Business at the Clinic increased with the presence of the young Clergy and the ‘Blessed Spirit’. Helping at the Clinic as a Holy Battery and helpful poltergeist became Shada's job. Shinobin even, secretly, created an employment contract so he could get paid for his contributions. Not that he needed money. As Spirits needed little and his family provided for his studies.
Between the Purge, working at the Clinic, and playing with Luca; it was several days later before he could return to the Mound to practice magic. He had already made strides towards the Material Banishment Skill. It was just an inverse of the Material Conjuring Skill. He suspected Material Manipulation and Shaping would be harder.
However, today he decided to try something different. “Raelis we will be deviating from my training plan. I got a new Skill from my Path. I really want to see the impact it has on the Material Conjuring Skill. As I imagine it will be important to have the right materials when creating Artefacts in the future.” Shada told the ever helpful butler Spirit.
“Of course, Master Shada. I suggest simply starting from the beginning of the conjuring lists.” Raelis said.
“Sounds like a plan, Raelis.” Shada said as he prepared the Holy Flash Spell form. He wanted to be thorough in his experiments.
As soon as the spell activated Raelis screamed in pain. Shada was shocked. Had he done something wrong?
“Raelis? Are you ok? What happened?” Shada said as he focused on the ghostly goat man who now appeared burnt and smoking.
“Masstteer Shaasda, what was that?” Raelis hissed.
“Holy Flash…it is just a Flash Spell form using Holy Essence from my new Skill…what happened?” Shada asked in concern.
“Foolish young Master…didn't your family explain what I am!?” Raelis hissed loudly. His affable nature was missing.
“Just that you were a Bound Spirit tied to the Mound.” Shada replied.
“A Bound Demonic Spirit, Master Shada.” The Demon, Raelis, replied.
“You're a demon? Like a hellfire and brimstone demon?” Shada asked curiously. He might have been afraid if Vanestra had ever given any indication that Raelis was dangerous.
“What do you know of demons, Shada?” Raelis asked instead of answering.
“Earth religions had myths about demons. They were considered evil spirits. They were often depicted as fallen angels who rebelled against God and were punished. They were said to reside in Hell, which is where mortal sinners, who committed evil acts, were supposed to go to be tortured for eternity, as well.” Shada described.
“Tortured for eternity? What mad god thought up that nonsense? Demons come from the Infernal Plane. Yes, it could be called a hell by some. It is a prison for those who have betrayed the Gods. Often through acts you might indeed consider evil. We are cursed to never bask in the light of the Divine. Holy Essence literally burns us!” Raelis hissed the last part.
“So you are evil?” Shada asked.
“I have done evil…whether I am inherently so is up for philosophical debate. You are missing the point. You used Holy Essence. You can't use Holy Essence around a demon unless you are purposely trying to harm them! I can't believe they didn't warn you.” Raelis ranted as he recovered.
“That really limits my planned experiments. Does that apply to just when you are around or to the Mound as a whole?” Shada asked in frustration. He had no enmity with Raelis and didn't want to hurt him, but Holy Essence had become part of his Path. He had to practice.
“Just when I am present. We will designate a specific workroom for Holy Essence. I will not be able to assist while you work there. Young Master Shada.” The last was added almost as an afterthought. Raelis continued to collect himself and return to a more professional mindset.
“So I imagine this workroom is already tainted…One day I would love to hear how you ended up in prisoned and bound here.” Shada said thoughtfully. He made a mental note to ask Vanestra more about Raelis.
“Of course, master Shada. I will take my leave now so you can continue your…experiments.” Raelis said before disappearing out the door.
Raelis seemed irritated with him, Shada thought.
—
It became clear that he could use Holy Essence to conjure various Holy Materials. It cost more and the exact effects were unknown. Going through his whole list didn't give a new Skill. Maybe Material Conjuring covered Holy Materials? He would have to ask someone from the Temple about the use of Materials Conjured with Holy Essence.
He had another experiment he had been thinking about for a while. Was there an Essence Conjuring Skill or better yet an Essence Mastery Skill? Conjuring required a resonance and an Etheric Planar bridge. He had learned Material Conjuring by doing manually what he could already do with Spell forms. He didn't have a simple Spell form for Essence to conjuring.
