33: Pristine Soul-Mending Water
“It’s so beautiful…” Haley said, mesmerized as she walked closer to the pond, lowering herself to meet its reflective surface with wide eyes. “I’ve never seen a pond this bright before…”
“Is it magical?” Van suggested. “Even I can feel how special it is. Maybe there’s something in the water?”
“I don’t sense anything like that,” Aidan said, stepping up beside Haley and kneeling down himself. “The water itself is special. I don’t know where it came from, or how it’s made, but it’s definitely special.”
Obviously, he scanned the water, not expecting much. A notification proved him wrong by socking him in the face.
Pristine Soul-Mending Water (Epic)
Cultivating in the vast denseness of a mana pocket, this water became enchanted throughout the years, purifying itself and absolving itself of all impurities. It became enriched in mana particles, allowing those who drink this to restore mana that had been exhausted.
“Holy shit,” Aidan muttered, slack-jawed. “It’s at Epic rarity! I’ve never seen that before.”
“Me neither,” Van replied with his own slack-jawed face. “Can you imagine just how expensive this would be?”
“Is this like drinking a mana potion?” Haley asked. “Compared to regular potions, those things cost a fortune, and there’s a whole pond of it sitting here!?”
Aidan could only agree to that sentiment. He checked on the prices for mana potions as well and instantly decided to forgo them, relying only on his regeneration when it came to depleting mana. However, seeing this made him re-think a lot of things.
“That talent of yours really found us something special,” Aidan turned to Haley with a big grin. She responded with the same, her soul singing in giddiness that only Haley could conjure up. “Now, how do we transport all of this…”
“Can’t we just put the entire thing into the spatial bag?” Haley asked, pulling out the bag in question to show everyone.
“How the hell do you expect us to drain all this water out of the pond into that bag?” Van asked incredulously. “You think you can just dunk the thing in there?”
“Pretty sure that would ruin it,” Aidan said. “I suggest you keep that away.”
Haley instantly did so, not wishing to ruin the bag that Nina left behind. Aidan could also tell that from the way the vibrations set off from that spatial bag. In comparison, the vibrations setting off from the pond itself were multiple times stronger than the bag itself. It would most likely ruin the enchantment if they tried to force feed all that water into the bag.
“Then, what do we do? It’s not like we can just drink it all…” Haley said, then her head tilted before putting her hand into the water, grabbing a cupful before pouring it down into her mouth.
“Hey! Don’t just drink it out of nowhere! What if it’s contaminated?” Van shouted, pulling his sister’s shoulder close in desperation.
“Hey! It’s fine!” Haley moaned, pulling her hand up to stop Van from moving her further. “It literally restored my mana pool! And it was delicious. It was so clear and fresh, it completely healed me up.”
Not wishing to be left out, Aidan also put his hand into the water, much to Van’s chagrin. After drinking it himself, his mind felt clearer, and his eyes widened at the sudden alertfulness he felt throughout his body.
He checked back at his status bar and saw what little mana he spent before was completely charged back to full. It was a full blown mana potion, and it truly was delicious.
“That’s it,” Aidan stated, standing back up. “No way in hell I’m leaving this behind.”
“Okay, so what?” Van asked, deciding to take a cupful himself to not get left behind. Clearly he enjoyed it, sounding more eager to take it. “Are you gonna make tons of bottles with that skill of yours and gradually take as many as possible?”
“That sounds like a major pain,” Haley muttered.
“It’s totally worth it,” Van said.
“I get that, I do.”
“Not enough,” Aidan shook his head. “No, I’m gonna make something that would take the entire thing with us, one way or another.”
The two siblings looked at Aidan strangely, believing him mad. And maybe he was.
But he was going to pull it off. He recalled reading a story about this once, where a protagonists’ party found something similar. He recalled how they would always have a connection to that source of power, no matter how far they traveled.
It would definitely require messing around with the power of harmony, but thanks to having a spatial bag under his belt, he might make it work. He was also certain Nina would love to have this around as well, so it would be a double win for himself and for the sake of ensuring Nina’s own self interests.
“Haley, let me grab that bag. Don’t worry, I’m not gonna dunk it.”
