‘I know where the cult is located, I just need a good opportunity to prove that they exist. But the longer I wait for one the more people will die for unreasonable things. I remember the one woman I found those two cultists digging a grave for was just taking advantage of all the attention she was receiving to get some presents out of it.’ I thought to myself while I was sitting in the library once more. I was there to do more reading but I couldn't get my mind off what I saw the night before.
‘Who knows what that exchange was even about. If I had followed I could have found out, but I would have made far too much noise in doing so.’ I sighed to myself while I was staring blankly at the page before me. It was another book about geomancy that I was barely paying any attention to.
‘If I want to follow them around without creating too much noise I will need some sort of way to stop the noise from reaching their ears. I suppose that illusion magic could be used to hide the noise or disguise it as something else, but I don’t have the time to learn illusion magic now.’ With a sigh I stood up and carried the book I was reading with me to put away since I wasn't reading much of it.
I walked back into the evoker section of the library and found the spot where I took the book and slid it back into place. But as I was about to leave I noticed something, it was a book on aeromancy titled Aeromancy of Music and Sound. Scattered across the title were strange symbols that had a long shaft and a thick dot on the end, about half had the dot on the top while the other half had them on the bottom.
Without thinking all that much I picked up the book and flipped it open to the first page. There I found an exercise on how to create a snapping sound with aeromancy like snapping your own fingers. Flipping a few more pages I found more and more things about creating sound and even moving onto musical sounds just like instruments.
Intrigued yet unhappy with what I found I continued looking until I found what I was looking for, a technique to trap and reduce noise both in spell form and manipulation.
The spell was accompanied by a small diagram of what it would look like along with an explanation of how it would work, but I paid little attention to the explanation at the moment and instead looked at the diagram. It showed a clear dome surrounding a person with a few feet of room to walk around in.
‘This is what I have been looking for, this is exactly what I need. If there are any gods watching, thank you all very much.’ I quickly closed the book with a swift motion and walked back over to the table I was sitting at and started to read from the beginning.
**********
Learning to create a snapping sound with just a bit of aeromancy was very simple, so much so that I managed to do it in just ten minutes of practicing. Then I moved onto other more complicated sounds, the book recommended trying to create something knocking on wood. I managed to do that constantly within another ten minutes and I moved onto other sounds.
I managed to figure out the next three that were recommended and a few others that I came up with myself by the time an hour and a half had passed since I found the book.
I skipped the part about musical sounds and went directly to the barrier that blocked sound and started reading the text next to the diagram.
Creating and controlling sound are two very different things, unless someone wishes to use illusion magic to hide a sound completely the only way to control it is to trap it within a confined space. The easiest way to do this is with a barrier made up of air, but it isn't as simple as one of the ones you might learn in a traditional education. Instead you will need to make it thin yet thick at the same time to capture the sound within, it must be thin to allow physical objects to pass through yet thick and in the right form to trap in sound.
I continued reading the explanation until I was certain that I understood what was being said and took a look at the actual spell on the page. Based on how it looked and where the book was found I assumed that the spell was a tier three spell and began casting it upon myself.
The first attempt was a failure as I lost control over the magic itself and it dissipated. My second attempt was a lot closer but it was followed with the same result.
By my fifth attempt I managed to get a portion of the edge of the dome formed before it quickly broke apart and faded away into nothing. I decided to take a break at this point as my mana was at one quarter of the maximum. It would have certainly been much lower if I had actually managed to reach this step during my other attempts.
While I waited for my mana to regenerate I decided to reread the description and explanation of the spell just to be certain I understood it fully as in the past I had on occasion misunderstood what I had read and it led to spending more time than I should have learning a spell or recipe.
Thankfully it seemed that it was unnecessary as I didn’t see anything that confused or was misread. But I was still forced to wait for what would likely be at least an hour before I had enough for more than a single attempt.
********
Several hours later at around four o’clock in the afternoon I finally succeeded and found myself sitting within a clear dome that appeared to block any and all noise. Stepping outside of it I looked on with a smile on my face. I noticed that the spell clipped past anything physical that blocked its path like the table or the chair I was sitting on and continued past it.
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
‘Now for the moment of truth.’ I smiled and I conjured up a small rock that fit snug in my hand like a ball. I tossed the rock towards the table and it landed on top of it without a sound. I sighed in relief at the lack of sound. ‘Thank whatever gods are watching over me, it works just as shown in the book. Now I just need to study this and see if I can adapt it for my purposes. If I can do something similar with just manipulation rather than a whole spell then it would be a major improvement, if I can then adapt it to cover only a portion of myself plus some more then I should be able to tail anybody through any type of terrain without worry.’
With the basic spell that I needed at my disposal I flipped through the rest of the book to see if there was anything else that I should consider learning. Unfortunately it was all just more of the same creating more and more complex sounds with aeromancy. So I just returned the book back to its original place and left for my room within the Free Parrot tavern that I rented for the rest of the week.
