Spell Weaver [Book 2 Complete]

“Thank you, Lin. These are perfect.”

“Of course, Master Moore,” Lin said.

“I said stop doing that,” Alex said. “Edwin just says that because… well, I don’t actually know. Just call me Alex.”

Lin didn’t answer, but dipped her head forward like Edwin often did. That was where the similarities stopped, however. Lin seemed to lounge, even while standing. She was confident in herself and positioned herself in ways that showed she enjoyed her changed environment.

He placed the fourth mask into his ring in case he ever needed one. “Please don’t give him a hard time while I’m gone, okay? He is doing more for me than anyone else. If you actually want to learn from me and gain any of my trust, help him.” He emphasized the last words and held her gaze.

"This one will do her best." This time, she bowed at the waist differently than before. Previously, her hands would be bent in front of her chest, one in a fist, with the other flat, resting against the knuckles. Now, she adopted a pose similar to the head butler's, with her back stiff, right arm bent at a ninety-degree angle across her abdomen, and left arm straight at her side. “Don’t forget to feed your qi— er, your mana into the masks every few days. It will keep the illusion sharp and malleable.”

“Got it,” Alex said. “That’ll be all.”

She dipped her head again and left, leaving him alone with just his clones in the workshop.

He walked toward them, passing out the masks as he gave instructions. “You guys know the plan. First goal is finding a Rift to start working on. Then we make a camp and can work on training from there.”

Alex’s body buzzed with excitement as he passed off the first mask to Warrior. “Go ahead and put them on. The main team knows what’s going on.”

“Already say your goodbyes?” he asked while pulling the thin, stretchy magical mask over his face. His breastplate made a lot of noise as he adjusted his shoulders and rubbed the thin fabric to rest flat against his hairline and around his ears.

Once it was settled in place, Alex nodded in satisfaction. “Looks good. Next.” He handed the next mast to Mage while answering, “Yeah. Said all the goodbyes I needed to. As soon as you guys are ready, we’re heading out.”

Mage chuckled. “You seem like you’re itching to go.” He fit the mask on his face as well, the illusory face creating an amazing contrast with his own early attempts to make a mask.

“You know that I am.”

“Hey, I’m not blaming you.” As Mage finished settling the mask into place. When his hands came away, they revealed a longer, thinner nose with eyes slightly closer together than Alex’s own natural appearance. Mage adjusted his loose-fitting robes and looked down at himself.

“Nice. Scout, you’re last.”

His third clone eagerly put on the mask, just as eager as he was to get out and moving. Scout wore the most practical clothes, a mix of soft leathers and a modern tactical vest, opting for that instead of a leather cuirass.

“Weapons check,” Alex said, going through the same routine he did with the team before they left on missions in the Shadow Rift. Warrior held up a straight sword and a small buckler, while Mage and Scout both held up wands.

All three of them had cheap backpacks, but they would be enough to allow them to carry some additional goods each.

“If nothing else, I wish we’d seen more shadow sect members in the Rift just to get more spatial pouches. Maybe I should tell Edwin to keep an eye out for you guys, too,” he said more to himself than the others. “Let’s head out.”

As he walked to the exit, he poked his head into the closet where Valtherion was still in a deep hibernation, small glowing orbs slowly gathering around his body. He smiled, and, for the first time since coming home, exited the workshop with a confident stride and no fear of hiding the clones from potentially prying eyes.

The warm spring air and rising sun felt refreshing on his skin, and he inhaled deeply as Scout locked the workshop behind them.

A sensation in his chest bubbled up that made him want to laugh for no other reason than he felt weightless. He settled for a small smile and waved the others to follow him as he walked toward the wood line at the back of the house. There wasn’t a firm plan, other than for the clones to spread out as they headed west.

No plan, no pressure, and no one to protect or worry about.

“Spread out, and we can start moving,” he said over his shoulder.

The woods on his property were well-kempt and had minimal undergrowth, making for easy travel. If he remembered from the maps, there was a nature reserve and golf course to the west that they’d cross in a while. Once they passed that, they would continue southwest and head to the mountains.

“I call dibs on point,” Warrior said. “This armor is going to be a huge pain, and I’m not having you nerds leave me in the dust.”

Alex snorted, but Mage beat him to the punch. “Nerds? What’s that make you? We’re all the same, you’re just dressed differently.”

“I’m not a nerd,” Scout said.

Alex rolled his eyes. He knew the clones were just playing up the situation, but he couldn’t help but chime in. “Hey, being a nerd has done us pretty damn well. Stop pretending to be siblings, we’re all the same.”

Mage shrugged his shoulders. “We’re not supposed to be the same while we’re out here, though, right?” He pointed at his face for emphasis.

“Fair,” Alex said.

“What are we telling people, by the way?” Warrior asked as he moved to the front and set the pace for their travel.

The birds of the morning chirped, and as they stepped from the dewy grass of his lawn and into the woods, Alex paused to look back at the house. The stay felt too short, but between a newly formed anxiety about falling behind and the looming timeline of the Continental Event, it was necessary for him to keep moving.

The comfort of a home base and the amenities that came with it reminded him of a common thing he’d heard in one of his favorite action RPG games. The more time someone spent in their base, the less time they spent getting gear and getting levels. It became such a thing that the common kids’ game of “floor is lava” turned into the gaming phrase of “base is lava.” It was almost comical how much that now applied to his real life.