Haley handed the bag to him and Aidan went over to one side, sat down, and focused on the bag with his Sense Vibrations. He studied the soul closely, understanding the subtle vibrations it was giving off in its own way.
The enchantment on the bag made it so that the inside of it was spatially expanded to contain as many items as possible. It wasn’t possible to put in a live being, however, as the enchantment wasn’t powerful enough to take in an entity with any kind of will. It was generally the same way how Rend worked. The more of a target has a will, the more difficult it would be to cast magic around it.
The same could be said of how his own will was transferred to his sword while using Soul Meditation. The Night Goblin from before was able to damage him severely because its magic was interrupting with the will of the sword, AKA himself. By following that simple logic, he could understand how the vibrations of space magic worked.
It involved creating an entirely separate realm that was different from the inside of a simple bag. The inside of the bag was infused with that same space magic that allowed it to work to the crafter’s wishes.
He believed he could do the same. With that, he created the Craft orb and started to work. He put in the materials he believed he would need from the spatial bag, including some leather, metal, and the magic gems he used before to create his Harmonious Shortsword.
But he also tried to keep it simple. Trying to expand too much on the enchantment itself to do as many things as possible would only cause it to disperse itself and make it weaker, or overpower the entire item and destroy it. He did enough experiments to know just how far he needed to take it.
Now all he needed was one piece of the puzzle–space magic. He knew he wasn’t capable of commanding space itself through Craft, at least not yet, but he still had something on hand for that very occasion. There was a small magic gem that, while little in size, contained mana that felt so similar to the enchantment on the spatial bag–space mana.
Now here came the most difficult part. Trying to actually implement space mana into an object was something he never once did before. All he did was essentially inject pure mana into an item and let the system run its course into making it an enchanted item. This time, however, he needed to guide it towards the proper enchantment he needed.
He closed his eyes, letting his imagination take hold. Rather than just simply thinking about the grand scale, he fine-tuned his thoughts to shape his will into the crafted item, pushing everything he wanted into small, intricate details that his spell surely couldn’t ignore.
Unfortunately he ran into some barriers that were preventing him from actually finalizing the item. Something deep inside was saying that the item wouldn’t work if he kept doing this one method, then again when he tried another method. He tried covering the item with magic like a coat, then adding in more layers to keep the magic flowing properly.
He kept pushing and pushing, pouring in more mana as it kept failing to change. But he was onto something, and he wasn’t going to give up. The goal was right there in front of him yet it kept getting pushed back the harder he tried.
So close… so close!
He gritted his teeth, ramping up his willpower further. It was right there, yet there was that strange wall that he couldn’t surpass. Deciding to do a little mental experiment, he imagined his willpower into a small drill to pierce right into that non-existent wall that kept denying him his wishes.
He definitely felt it then. The sting that came directly from the spell itself. It flowed through his head and neck, a pain that made his eyes water and almost made him bite his tongue. But he kept pushing. All he needed to do was just keep piercing through that wall with his mental strength.
Finally, it broke through, and he felt something pop in his head before a notification was sent to his vision.
Spell Upgraded! Craft (Iron) became Craft (Steel)!
“Fuck yeah!”
Aidan cheered, finally breaking through into Steel with his best spell. That took way longer than how he increased Sense Vibrations, and he cast the spell way too many times to count.
Like he expected, he needed to understand his spell in a way only he could, and improve it using methods that he hadn’t thought of before. He felt the spell becoming looser, no longer wrapped up with the restrictions that were placed upon it due to it having a lower rank than before.
Finally, the Craft orb broke down and something plopped into his hand. It was a container large enough to wrap his whole hand around, having a cylinder shape to it with a top half having a sort of locking mechanism to keep it shut with a simple pull. It was like one of those modern water bottles people had in his old world, something that he often had around during his delivery travels.
He scanned it to be sure, proud of what he made.
Vast-Distance Container (Rare)
An incredibly made container that has the special ability to connect one end of it into another realm entirely, allowing the container to take the contents from that realm into it for safe storage. It remains connected no matter where the owner goes, but it may only be used once.
Aidan grinned from ear to ear as he got back up to see the siblings looking at him in astonishment. He was about to brag on what he just made, but was suddenly covered up by Haley’s rag as it wiped across his face.