Closing and locking the door behind myself I sat down on the bed and laid back on it to rest for a moment before pulling up my HUD with a mental comment. My eyes went directly towards my mana as I still felt quite tired from the spell casting.
/- - - - - -\
Mana : 5/42 + 1/10
\- - - - - -/
The evoker cloak gave me an extra ten units of mana which was a nice addition to my reserves allowing me to cast a little extra magic. It also absorbed mana on its own which slightly boosts my actual recovery rate even if it doesn’t touch my actual reserves.
‘I need to start doing some alchemy soon. I do have all the tools and apparatuses I need, all I have to deal with are the ingredients and the glass bottles. Thankfully I know a place where I can buy some on a regular basis and the Pelcester Forest has most of the ingredients that I am familiar with using. I still have a few hours before nightfall, so spending some time looking around the forest might not be the worst way to spend my time.’
I quickly sat up with a decision made and strutted towards the door with my right hand on my dimensional bag before opening it and locking it as I left.
********
Like I remember the Pelcester Forest was a large area of land that had all sorts of plants and trees within it. I quickly found the cave and the little lake where the Rusted Daggers bandit group was hiding the last time when their corrupt captain was exposed for said corruption. ‘I wonder if they are hiding down there right now.’ I thought before I forced myself back onto the task at hand which was collecting any plants that I recognized.
Healing roots, goblin berries, abyss sage, glow berries, anything that I knew was useful went into my bag. Since I knew of all the spots that had an abundance of ingredients from my very first trip to the forest a little over a year ago I easily managed to collect a decent stockpile that should last me for a few days if I spent half the day brewing potions.
At the end of my little foraging adventure I looked up to the sky and saw it was starting to turn orange signaling the coming of nighttime. I started walking back with my eyes on the small lake and the cave as I passed by wondering if I would notice any bandits walking around or if they would try something against me. Thankfully that didn’t happen, but a small part of me was disappointed by that. It had been a while since I had fought anything and fighting a couple bandits might have been enough to get the blood flowing well.
********
Sitting at the one table within his room Arthur was fiddling with the alchemy apparatuses to make sure they were in working order before he would try and use them tomorrow. Unfortunately he found that the Calcinator was having some difficulties getting started and he had to open it up and move around a few things before it was keeping and directing the flame in the correct way.
When it was finally working he leaned back a let out a sigh of relief and leaned back in the chair he was sitting. “Finally, now I can actually use this thing. Though I am definitely replacing this thing the moment I have a few gold coins to my name, I honestly doubt that I will be able to use such an old thing for the long term.”
*********
Early the next morning after I had eaten a simple breakfast I bought from the tavern I left and started making my way towards the western district to buy some glass bottles for my alchemy, and I had the perfect place in mind. In fact it was the exact place I had been buying bottles from before making it an easy choice.
Since I had already been to the Ice Wares Glass Smith before finding it was a simple task. When it was within my sights I paused for a moment thinking back to the first time I was here and when I returned to start ordering more bottles for my own use. For a moment I allowed those old memories and feelings to fill my mind before I pushed them away and approached the dwarven Forman who was at the moment writing something down.
Standing nearby with a pouch with a few coins, I waited until he was finished with whatever he was writing. When he was, he looked up at me with a touch of surprise in his eyes and handed the paper to one of his subordinates. “Can I help you sir?”
“Yes you can. I need a steady supply of glass bottles for alchemical purposes. I have heard that your glass is of good quality and you have a stable output.”
“Well I don’t see why we can't supply you with glass bottles, but you will need to give us an amount for your order so we can work out a price. How often you want us to supply you with bottles is also something you will need to inform us about before we can begin.” The dwarf said as he started directing me towards the small building where I assumed paperwork and other important papers would be taken care of.
********
Around ten minutes later I left the Ice Wares Glass Smith building with a weekly order for twenty one bottles for just two silver coins. This would roughly equate to two copper pieces for each bottle which was a decent price given that I had little experience with haggling and making deals of the like. But it also meant that the potions I was making needed to be worth more than the two copper pieces that I was spending on them.
‘I guess healing potions will be my biggest source of income for the time being since I have lots of experience in brewing them. If I can make some that are worth at least four copper pieces and sell them to the guild I can save up a few gold coins and buy some equipment that was actually made within the last year.’
Looking up at the sun I noticed that it was barely even nine o’clock in the morning. ‘I still have several hours before the glass bottles will be delivered to me. I could go and collect some more ingredients while I wait. I will need a lot of healing roots if I want to make as many potions as I think I will to turn a decent profit. I could also practice casting my new spells while I do that, perhaps I can even manage to create those sound barriers with just manipulation.’