As thought he questioned what he knew. Didn't Essence Control already use resonance to move and shape Essence? Could he copy that for Essence Conjuring?
Shada spent several hours trying to pull Essence from the Etheric Plane like he did various materials. He wasn't sure why it was harder. It was the opposite with Materials. Material Conjuring and Banishing had been easier for Shada to develop than Manipulation and Shaping. Maybe Essence was just naturally easier to Manipulate and Shape than materials were? Maybe there were hidden talents or affinities like in novels? Shada didn't know.
Then he realized the problem. He had Essence Perception, which gave him an absolutely unfair advantage when it came to Shaping and Manipulating Essence. He had no Material Perception. In fact his Spirit form limited his senses. He had no sense of taste, touch, or smell. He still didn't really understand how he saw or heard.
He went back to his other question about Essence Conjuring and Banishing. What was the problem? Wait. What was it that Raelis had said about conjuring? Abundance? The more abundant a material was in the environment the easier it was to conjure right? Also the more rare a material was the less efficient conjuring became? Shada could conjure gold, but the amount of Essence required was worth more than the amount of gold he would get. Was it the same with Essence? Was the ambient Essence too thin and Essence itself too rare? So was the solution that simple? More Essence? Shada tried it.
[Congratulations you have learned a new Skill: Essence Conjuring!
Essence Conjuring can be used to conjure Essence from the Etheric Plane and to increase Ambient Essence.
Warning: This Skill is highly inefficient and is best used to exchange Personal or Unattuned Essence for Attuned Essence. Typical ratios are 10 to 1]
Since it was possible he decided to try the opposite. Could he Banish Essence? Would that get him Essence Mastery? He could only try.
It took a while, so long he actually skipped Cultivation that night, but he succeeded. He managed to make a tiny amount of Essence vanish. Unfortunately, the Essence had been from an Essence Crystal. This sudden disappearance caused an instability in the crystal. It shattered and exploded into a cloud of crystalline dust. The implications were troubling. Would Essence Banishing allow him to disrupt and break Spells and Enchantments? He literally destroyed the equivalent of money in the local economic system, but he got the desired Skill.
[Congratulations you have qualified for a new Skill: Essence Mastery.
Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Essence Mastery is a rare and coveted Skill. It can be used to gain near total control over Essence. It combines the Essence Manifestation Skill (Conjuring and Banishing) and the Essence Control Skills (Manipulation and Shaping).]
He wondered what his grandparents would think.
—
“I envy you your Essence Perception Skill far more than you will ever know, Shada. Essence Mastery is an Archmage level Skill. I am an Archmage, it took me centuries of study! Centuries Shada! To gain what you have in barely more than a year!” Alexzandros ranted the next evening.
“I don't even have it. Magic is not my primary Path. I have Spirit Mastery, but like your grandfather it was the work of centuries!” Vanestra exclaimed.
“I have Vitality Mastery, but that is a specialization. It still took decades. Even that is considered fast.” Shinobin said with a shrug.
“Impossible child.” Vanestra sighed. “You haven't finished Material Mastery as well have you?” She asked.
“No, I don't have a Material Perception Skill to give me the same advantage. So I am still working my way through the basic Material Banishment list.” Shada answered. Much to the relief of everyone’s ego.
“As long as you continue to practice diligently between Essence Mastery and Polyglotism there is no known Spell you will be unable to learn, no known Enchantment you can't recreate. Once you have Material Mastery…You will essentially be able to Conjure Artefacts. Shada, heed my words. You must grow and learn as fast as possible. If people know of your potential and you can't protect yourself? Wars would be fought to control you.” Vanestra said with finality.
The conversation ended there. Everyone had too much to consider to continue talking.
—
It took a few months, but Shada managed to acquire the Material Banishing Skill. It immediately merged with Material Conjuring to form a new Skill.
[Congratulations you have qualified for a new Skill: Material Manifestation.
Material Manifestation is a rare and coveted Skill. It can be used to conjure or banish materials at will. It combines the Material Conjuring and Material Banishing Skills.]
It would take him years to learn the Material Manipulation and Shaping Skills.
—
“Acolyte Vreen can I ask you a few questions about the Temples and Clergy?” Shada asked one day at the Root Clinic.
