fact that they referred to a difference of over two hundred thousand percent as a ‘small increase’ wasn’t lost on the two girls.

However, after doing the math on boosting Excellence, both girls decided that it was the best way to go given the circumstances. Sure, it meant that the item’s Durability was massively lacking compared to either of the other two skills being boosted (though eighteen-hundred times more durable than normal was still absolutely absurd), but the Potency bonus was simply too hard to pass up.

Fourty-seven hundred percent, plus an additional ninety-four hundred percent per point, with a hundred and twenty-one points, then amplified by Adept Artificer’s multiplier. Something in Eris’s gut bent her in the direction that the secondary bonus of Excellence was an additive bonus, not a multiplicative one. Even if it wasn’t for that odd confirmation, just the way the math worked out seemed unrealistic for it to be multiplicative- even by Artificer standards.

If it was additive, then all the secondary effect really meant was that when it triggered, each Crafting Point Eris put into the skill was pretty much tripled- no matter the level of Excellence. If it was multiplicative, then that meant it was an exponential increase. With Pravala’s boost, the secondary effect triggering would make every single Crafting Point put into the skill worth ninety-four points, on top of each point naturally giving almost five thousand percent bonuses to Potency. Even if she had a class that could very well be capable of rewriting the laws of reality, Eris found it hard to believe that she could get hundreds of millions of percentages of Potency.

So, additive it was.

With that assumption reached, Bailey had worked out that the math of an Excellence boost meant a Potency total of about a hundred and twenty-eight thousand times stronger than mundane- a little over twice as powerful as either of the other two skills getting boosted. In other words, either she could make an object that may very well be completely indestructible, or she could make one that was almost indestructible, but over twice as strong as the first.

Almost-indestructible was more than enough for Eris.

With the Summoner’s magic flowing through her system, Eris let the light flowing from her fingertips coalesce into ropes and threads that draped over and around the marble pillar as she worked. Silver wire was woven and wrapped around the statuette, being fed through the small holes drilled into it and looped around the other side in a net that was more akin to if Eris was tying her shoes. It caused a lattice of glinting metal to weave closed overtop of the leather band wrapped snug at the base of the pillar, tying it to the marble.

“Why silver?”

Eris blinked at the sudden voice of the woman behind her, yet her fingers never fumbled for a moment.

“Magic is a lot like heat or electricity,” Eris responded. “It flows a lot easier through certain materials than others, and when it can flow easily, the effects are more reliable.”

“In what way?” Pravala asked. Eris had to stop herself from instinctively arguing back against the woman. Instead, she let out a sigh.

“Don’t you know everything Bailey does? Why do you need to ask me this stuff?”

Eris wasn’t looking at her, but she could hear the Summoner smirk.

“Bailey’s knowledge is astonishingly focused on Alchemy specifically, and the applications of materials for that art. I was simply wondering why you’re using silver for this, when it’s primarily used for transmutative or purifying functions. Wouldn’t gold for amplification be better suited?”

Eris couldn’t help but roll her eyes.

“All of the amplification is going to be coming from the Ichryte we’re using to charge it, so the gold is pretty much unnecessary. I’m using silver because of the transmutative property that makes it more… stretchy. Gold is better if you’re trying to make a single item more powerful, but silver has a better time taking and transporting magic itself- especially between different items.”

Eris bent a length of silver wire braided onto itself with a pair of tweezers, then fed it back into a different hole until it began poking out from the other end.

“Uhh- imagine all the charged ichryte is like the ocean out there, and this pillar is your castle. You need to get all that water from the ocean into your castle, but to do that you need pipes and a good plumbing system to pump it all. Gold pipes will just increase the amount of water that can be moved within an existing, enclosed system- such as the castle itself. However, it won’t be that good at actually bringing the water into the castle from somewhere else. Silver, on the other hand, isn’t great at increasing the volume of water or the water pressure, but it’s fantastic at connecting between different systems, or even a single system with wildly different parts.”

Pravala remained quiet, but Eris continued. She wasn’t sure whether she was doing it for the woman’s sake, or simply to keep them from returning to tense silence.

“However, the ichryte isn’t the only thing that the silver is going to be transporting magic from. I’m hoping that by using the silver to tie the band into place, that it can maybe do something to help ensure that the enchantment of the band carries over into the pillar, in the same way that it will carry the magic of the ichryte over to charge it. As for the pillar itself, it’s made of marble because marble is pretty much the opposite of precious metals and stuff like that. It is extremely resistant to the flow of magic, to the point that magic almost exclusively flows around it, rather than through it.”

Glancing over her shoulder, Eris saw Pravala’s brow furrow. “Then wouldn’t using marble be a terrible choice for this?”

Eris gave a shrug. “That’s what I initially thought, but then I started thinking more about the Obelisk itself. It’s the most powerful artifact of the old world that has ever been discovered- at least according to my knowledge- and yet it’s made primarily from what may be the least magically-inclined material out there. That’s when I started thinking that maybe, the Obelisk was using the anti-conductive properties of marble to actually force large amounts of magic into a single point and focus it that way. I mean, look at the shape of it.”

Eris let go of the wire with one hand and gestured to the white structure shrouded in glowing pink strings (though she doubted that Pravala could see those strings).

“I’m focusing the silver wiring more around the base, along with the Band of Second Presence. Therefore, when the magic stored in the ichryte begins getting shoved into a material so resistant to magic, it will theoretically force it upwards. Also because of that extreme resistance that marble already has, I’m assuming that once the magic starts flowing through it, it never ever wants to stop and will only continue to be repelled by the material- gaining more force as it travels.

