Nate politely ignored Britt’s slight snoring as he channelled his Conceptual Material Skill into the metal plate. His girlfriend was asleep in his cloud-enchanted bed, now situated in the corner of his workshop. When she had heard he was taking his leave of the Royal University for a time, she had asked to come with him. In response he had handed her a ward key for the workshop. Not only would it give her somewhere to stay other than the Guild compound, but she would need access for the treatments when he started modifying her bones.

  Those plans were secondary to creating a method to allow him access to his workshop while out in the field with the ‘Bright Army’. The name for Princess Morgane’s contingent had been part of the job notice at the Guild, and given his meeting with the woman, he could see how they had gotten the name. The Princess did have a brightness about her. His mind wandered for a moment, considering the feeling he had gotten from Conceptual Insight in the Royal’s presence. He still could not put his finger on it, but he supposed that for now his curiosity would simply have to go on unsated.

  It was a few more minutes before the metal plate finally ticked over to the Legendary tier and he cut off the mana flow to Conceptual Material, placing the plate on a small runic array that rebuffed ambient mana. The material for his portal was ready, but it would do weird things if he let mana touch it. The spatial affinity was so strong it might even move around the room on its own. He doubted the ambient mana was enough to let it cross his wards on the walls, but he definitely wasn’t going to take that chance. Now he just needed to finish the runic array. The notification blinking in the corner of his vision grabbed his attention first and he brought up the update for his Skills.

  Conceptual Insight 48 > 49

  Farsight of the Runic Artist 49 > 50

  Conceptual Runic Mastery 48 > 49

  True Teleportation 38 > 40

  Empowered Amplified Magic 38 > 40

  Conceptual Automated Existence 23 > 24

  Material Shaping 19 > 21

  Conceptual Spatial Empowerment 22 > 24

  Space Is All Around You 1 > 7

  True Teleportation and Empowered Amplified Magic sat at the edge of evolution. His plans for both were well on their way, with one of them sitting in front of him already, on the verge of completion. Material Shaping, however, had already reached its evolution and that meant he could finally look at synergising the Skill with Conceptual Material.

  He had noticed that it was almost impossible for a Skill to synergise naturally if it meant the new Skill’s level would cause it to dip below an evolution point. A level forty-one Skill would not synergise naturally with a level twenty-five Skill because the resulting Skill would be level thirty-three, forcing the higher-level Skill down an evolutionary level. With Conceptual Material at level forty, it was on the edge of evolution, but because Material Shaping had caught up, it should be fine to synergise after this evolution. At least, he hoped so. With that flicker of hope in his heart, as he would rather avoid forcing a synergy, he moved on to the newest notification.

  Material Shaping (E) is ready to evolve.

  Evolutions Available! Please Select 1.

  Skill Evolution Options:

  Reinforced Material Shaping (L)

  An artist's potential is defined by the materials they use to craft, create, and express themselves. This skill enables the user to incorporate reinforcing materials, moulding matter into desired shapes at the cost of mana. Mana cost is based upon both the tier and the volume of the materials being shaped. Mana cost decreases by 1% per Skill Level. Mana cost is further decreased by 10% of the user’s Intellect. Additionally, this skill reinforces all shaped materials, making them more durable. Durability improvement is equal to 10% of the user’s Magic Power.

  Quickened Material Shaping (L)

  An artist's potential for output is defined by the speed at which they can craft, create, and express themselves. This skill enables the user to rapidly mould matter into desired shapes at the cost of mana. Mana cost is based upon both the tier and the volume of the materials being shaped. Mana cost decreases by 1% per Skill Level. Mana cost is further decreased by 10% of the user’s Intellect. Further increases the speed of Material Shaping by 1% per Skill Level.

  Normally he would’ve called Frick back to discuss the options with him. For two reasons he chose not to. Frick was out making Nate’s proposed changes to the new mana syphoning site, which was not something he wanted interrupted since creating a new site was when they had to accept the greatest risk.

  The second reason was the more important one, though. Nate had to choose his own path. The importance of his choices, his decisions, his intent, was becoming more and more evident the further he progressed.

  His discussions with Kiri over dinner and how she had felt more real when she had been reborn had been in the back of his mind ever since. What did it mean? It clearly related to her Embodiment, but the fact that she had believed that it didn’t have anything to do with her Class Core had made him question a number of things. The main questions related to what the Class Core’s function was. He paused that line of thinking. He would continue to go over it after he had handled his Skill evolution.

  The options were really no option at all. His biggest blocker in the development of new equipment and runes had always been how long it took to create the materials he needed. Besides, he had Sigils for Durability and Reinforcement. So if he went for speed there was a good chance that when it synergised with Conceptual Material, that some of that quickening would carry over. When, not if, because he would force the synergy if it didn’t happen naturally. Selecting Quickened Material Shaping he got an immediate notification. Smiling at his reflection in the window he read the blue text, already knowing he had been right.