“It would be my honor Blessed Spirit. What would you like to know?” Vreen replied in a meek voice.
“The Clergy have access to Holy Essence via Attunements correct?” Shada asked.
“Of course Blessed Spirit. Why do you ask?” Vreen replied curiously.
“How are Holy materials used by the Clergy?” Shada asked next.
“You mean Blessed materials?” Vreen questioned.
“Is there a difference between a Holy and Blessed material?” Shada asked curiously.
“Of course! Blessed materials have been made Holy by the infusion of Holy Essence. Holy materials would be inherently Holy by their very nature. Blessings fade or can be lost. Holiness is inherent. It is why we call you a Blessed Spirit instead of a Holy Spirit. You were Blessed with holiness, but holiness is not inherent to your nature. Does that help?” Vreen asked shyly.
“It does actually, thank you, Vreen. I assume that Blessed objects are relatively common then?’” Shada inquired next.
“Blessed water and oil are quite common in religious rituals of all faiths, yes.” Vreen replied simply.
“What about Holy materials? Are there Clergy that use conjuring magic?” Shada asked.
“Conjuring is not common among the Clergy. Most Clergy walk the Spiritual Paths and not the Magical Paths. Therefore Holy materials are quite rare, very valuable, and coveted.” Vreen responded more earnestly than before.
“What are Holy materials used for?” Was Shada's next question. He was trying to gather leads on how his Path could be used to make Artefacts.
“Those secrets are beyond a humble Acolyte like myself Blessed Spirit, but there are permanent rituals and Artefacts said to be made of Holy materials. They are rare and heavily regulated by the Temples.” Vreen replied with their head bowed.
“Thank you, Acolyte Vreen, for sharing your knowledge with me.” Shada replied before moving on to other projects for the day.
—
Shada was working with his Guide to make sense of his progress. He had made personal notes as part of his writing practice, but it seemed he may have made some errors. The Guide and related System mechanics were more complex than he had first realized and a few symbols in Wylderfolk Tongue looked remarkably similar crating errors in his notes.
So tracking his progress was proving harder than expected. He finally coaxed the Guide to provide a Visual Status Sheet so he could analyze it section by section.
[Status Sheet]
[Name]
-Lucanarius (Luca) Intarius Aseralis
-Shada Aseralis
[Age]
-8 (10E) Months (Luca)
-1 (1.25E) Year (Shada)
[Race]
-Precursor Half-Elf (Luca)
-Precursor Spirit (Shada)
His name, age, and race really hadn't changed. It was interesting that the Guide recognized him as being older, Shada thought to himself. He mentally chuckled that he wouldn't have to share a birthday with himself.
[Level]
10
Level was just average Stats divided by 5. He hadn't increased his Stats since getting his Path.
[Path]
-N/A (Luca)
-Holy Magic Maker (Shada)
[Class]
-N/A (Luca)
-N/A (Shada)
[Profession]
-N/A (Luca)
-N/A (Shada)
[Primary Path Bonuses (Shada)]
+50% Personal Essence
+50% Magic Stat Leveling
+50% Essence Crafting Skill Levelling
[Primary Path Bonuses (Luca)]
N/A
The most interesting change to the Path, Class, and Profession section of his Status were his new Path and the Path Bonuses. If he was reading things right, then his bonuses only applied to him. Luca wouldn't benefit from Shada's Path.
As of that moment, we're Luca Awakened, he would have access to only 100 out of 150 Personal Essence. There were 50 points of Personal Essence exclusive to Shada's Path.
The Magic Stat leveling bonus reduced the Essence cost to level that Stat by 50%. His Magic Stat was at Tier 2 so cost 20,000 Essence to increase before the bonus. After, it cost the same as his Tier 1 Stats or 10,000 Essence. The amount of time he had to Cultivate had been reduced so the result balanced itself out.
The Skill leveling bonus for Essence Crafting Skills would take a while to understand, but at first glance it reduced the training time to increase a Skill's level by 50%. It seemed to be a significant bonus.
[Traits]
-Precursor's Metamorphosis
-Precursor's Innate Linguistics
-Precursor's Duality
-Precursor's Spiritual Independence
-Precursor's Inherent Magicality
His Traits seemed unchange. Not that he expected them to, but he was a thorough type person, er Spirit.