“For the Altar, marble was ideal to use alongside the ichryte, because it meant that when the magic would be absorbed, it was actively pushing to get rid of it and funnel it into something else. If I had used a different material, it likely would have been more effective at actually draining and holding magic, but be much, much worse at trying to put that magic into something else- like all the ichryte runestones, which is the key to this entire plan working. It’s a great example that sometimes, even a magic-resistant material can be great as a part of magic items depending on what you’re going for.”

“Huh,” was Pravala’s only reply. Eris managed a little bit of a smile. The Summoner had her strengths, Eris had her own.

“Back to this, though, the way that the marble is shaped means that as magic is funnelled into it and forced upwards, it also forces the magic to condense on itself. Now normally, something like that is very ill-advised. If you are trying to put lots of magic into something, you either want a material with a high magical capacity, or enough of the material to hold however much magic you want to use. If you don’t do either of those things, the magic can become volatile and the material itself can literally erupt. Very bad. However…”

Eris leaned in close, narrowing her eyes as she wove the end of the silver wire under itself, then over another strand, then through another hole.

“I have absolutely insane bonuses to my item Durability, which means that anything I make should be able to easily withstand the force of the magic, even marble with one of the lowest magical capacities known to man. That makes the real question as to why the Obelisk itself is shaped to condense so much magic, and what it’s doing with that magic afterwards.”

The Artificer let out a short breath. “Now, this is just a theory, but I don’t think that the Obelisk actually has the raw strength needed to do what it does. I think that condensing magic and making it volatile makes it extremely dangerous, but also substantially more powerful than it was ever supposed to be.”

Eris sighed.

“Going from that assumption, I’m hoping that by giving this item the enchantment of the band, pumping way too much magic into it, and then condensing it to the point that the magic becomes unstable, it might bypass the normal limitations of the band. Namely, the line-of-sight restriction. If I can bypass that and make the sensor appear in places I can’t see, then there’s a chance that I can make it appear outside of the Obelisk entirely. Of course, that’s when I then have to try and come up with a way to expand that connection into a pathway, but you know; one step at a time.”

Pravala was silent for a moment. “That’s a lot of uncertainties in that plan.”

Eris shrugged.

“I know. I don’t like it either, but it’s impossible for there to be any guarantees in this situation. Every bit of this is unexplored territory, so the only thing we can do is throw crap at the problem until something happens.”

“And do you think this will cause something to happen?” Pravala motioned towards the marble pillar with her free hand.

Eris grit her teeth and fed the wire back into the final hole while focusing inwards to that esoteric sense. That mana held within her had recharged enough to convert into eight Crafting Points using Artificer’s Grace. Sure, eight points was nothing compared to the insane amounts she had naturally, but it still meant five points that went into Unbroken, which then naturally gave four points in Excellence because of Crafting Points’ evolved benefit, then one more in the Durability-enhancer with the final two going into the Potency booster. That meant a total of one-hundred twenty eight points in Unbroken and one-twenty-seven in Excellence to ensure that she got that ever-important bonus of using half or less of her CP in the skill.

The pink strings tightened around the marble pillar, weaving through and underneath the tightly-woven lattice of silver wire around the base- which the leather of the band could just barely be seen within the gaps of the metal. The light grew intense- brighter and brighter as the threads grew so taught Eris almost expected the stone to start cracking from the pressure. Within the vibrancy of the magenta, Eris could see tinges of pale green wisping through the energy- Pravala’s influence. The magic of Envy mixing with Lust and pouring into the item.

However, something different was present in her mind’s eye- an information window of the item on the cusp of creation, ready to be changed as Eris desired thanks to Obfuscation. Words rolled by, blowing further and further into the realm of impossibility.

“No freaking way…”

Eris didn’t even realize she had spoken out loud until Pravala chimed in. “What is it?”

Eris blinked, re-reading the information in her mind just to make sure that it did in fact say what she thought it said. When she was able to confirm, Eris could do little more than blow a raspberry.

“It’s… perfect. Absolutely perfect.”

Pravala raised an eyebrow, obviously trying to Inspect the object but unable since Eris hadn’t yet ‘finished’ it. With that in mind, Eris did nothing more than change the name, then let the craft be completed. The light vanished and cast the room in shadows- at least until Eris’s eyes readjusted. The actual illumination in the room hadn’t changed at all- just Eris’s perception of it.

The entire craft reminded her of an old legend- when the two halves of the Primordial were in disagreement about something and Hennel imprisoned Amelie’s spider familiar in some kind of cage. However, the familiar snapped off one of its legs, carved it down, and used it as a lockpick to free itself. Freedom carved from bone.

Skeleton Key

Durability: 100%

A well made statuette designed to let perception cross insurmountable barriers. Imbued with the essence of Lust and Envy. Created by Eris Kadell. Made from white marble, silver and a Band of Second Presence.

Once every twenty-four hours, when activated by the creator, the Skeleton Key creates a sensor in any location the creator can clearly picture in their mind. This sensor lasts up to ten minutes. As long as this sensor exists, the Skeleton Key will transmit the senses of sight, hearing, scent, taste and touch from the chosen location of the sensor to the creator.

Additional effect: Transpositional Voyeur

When the creator achieves climax at the same time as an individual they are observing through the sensor, the sensor created by the Skeleton Key will transform into a two-way path allowing for instantaneous travel between the Skeleton Key and where the sensor was placed. The transformation lasts for the remaining time of the sensor.

Additional effect: Borrowed Time

When creating a sensor with the Skeleton Key, the creator may siphon magical energy from creatures or objects within a one-meter radius around them. Doing so allows the creator to transform the sensor into a projection of themselves for communication and distant influence. The projection lasts as long as magical energy continues to be siphoned.