  Skill Synergy discovered between your Conceptual Material (Mythic) Skill and Quickened Material Shaping (Legendary) Skill. Combine these Skills to gain Conceptual Material Shaping (Mythic) Skill.

  Proceed?

  He selected to proceed without waiting.

  Conceptual Material Shaping (M)

  You have pushed the bounds of the Improve Material skill, understanding the true nature of the skill and then using that understanding to reach beyond its bound, creating a legendary material imbued with an affinity, the underlying concepts that define reality. The user of this Skill is able to push materials all the way to Mythic Rarity and imbue them with concepts of reality itself. In the process, the user may now reshape materials at will, the cost only measured in time and mana. Mana cost decreases by 1% per Skill Level for Conceptual Improvements. Improvements are 5% faster per 40 Intellect plus Creativity. Mana cost decreases by 1% per Skill Level, plus 10% of the user’s Intellect, for material shaping.

  Conceptual Material Shaping 1 > 31

  Walk your Path. Reach your Goal. Become One with Mana.

  The new Skill was everything he had hoped for. The Skill would now reduce the time to create new materials by sixty-five percent, up from fifty percent. Now he just needed to increase his Intellect and Creativity. He sensed some new Stat Orbs in his near future, since his Realmwalker Class was not going to help him on that front.

  The narrative has been taken without permission. Report any sightings.

  With his evolution and synergy handled, he let his mind return to the latest question plaguing his thoughts. The Class Core, what was it truly? The System clearly made sure every sentient creature had one. How it knew an existence possessed sentience was unclear, but all the evidence pointed to soul energy, which pointed to some connection to the Spiritual Realm. When he had prevented Kiri’s soul energy from interacting with the Class Core, the System had known. When his sister's soul energy had remained in this realm, the Physical realm, without the presence of a Class Core, she had immediately been given a new core. But, what did the Class Core do?

  He wrote his answers down in his own notebook as he went over each one. The Class Core converted mana into processed mana. In all his time on Galle, he had never seen or heard of another method for creating processed mana. Even in Dungeons, the beasts and monsters were the source of processed mana, and they possessed Class Cores. But, why did the Class Core convert mana to processed mana, and why was the System so intent on that happening? He didn’t have an answer to that question. Not yet, anyway.

  The Class Core also functioned as a repository for Skills. Using his Skills, he was absolutely certain that those Skills were runic arrays. They were microscopic and given the amount of area they covered on the Class Core, that told him that the complexity of those runic arrays was insanely far beyond anything he had created. Again, his question was why? Skills were both more efficient and more powerful than the alternatives. Similar outcomes could be achieved via Spells, Runes or Enchantments, so why did the Class Core grant Skills? Because of course, the source had to be the System.

  Finally, there was what the Class Core did with all the processed mana it created. The answer was, at least in part, self-enhancement. It used that energy to enhance particular areas of the individual, represented by the Stats in their Status. But, all those Stats seemed to exist without the System. He had a mana reserve which was separate from his Class Core. He had soul energy, which could potentially be influenced without the Class Core.

  Leaning back he looked over his notes, both the questions and the answers. Even with the things he didn’t know, it was obvious that the System, via the Class Cores, enhanced an individual significantly. But it was also obvious that what it mainly did was simplify processes that could be achieved without it. The biggest unanswered question remained. Why? He didn’t know. One thing was clear though. If the System was enhancing aspects of an individual that already existed, then an Embodiment was not purely related to the Class Core. It meant that Kiri was probably right.

  He glanced at the puzzle cube sitting on his desk as his mind continued to wrestle with his questions. It had been around eight months since he had acquired the little cube, and he still had no idea what it was or what it contained. The Sigil, which he was still convinced the imprint on the cube was despite all evidence to the contrary, had still not activated. He had tried a couple of new ideas, such as including it in runic arrays, but there had still been no interaction. Now, he wondered, could an Embodiment somehow be relevant to the Sigil on the cube?

  With a small sigh, he closed his notebook and tossed it on top of the puzzle cube to hide it. He was distracting himself with questions when he should be focusing on completing his portal plate. Kiri would give him grief over the name, and probably rename it. He could live with that. Especially since his interest was in getting it working rather than naming the creation appropriately.

  The tome on space and portals from Arikanvil had sat in his spatial storage ring for over a year collecting dust, metaphorically speaking, until the past week. According to the tome, he ultimately needed to create three runic arrays and connect them all together to achieve what he wanted. The same array on Arikanvil’s research station had required six. There were two key differences. Nate’s portal plate didn’t need to be able to penetrate the layer surrounding a universe and cross multiverses. His portal plate also didn’t need to search for the portal key, since he would be splitting the plate in two and connecting them.