[Cultivation]
19 (Tier 1)
Cultivation had progressed quickly. Not having to sleep greatly increased his Cultivation time, but his studies and work were slowly cutting into that time. He had apparently spent close to 2,000 hours Cultivating over the past year, but the ability was stuck like many of his Skills. He needed to learn how to progress to the next Tier soon, but he could cultivate 190 Essence an hour now.
[Primary Stats]
-Physical 5 (Tier 1)
-Social 5 (Tier 1)
-Mental 10 (Tier 1)
-Spiritual 10 (Tier 1)
-Magical 20 (Tier 2)
His Magic Stat had reached Tier 2. He didn't know how. Many things were stuck at Tier 1, but not his Magic Stat. His Physical and Social Stats were essentially locked. Without physicality the Stats had nothing to work with. He couldn't Cultivate them. He highly suspected that it would be up to Luca.
The Mind Stat always bugged Shada. He didn't know if both he and Luca got the benefit of the full 10 points or if the benefit was split. Luca was very intelligent for his age, but was that natural or from the Stat? Shada simply didn't know enough yet.
[Magic Attributes (Shada)]
-Will 1 (Tier 1)
-Intent 1 (Tier 1)
Attributes were the latest addition to his Status. They were like Stats in that they leveled from Cultivation, but not just from Cultivation. Training was also required. This essentially made them twice as difficult to level.
[Essence]
-200 (250 Shada)
[Personal Essence]
-100 (150 Shada)
[Attuned Essence]
-100
[Attunements]
-Vital 20
-Charm 20
-Psychic 20
-Spirit 20
-Arcane 20
Shada could see the results of his bonus on his Personal Essence. All together he 5 times the Essence he started with and his Attuned Essence pools were 4 times as large. Attunements were really about efficiency. As anything he could use attuned Essence for he could use Personal Essence, but less efficiently.
[Traits Skills]
-Shapeshifting 12 (Tier 1)
-Polyglotism 14 (Tier 1)
-Split Mind 19 (Tier 1)
-Spirit Walking 19 (Tier 1)
-Essence Perception 22 (Tier 2)
His Traits Skills had leveled from frequent use, but many had also hit the Tier cap. Only Essence Perception defied the cap, but he didn't know how.
[Guide Skills]
-Map 5 (Tier 1)
-Loot 1 (Tier 1)
-Analyze 10 (Tier 1)
-Inventory 5 (Tier 1)
-Timekeeping 10 (Tier 1)
Shada's Guide Skills leveled slowly. He had yet to need Loot and Inventory remained Essence expensive. Analyze and Timekeeping had seen the most use. Map lagged behind due to what he suspected was simply geographic isolation. He was not well traveled on the world of Sierrallas.
[Path Skills]
-Spellcrafting 5 (Tier 1)
-Holy Artifice 1 (Tier 1)
-Holy Essence Conversion 1 (Tier 1)
His Path Skills included his new Skills, but had also pulled Spellcrafting from his General Skills list. Of the three Spellcrafting was the most advanced, but he wasn't using it often enough to level it frequently. He hadn't tried Holy Artifice and planned to wait until he understood what Artefacts were. He suspected Holy Essence Conversion would level soon from his use at the Clinic.
[General Skills]
[Rank 1]
-Psychokinesis 10 (Tier 1)
-Essence Symbiosis 1 (Tier 1)
-Silent Spell Casting 19 (Tier 1)
[Rank 2]
-Material Manifestation 1 (Tier 1)
[Rank 3]
-Essence Mastery 1 (Tier 1)
Silent Spellcasting had reached the Tier cap from all his practice. While he used Psychokinesis frequently it was never as often as others. His new Status not only showed Stat and Skill Tiers, but his advanced Skills he got from combining Skills apparently had a ranking system. Rank 2 combined 2 Skills while Rank three combined 4 Skills. Would Rank 4 and 5 require him to combine 8 and 16 Skills? Shada hoped not, as that seemed excessive even if it fit the pattern.
Overall he had made incredible progress, but he was far from where he needed to be to protect himself and Luca. It gave him a goal to strive for.
