Ray gritted his teeth as a wave of influence washed over him, and the panel opened. Horde Breaker rushed in, counteracting the wave somewhat and allowing him to go through the options quickly.

  Class evolution

  High Enchanter(Rare)

  +8 Intelligence and Wisdom

  Spell focuses you craft have a 25% chance to upgrade in rarity.

  Faithless Disciple(Rare)

  Gain some of the stats from any incarnate defeated with magic of the hunger classification.

  Myth Crafter (Artifact)A legendary artisan whose creations transcend simple magical items, resonating deeply with stories, legends, and myths.

  +10 Intelligence and Wisdom

  When you craft an item of mythic or greater quality, you gain a permanent +10 to all stats.

  Reality Shaper (Legendary)

  +12 Intelligence and Wisdom

  Spells created by you will be 20% more potent

  Tools you craft and imbued with a spell created by you gain additional benefits.

  Primordial Smith (Divine)

  +!#&2 all stats

  Ray blew through the options, ignoring everything to do with the primordial, and quickly selected Reality Shaper. He panted as the presence faded from his mind, and he could finally relax.

  Erith gently rubbed his back. “How did it go?”

  “Good,” he said between pants.

  They sat for a few more moments while Ray regained his composure.

  “So what did you get?”

  Ray opened his class description and displayed it for them both to see, getting his first non-skim read of the information himself. Erith nodded, and he felt satisfied with his decision.

  “Guess I will have to spend more time crafting spells now.”

  “Oh yeah, that reminds me. Did you ever finish the spell you were working on before Draven’s attack?”

  Ray shook his head. “I haven’t had time to work on it…” he trailed off as an idea came to his mind, and he pulled his notebook out of his backpack. “If I change the composition of the third and fourth ring and reduce the mana cost, then maybe,” he muttered frantically, changing the design.

  Erith smiled and watched him work in silence.

  Several hours and attempts later, he finally managed to finish the fifth ring, and the spell blazed to life. A dull blue glow emanated around his left wrist, and within a few moments, a blue construct manifested. Ray moved his arm and wiggled the fingers of the artificial hand. Small purple sparks jumped from it, devouring a tiny amount of ambient mana and keeping the hand in place without him having to expend any mana.

  “Hah!” he shouted, jumping to his feet.

  Love what you're reading? Discover and support the author on the platform they originally published on.

  “Amazing!”

  “I know!” Ray stared at his wiggling fingers with a childlike delight. “Let’s go to the training ground and give this spell a proper test.”

  “Alright,” Erith said with a chuckle.

  They arrived a few minutes later, and Ray pointed the construct at a target.

  “Are you ready?” he asked.

  “Yeah, let’s see what this spell can do!”

  Ray nodded and began infusing his own mana into the construct. Lighting began arcing from the hand to anything nearby, and after a few seconds, a blast of violet and electric blue shot from the hand. An explosion of power shook the ground violently and caused Ray to stumble back, almost falling off his feet.

  His eyes went wide as he saw the devastation left by the blast. The reinforced training dummy that he could barely scratch when he was first learning spells was completely missing, and all that was left of the target range was a gigantic crater.

  “What the hell was that?” Arabella shouted, walking out of the castle. Her mouth fell open, and she stopped in her tracks as she saw the crater.

  Ray turned to face her, rubbing the back of his neck with a guilty smile on his face. “I uh… guess I went a little overboard.

  Arabella turned to him, still slack-jawed, and finally gained her composure. “A little! Do you know how much force those targets can take? The whole damn city probably felt that blast.”

  Ray furrowed his eyebrows. “That’s a joke, right?”

  Arabella threw her hands into the air. “You think I would joke about that?” She sighed and facepalmed. “Your lucky alarm—”

  A loud siren began echoing over the city, cutting her off.

  “Now you have done it. Do you know what that alarm is for, hmm?”

  Ray shook his head, and Erith walked up to join him.