  The result should be that he could carry one portal plate with him at all times, and activate it to create a portal that would let him cross to its sister plate. There were some risks if someone got a hold of one of his plates, since they could move it and he could step through into a trap. Except that with Farsight of the Runic Artist, he could scout the other side without ever stepping through the portal. In the future he might add some additional defences, since he still felt his paranoia keenly. But he was working to a very short timetable.

  As for the runic arrays, the three he needed included one to create the portal, connecting the two plates. One to handle the powering of the portal and absorb mana into the runecrafted item. The last was to hide the portal. The portal would absolutely scream to anyone with a Skill or item to detect spatial mana, so obfuscating it was a necessity.

  The runic array to power the item and the runic array to obfuscate the portal were both relatively simple. That didn’t mean the Sigils or materials were simple. It was unlikely anyone else in the Capital could have managed it outside of the Royals perhaps. Maybe a Ducal House. But they were simple in terms of the complexity of the runic array itself, each one only requiring the use of four or so Sigils. The obfuscation runic array used his Obfuscate, Concealment, Space and Mana sigils. The powering runic array used Space, Mana, Release, Rebuff and Shape. Rebuff and Shape were present to keep the mana where it was meant to be and prevent the portal plate from activating from ambient mana and moving itself or worse, reshaping the runic arrays carved into it.

  The portal itself, however, used nine Sigils. Without even a close rival, the design for the portal runic array was his most advanced rune to date combining his Grandmaster-tier Space Sigil with the Sigils for Tunnel, Enclosed, Bridge, Both Directions, Power and Rebuff. The latter were all Master tier. Finally, he used Target and Connect. The lower tier of the final Sigils was why he had been forced to include the Power Sigil and would impact the efficiency of the resulting portal. A sacrifice he had to make unless he wanted to waste some of the mana being stored in Conceptual Insight to improve his Sigils. That mana was being held to improve his Master-tier Life Sigil. Advancing his Embodiment and achieving his desired Tertiary Class was more important than a little extra mana efficiency.

  Going over his designs one last time, he didn’t find any major issues and prepared to make his greatest creation yet. Satisfied with his plans, he activated his new synergised Skill. Conceptual Material Shaping seized the large metal plate before him. The plate fuzzed as he touched it with mana, the spatial affinity making the plate try and shift both its location and its shape. His Mana Control of over a hundred and forty struggled to control the Legendary spatial material and anyone else watching would have cried at the amount of mana he wasted forcing the spatial plate under control. Finally, after minutes of wrestling with the material, he managed to separate the metal from one piece into two.

  Placing one piece back into the Rebuff Mana runic array, he got to work on the first half of the portal plate. Conceptual Material Shaping was maintained to hold the shape of the plate. The portal runic array itself had to be first. If he put on the powering runic array first it would cost him three times as much in mana just to suppress the mana rebuffing effect from the runic array. Activating Conceptual Runic Mastery he got to work, burning through his mana reserves at a prodigious rate. Conceptual Spatial Empowerment leant itself to the work and he thought he felt the first twinges of response from his Space Is All Around You Skill.

  The sun was just starting to peek over the horizon when he finally finished his crafting, the two plates sitting before him. The resulting creations were flat silver metal plates almost a centimetre thick and a little over half a metre in diameter. To conceal their nature, the runic arrays were carved inside of the metal, but his artistic desires had won out and so each surface had been reshaped to look like a snapshot of a galaxy. Temporarily overpowering the mana rebuff portion of the runic array, he let Conceptual Insight activate to identify his newest creation.

  Paired Runecrafted Obfuscated Portal Plate (Legendary)

  Stats: N/A

  Features: Mana Storage (Legendary), Spatial Concealment (Legendary), Connected Portals (Mythic)

  Mana Storage: This item has been runecrafted by a Master Runecrafter to store a Legendary-equivalent amount of mana which can be accessed to activate other features of the item. Will rebuff ambient mana and must be charged via specific mana gem slot.

  Spatial Concealment: This item has been runecrafted by a Master Runecrafter to conceal all spatial emanations and mana when activated. This feature will only activate when the Connected Portals feature is activated.

  Connected Portals: This item has been runecrafted by a Master Runecrafter to open a portal that connects to a paired item. This portal is powered via the Mana Storage feature and the portal will only remain active for one minute per activation before needing to be recharged. Portal shape is a two metre diameter sphere.

  After reading his latest creation’s description, he moved onto the notification flashing in the corner of his vision.

  Congratulations on creating a Connected Portal Rune (Grandmaster Quality).

  Your achievement has been recorded.

  Satisfied with his progress, he placed the portal plates in his spatial storage. He had expected the two spatial items wouldn’t interact, especially given the protections on the runic arrays, but he waited a few minutes to be sure. When he sensed nothing, he finally sighed before making his way towards his bed. The sun was coming up but he could still get a couple of hours of sleep in before the day truly started. He was so exhausted that he fell asleep within seconds.

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