“Your nose is bleeding a lot,” Haley said gingerly, wrapping up the rag and showing the red stains to Aidan. “You really pushed yourself again.”
“Oh damn, I didn’t even realize it,” Aidan said, just as surprised to see his own blood showing. “But you gotta look at this!”
The siblings took the time to scan it. Their eyes widened in surprise, but it only lasted a few moments, shorter than what Aidan expected. Van just shook his head.
“At this point, I don’t care anymore. Just do what you want already.”
“See? It’s not so bad working with him,” Haley said, showing off a grin as though she made her point.
“I kinda wish you guys would be more amazed at this,” Aidan groused.
“Is there really no limit to what you can do…?” Van muttered.
Aidan was starting to wonder about that himself, but decided to keep it there. It wasn’t his fault he was sent here with an overpowered talent, and he was going to use it to its fullest extent. He just hadn’t seen exactly how far he could push it.
He walked over to the pond and pushed the container down into the water. Bubbles started to flow up and pop as the water filled the container, and he definitely felt the magic coming off from the container activating. He pulled the container out of the water, drenched before looking into it to see the glowing water inside with no problems.
“Now watch,” Aidan said to the two, then continued to dump the contents out of the container back into the pond.
At first, it went as expected. The water just flowed out of the container back into the pond. The siblings only just watched with mild interest, wondering what Aidan was trying to prove.
As the container kept pouring out the water, that’s when they noticed it. It never stopped, even after a full minute had passed.
“Holy shit…” Van muttered, the container still pouring out the water from the pond even as he spoke. “Okay, now that’s impressive.”
“Now we have an unlimited source of mana potions!” Haley squealed in delight, jumping up and down as she asked to hold the container herself. Aidan let her, seeing the simplistic look of joy on her face as she poured out the water herself, mesmerized how it never seemed to run out.
After all, it was connected to the pond now, as stated when the notification of the item was updated, now showing that it contains the Pristine Soul-Mending Water. Out of all the treasures they found, this definitely took the cake.
“Not like you’re gonna use it much yourself,” Van said, looking annoyed at his sister’s antics. “It’s mostly useful for Aidan and his magic.”
“Yeah, but just imagine bottling this up and selling it at the store! We could make a killing!”
Aidan didn’t even consider that option, but now that he had an unlimited source of the water, it made sense to take advantage of the unlimited amount.
With the container in hand and properly stored into the spatial storage bag, they crawled back into the hole they once came from and soon found themselves on the prowl through the dungeon again. Aidan first feared that the container might mess with the workings of the spatial bag, being a sort of spatial item itself, but he supposed that now it had properly connected to the pond, the spatial magic of the container was ‘sealed off’ from anything else. He heard how one spatial storage bag can’t contain another one with how sensitive space magic can be, so he was relieved to find out that it was still able to carry his prized container.
With infinite mana at his disposal, he could really do anything. He wouldn’t have to worry so much about having to raise his Wisdom stat so much to keep up with his casting. He still had no clue on whether to keep increasing his stat to increase the power or to raise his physical stats, but with one aspect of his power fully locked down, he had no qualms about the future ahead of him.
Still, that didn’t mean he was finished with his duty. He still held the spatial bag, so he fished out the quartz gem and turned it over in his hands. At this rate, they could take days, or even weeks of traveling through the entire dungeon and not find hair or trace of the thing that this quartz is connected to.
He already tried using Sense Vibrations on the quartz, trying to peer into the array with the spell inside. Nina said that the Red Riot is planning something with the quartz in question, and it had something to do with the dungeon they were currently diving through.
But after everything they went through so far, there wasn’t anything of value, and they only found decent treasure that would aid an adventuring party, but not the main thing that the Red Riot was searching for.
Then an idea struck into him. He felt the difference between an Iron spell and a Steel spell’s growth, and understood that as long as he willed it, it was possible to expand on a spell or skill further. When he stood there in thought, the siblings also paused to look back at him.
“What’s up?” Haley asked. “You okay? Are you feeling dizzy?”
He was surprised at how genuinely worried Haley sounded, so he shook his head to stop her from worrying.
“No, I’m fine. In fact, I think I got an idea to try out.”