  “Is it that bad?”

  Arabella scoffed. “That alarm is for a threat only I or my mother could handle… the only other time we used it was when an elder wyvern attacked the city!”

  “Oh.”

  “Oh? You send the city into a panic, and your response is Oh? What am I going to do with you?” she asked, shaking her head.

  “Sorry, Lady Arabella, but we had no idea it would do that much damage,” Erith said.

  Arabella sighed. “I believe you, but this isn’t something I can just overlook,” she said, looking at the crater.

  “I could pay for the damage,” Ray said with a shrug.

  “Oh, you were already going to do that, but I think I’m going to have to ban you from the training range on top of that.”

  Ray nodded. “That’s fair enough.

  “Good, thanks for understanding now, how the hell did you manage to do that?”

  Ray raised his left hand, showing off the construct.

  “You lost another hand?!” Arabella shouted with a shake of her head. “And that doesn’t answer my question.”

  “It’s uh, a new spell I made, and it seems it’s a lot stronger than I thought it would be–” Ray trailed off, his eyes going wide as he looked at his mana pool.

  “What’s wrong?” Erith asked.

  “That only costs 1000 mana.”

  “You’re already at D grade wisdom?” Arabella asked.

  Ray shook his head. “No, that was E grade mana.”

  Arabella opened and closed her mouth a few times. “Alright, I’m going to have to elevate that to a threat only mother could deal with…”

  “Aren’t you on the brink of ascension?” Erith asked.

  Arabella shook her head. “No, I have ascended, just last week in fact, and I still don’t think I could take one of those blasts point blank, and if that was accomplished only using E-grade mana… Well, it’s good I banned you from the training ground before you leveled the castle.”

  Ray and Erith shared a glance.

  “Sorry again, and congratulations. Here is the money,” Ray said, pulling a sack with 100 gold coins out of his backpack and handing it to Arabella.

  “Congratulations,” Erith added.

  “Thanks. Now, if you two have any more spells to test out, please let me know, and I’ll show you where I test my sword techniques.”

  “That would be great. Thank you!”

  Arabella nodded and walked toward the castle’s exit. “Alright, let’s go. As another part of your punishment, you two are going to help me calm the panic in the city down.”

  After several hours of taking and convincing, they finally returned to the castle, exhausted. It wasn’t all bad, though. Ray smiled to himself, thinking about the necklace safely tucked away in his backpack. He had managed to sneak off and buy when they were nearly done.

  When they were back in their room, and Erith was turned away from him. He stealthily pulled the ornate box from his backpack and tapped her on the shoulder.

  She turned around, and as soon as the sparkling silver and gold caught her eye, she covered her mouth with her hand, and tears stained the side of her cheeks.

  Ray struggled to speak, eventually squeaking out a “W-will,”

  Erith tackled him to the ground, sending the jewel box flying across the room before he could utter another word, and kissed him deeply.

  The next morning, she finally got to try the item on properly. Two stunning chains of silver and gold interlinked, creating the chain from which a dazzling sapphire hung.

  “How do you like it?”

  Erith smiled and turned to look at him. “It could have been a piece of string, and it would still be one of my most valuable items.”

  Ray blushed and turned away. However, she did not let him escape, forcefully turning his head and giving him another kiss.

  Ray grinned when they broke apart, with Erith wearing a similar smirk.

  “How about we go out to lunch to celebrate?” Ray asked.

  “That sounds lovely.”

  They spent the rest of the day spending time together and enjoying life. It wasn’t until far into the night that they returned and discussed their next steps. They decided to go with monster-hunting jobs, but they would also gather a small team of people they could trust from back at the camp within the forest to accompany them. It could take months or even years, but they were determined to raise their group to a high enough level and defeat the hordes.

  500 followers - Bonus chapter

  ?????????? 100%

  150 favorites - Bonus chapter

  ??????????? 91%

  If you enjoy this story, please consider checking out my .