KeroKeron

  “Yep! I was a meic before I was a mage and I don’t io stop now,” Emily says proudly, gauging Oscar’s rea as she does.

  He nods thoughtfully, pausing for a moment before asking:

  “Why would you reveal this to me? The state you left Jeremy and Kyle in suggests you would rather not tell others.”

  “For one, you didn’t e and threateo find out. Also, your rea to seeing my talent was to try aice me with bes, whiterests me. I’m in need of money and tribution points to keep my studies and crafting going, for that I’m willing to sell some of my creations and you seem like the best choice for that.”

  Her answer brings a smile to his face as he siders her implied offer.

  “I see, so you want to sell items to me but have it remai that you were my source. You’ll gain resources a rid of some unwatention because people will believe I know the source of these neons too.”

  “Exactly,” Emily responds with a smirk while walking away to set up her makeshift explosives.

  Pg the taining fire crystal powder dowo a pilr, she looks back to Oscar.

  “Get behind a pilr. If this works as intended, it will be a lot more dangerous than before.”

  He nods and quickly ducks behind the closest pilr. Seeing this, Emily does the same and peeks out, pointing at the cloth fuse with a finger and casting her spell. After the cloth catches alight, she quickly ducks bad listens for the detonation. A few seds ter, she hears a loud pop.

  Looking around the pilr, she finds the broken apart in molten shards that are spread a few metres around the point of detonation.

  Disappointing, it seems to have just melted the , not built-up pressure.

  Frowning, she moves on and pces the with just bck powder oher side of the same pilr. Lighting it with low expectations, she sits with her back to the stone and waits. This time, she hears a loud bang and sees several shards of metal fly past her, boung off the surrounding pilrs and even embedding in a few pces.

  That’s better.

  With a grin, she moves around to ihe ’s remains and finds the base of the scorched and cracked but mostly intact, with the walls bloart.

  Make the final product round.

  She adds to her notes and starts pg dowhird as Oscar approaches.

  “If you’re willing, I would like to buy whatever you’re making from these tests. That was simir to the military’s hand grenades, but I feel mana from it! It will definitely be helpful against low-level beasts.”

  Emily nods.

  “Sure, I’ll need a few days to refihem though, then I’ll show you some of the finished products. Now, on to the st few tests.”

  She pces down the mixed with high expectations, moving to the other side of the pilr again with Oscar following her. Igniting the fuse, she waits with bated breath. Another bang rings out, and she sees several pieolteal fly past. Moving out to ihe wreckage, she hat the metal didn’t travel as far as with pure bck powder, and several pieces were heated so much they just spttered against the floor. However, each piece still tains a small trace of fire element mana.

  Perfect, all I o do is tweak the ratios a bit and I’ll have a magical explosion in a ! Maybe I test mixing in differeal powders to see if they affect it? And switg out the fire powder fht should achieve the fsh I want.

  Satisfied with her tests, for now, she stands up and turns to Oscar.

  “That was all I wao test today. I’ll e kno your door once I have some finished products to sell.”

  “Sure, I look forward to it.”

  ***

  Ba her room, Emily puts aside her os for a moment to pull out her new spell scroll. Unfurling the part, she’s met with a magic circle far more plicated than any she has seen before.

  Wow, that’s a pretty big difficulty jump from first circle spells.

  With a slight frown, she sets about memorising the plicated twisting of shapes and runes on the page before her. After a few minutes of focus, the spell is safely tucked away into the ste within her mind and a system message appears to firm her efforts.

  ˉˉˉˉˉ

  Spell memorised: Wind Barrier

  [Wind Barrier]

  [Circle:] Sed

  [Cost:] 20 Mana/sed

  [Description:] Summon a dome of wind to protect the caster.

  _____

  She stands up and moves to sit in the tre of her bed, the only spot in the room with enough space around it to cast the spell without interfering with loose materials and tools. Closing her eyes, she pictures a twisting dome of sharp gusts ohread as the plex magic circle is formed by another. Pale green runes fill the air around her as arg lines of mana trace the spa a plex three-dimensional weave. Finishing the spell after a dozen seds of focus, the runes and shapes e to life, twisting around each other and joining smoothly to form a nearly imperceptible barrier of shimmering wind around her.

  Emily reaches out to touch the barrier and finds her hand easily able to pass through it with ao test, she quickly grabs a pillow beside her and tosses it across the room.

  Good, it doesn’t impede anything leaving the barrier.

  With a satisfied nod, she cuts off the spell’s mana supply and watches the winds dissipate.

  I’ll have to do some other tests ter to work out how well it deflects spells and projectiles.

  Moving back to her desk, she files away the spell for further testing ter aurns to her explosive creations.

  Now, let’s try making a few powder mixes to test. I want to use as little crystal powder as possible in each to save tribution point cost...

  ***

  After passing the rest of the day with experiments and prototyping, Emily sits on her bed ready to perform one final test.

  Time to see if this will really work. Core two eernal monologue. Core one sleep.

  Instantly, she feels a strange unfortable buzzing in her mind as something ges. The feeling disappears after a few seds and she’s left sitting on her bed without feeling much different. Looking inward, she finds half of her cortex lying dormant.

  Perfect! My primary sciousness smoothly switched cores and I still fun fih only one.

  Pleased with her test’s success, she settles into meditation to pass the time till her offline core is fully rested.

  Six hours ter, Emily is pulled out of her meditation by a light buzzing.

  It looks like six hours are o fully rest one core. Core two sleep. That’s a little annoying, I’ll o go for a few hours where everyone’s awake with only one core. It may be a little dangerous to walk around The Gde while not at full performance, but I always rewind if we hit trouble.

  With a light shrug, she gets up to tinue w oher preparations before breakfast, happy to have ticked off one of the items on her list already.