Taking another deep breath in through his nose and exhaling through his mouth, he turned to follow his clones as his own adventure started.

He focused back on the conversation between the trio and had to agree with their sentiment that they should operate like a team. They hadn’t trained like that much, but with their reduced stats, someone might just think they were new at the whole thing.

They walked for just over an hour, taking their time and winding between trees. The morning sun and spring air were refreshing and never felt quite hot enough to get uncomfortable or cause him to break a sweat.

When they crested a small rise and reached the edge of the woods, they saw the open space of the golf course. He stepped out onto the course and was surprised that the grass was only a few inches high, not nearly the post-apocalyptic height he’d expected after a few months of the integration.

“Think someone’s been keeping it cut?” Mage asked.

“No, it probably doesn’t grow much in the winter. It’s only just started growing since the start of spring.”

Everyone was surprised at Warrior’s response, and Alex raised an eyebrow at him. He shrugged. “I was talking with Craig this morning about keeping grass on a big property like ours. Didn’t think that random knowledge would come up.”

Alex shook his head and thought out loud, “Man, I wonder how much random shit is going to be in my head after a few years of this. Let’s spread out more, since we’ve got better line of sight and it’ll be easier to close the distance if one of us needs help.”

The three moved away from Alex, letting him keep the normal position, and he waited for a few minutes, admiring the scene. Even though the normally short golf grass was ‘overgrown’, it still looked beautifully green and was broken by small patches of artificial putting greens and small ponds that reflected the sun’s light.

When the breeze started to blow, he smiled and removed the Magician’s Cap to let the breeze rush through his hair. In the last few months of the Rift, he’d gotten significantly more used to wearing a hat, and having it on his head felt like second nature at this point. The only frustration he had at this point was that the leather material wasn’t at all breathable, making him sweat easily.

As the group spread out, Alex was surprised to feel a mental prod. Mage had found a Rift that had broken at least once on the far side of the course. Alex confirmed the sighting with his memories as he moved and was slightly frustrated that the clones weren’t able to scan the monsters to get their level range.

Keep back for now. Let’s all group and assess the situation.

An affirmation came through their mental link, and Alex picked up the pace. Eager to use the spell himself for the first time, he formed the swift self-cast spell and pulsed his mana through the circle.

If it weren’t for the memories and muscle memory he’d gained from dismissing the clones that morning, Alex was certain that he’d have face planted with the drastic increase in his muscles’ responsiveness. However, with his fractured bodies’ previous experience, he knew what to expect and how to react as if he himself had practiced the spell over and over for hours.

He let out a ‘Woop’ of excitement as he pushed into a run. Even though the spell only lasted for a few seconds, he easily covered two or three times the distance he would have been able to cover with a normal jog.

Letting his mana regenerate, he continued at a jog while mentally flipping through memories of Warrior and Mage’s limit testing.

As he thought through the use of his movement skill, he didn’t think that [Feather Step] would mesh well with the spell. Being that the skill reduced weight further and carried him with whatever force he left the ground with, it was likely going to run into issues.

While the swift spell could help his muscles push faster than normal off the ground, it would probably leave his muscles and body attempting to move far too fast while suspended in midair, gliding across the ground, flailing like a fish on dry land.

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The mental image of trying to test the combination made the corner of his mouth twitch up.

He continued to follow the mental link and direction of Mage and the Rift. When he arrived, he was surprised to find a number of cactus-like statues scattered across the open lawn around the blue portal.

“Well, I guess we know what sort of Rift it is,” he said to Mage as he joined him.

Warrior and Scout arrived shortly after. “We saw a few huge scorpions over in that direction.”

“Great,” Mage said sarcastically.

“All right, this is what we were looking for. I wish I would have known that the first Rift would be so close to the house. Either way, we need to clear out the area around it and make sure it’s not going to break again. Once it’s all secure, I’ll set up the ward stones, and you guys can set camp.”

“Sounds good. I’ll lead?” Warrior asked.

“Please do,” Alex said, his pulse picking up. As they moved to close the distance to the Rift, he scanned the surroundings, searching for any sign of movement.

They made a straight line toward the Rift and paused, looking around in some amount of confusion. “Well, I expected… I don’t know, something?” Scout said.

“Same,” Mage agreed.

“Well, might as well get this test over with. Warrior, jump in there and cull a few of the monsters while we get set up out here.”

“Will do,” he said. Thıs content belongs to novel·fiɾe·net

Alex watched carefully as Warrior walked hesitantly toward the blue portal. He got close enough to reach out and touch the swirling blue magic, the light reflecting from his armor as he did so. As soon as his hand reached the portal’s plane, it stopped.

“Huh,” he said casually. “I can’t get through it.”

Alex sighed. “That would have been too good to be true, I guess. All right, you set up the camp, and I’ll go cull the monsters. I’ll step in and pop my head back out to make sure that you don’t get dismissed.”

With a plan set, Scout and Mage began to move away while Alex pulled a few grey, plastic storage totes from his bracer. They contained tents, fire starters, and everything else Edwin had secured for them as travel preparations.

Once the clones began to unpack, Alec scanned the Rift before stepping in.