  ***

  A few days ter, Emily takes a m trip aloo the depths of the city. Exiting the train at the furthest eastern station she , she steps into the quiet station with barely any people around. Taking the almost empty elevator down ten yers, she steps out onto the ground-level streets and pulls her hood down over her face.

  She quickly walks away from the station, not making eye tact with the groups of vagrants gathered on street ers, nor the people in rags begging for ge. She frowns as she looks at the wretched state of the city’s less fortunate dwellings; the buildings falling apart yet still in a better state than those outside Eimdon’s walls.

  After walking along the quiet streets for half an hour, winding further into the depths of the slums, she ducks into a side street and approaches a heavy wrought iron door. Raising her hand, she sms it against the metal in a rhythmic beat.

  Four fast taps.

  A three-sed pause.

  Two beats.

  Half a sed pause.

  Two beats.

  A two-sed pause.

  Three fast taps.

  Stepping away from the door after the final tap, she watches as a small peep-door slides open in the middle.

  “The bck oak’s roots spread far and wide,” a gruff voi the other side of the door states clearly.

  “The shade of its branches ’t hide the rot within,” Emily answers quickly.

  The peep-door slides shut with a g, and she hears a series of clicks and grinding gears before the door slowly slides inwards. She quickly steps forward, moving past the guard without a word and walking down the long flight of stairs that greets her. The passageway is narrow with low ceilings, and the walls around her are made of smooth bck bricks without any disiures other thaorches fixed every few metres.

  Desding for a few mihe passage eventually opens up to reveal a vast hall, with bright burning lights hanging high above. Filling the room are several tealls and small buildings, with cloaked figures quietly dug in and out of the entrances, careful not to draw any unwatention.

  Emily smoothly joins them, following a remembered path through the crowded alleys. She soon reaches a small building with guns and bdes proudly dispyed in the windows. Stepping in through the threshold, she’s met with a strong aroma of smoke and booze. She walks past the racks of onry and approaches the man slumped at the ter.

  “Hello,” she calls lightly in an attempt to gain his attention.

  Receiving no respoer a few seds, she kicks the ter jolting the man awake.

  “What?” he asks with obvious displeasure.

  I wouldn’t e here either if Ed had given me any other options for buying bck powder. Shame it’s not legal to sell it in Maeworks.

  Keeping her own displeasure off her face, Emily responds in a ral tone.

  “I’d like to buy a barrel of bck powder.”

  “Oh, it’s you again,” he says with a creepy grin. “Sure, give me thirty silver and I’ll throw in some helpful information for free.”

  Emily frowns at his suggestion, his grin giving her a bad feeling. She silently produces thirty small silver s from within her robes and drops them onto the ter. The man turns to a door behind him, unlog it with a small key from his belt and walking in. A few moments ter he returns with a rge barrel held on his shoulder. Moving around the ter, he pces it dowo Emily.

  “Before you leave the market, check out the tent of The Crystal Skull.”

  Emily listens to his cryptic advice as she easily picks up the barrel and begins to leave.

  “I’ll have a look.”

  “Good luck,” he says with an uling ugh as she leaves.

  She starts wandering through the market looking around with a mixture of caution and curiosity.

  What on Ulea was that about? A crystal skull? I’d rather not spend a sed longer here than I have to. If I don’t find it after orip around, I’m leaving.

  Slowly traversing the stuffy underground streets, Emily observes every tent she passes, looking for the so-called crystal skull. As she’s about to give up, she spots an odd structure in the er of her vision. Moving closer, she finds a white tent with bck embroidery above the entrance, showing a crystalline skull with a dagger through the top.

  “I guess this is it,” she mutters to herself unsurely as she parts the entrand steps in.

  As she ehe tent, she smells a strange, sweet st that sends an unfortable chill up her spine. Sitting in the middle of the tent is a gentle-looking woman with long wavy brown hair and pierg green eyes. On the small table in front of her are several inse burners and a small colle of noble crests. Seeing the crests, the majority broh a few in silver, immediately sets warning sirens bring in her mind.

  “Hello cutie, what would a young mage like yourself need from my little store?” the dy asks with a kind smile, her words firming Emily’s fears.

  “What would an unawakened like yourself need with those crests?” Emily asks back while reag up to take The Cloto her free hand.

  “These little things?” the dy says, tilting her head like a fox watg its prey. “Nothing much. They’re just a few hunting trophies.”

  With a calm nod, Emily steps back through the tent’s entrand quickly moves towards one of the stairwells out of the market.

  That dick set me up.

  She reaches the base of a stairwell without issue and rushes up the narrow passage. Listening carefully as she climbs, she soon hears slightly off-beat steps eg her own, causing the hairs on the back of her o stand up. As she reaches the top of the stairs, she finds the guard missing and the door locked shut. Pg The Clock bato her pocket, she reaches out to cast a spell but finds her mana movement sluggish.

  With a frown, Emily shuts her eyes and looks inward, finding her mana flow hindered by the remnants of the inse from the tent.

  Sneaky bitch.

  She clicks her tongue as she floods her system with maa, burning out the inant. Opening her eyes after the momentary pause, she casts her spell, creating a magic circle with a mixture of burning e and frigid pale blue that appears against the door’s locks. The circle glows and rotates as the meisms ihe door momentarily glow scorg hot before being rapidly cooled back to room temperature. A harsh crack rings out before Emily slides the metal bar out of the ulls the door open without resistance.

  With the footsteps now loud and hurried, no lorying to cover their advance, Emily quickly exits the stairwell and closes the door behind her. Pg the barrel down off her shoulder, she raises both palms and quickly casts burning hands. She moves both hands to the edges of the door as the edge till it fuses shut.

  Good luck following me now.

  She grins in triumph as she picks up her barrel and runs off into the slums.