Briox felt his eyes growing heavy as he transcribed the symbols from his mind. Every stroke of his quill defined them, they grew sharper, more real within his mind. He forced himself to continue as the mana drain sapped his energy. His body struggled to produce more mana for itself, using his bodies vital energies to produce more of the precious energy. He struggled to complete the symbols. The first one was finished and in his mind it glowed, blazing with golden light before it sank into his mind settling within him. For a second his eyes flashed with a golden light and then he threw himself into writing the second symbol. The magic and complexity of the concept imbued within it being reduced to mear lines upon a page. He could feel the effort to concentrate dragging on him and then the last curve was added to the symbol and it too was added to those stored within his mind. Briox laughed and then collapsed, the intensity of the mystic symbols too much for his mana drained mind to withstand.

Several blue goblins looked over worriedly, shuffling about uncertainly. They were skilled workers but they hadn't received any instructions, and now the magus directing the project had passed out. This was a first in their lives. A goblin stepped forth, his nose a bit longer and more bulbous than the other, and a grey cap in addition to the common grey clothes he wore. Hesitantly, slowly, he advanced closer to the sleeping magus, unsure of what he should do but aware that as the highest ranked goblin he should do something. Finally he edged within arms reach and gathered up his courage. He would poke the magus and see if he was okay! "Cough Cough" The goblin lept a foot in the air and spun around in fright, a short scream torn from his throat. Behind him Crossax simply adjusted his face, moving the bronze mask around slightly within his hood. The goblin was still panting in terror from the surprise when Crossax spoke "We should allow the master to rest, he has performed quite the feat today. Mana drain is quite dangerous if i goes too far you know?". Crossax stepped past the goblin and placed a lit cesner that he had not been holding when he appeared by the unconcious magus "This smoke should assisst his body in recovering from the after effects until he can recover his mana naturally".

The goblin calmed down and grimaced at Crossax "Did you have to do that?". Crossax raised his hands and quickly formed a handful of symbols, they moved rapidly stilling vibrations around Briox silencing any sounds that may disturb his rest "Did i? No, but it was amusing to watch." Ignoring the goblins grimace he turned to him and spoke "Blue Bignose we will need to tend the new brothers being born until the master awakens. I have taken the liberty of reading some of Master Briox's notes and believe, though it is not my area of study, that we can finish the process while he recovers." Bignose's grimace turn into a frown "Is he gonna be out that long?" he looked worriedly at Briox, his people had always had a boss or master to direct them, they simply woulddn't know what to do with themselves if something happened to this new master. Plus he seemed a lot less all knowing and powerful than Master Vandolheim, Crossax had ensured them it would come in time, but still he needed to survive that time.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

Crossax nodded "You are not a magus so you do not understand how vital mana is to them. As they use mana it begins to replace many of their natural functions with itself. This allows them to be physically stronger than normal men, to handle knowledge that destroys other minds, and perform magic. The price however is that they are dependant on it to live, Magi of higher levels can even die if they expend too much magic and as long as they have enough mana are essentially immortal. Master Briox has expended almost all of his mana, to the degree his natural body began to cannabilize itself to produce mana. He will recover but it will take a few days". Bignose nodded "Ya i get it, so what are we going to do while he recovers?". Crossax waved his hand and a stack of instructions appeared in it "Now we will begin the preparations, the creatures master had made this time are quite vicious, you will need to be careful when they emerge and we will need to begin training them immediately if they are to be useful for the masters goals" Crossax handed over the instructions and Bignose began to flip through them "Hey how are we supposed to do this part?" he waggled the page titled "Combat Training" at Crossax. The being leaned closer to glance down at it and then laughed "No worries, i will handle that". Bignose grunted and nodded before waving the stack of instructions around and yelling "Alright you lot, nooses and pokey sticks! These boys are a violent birth and we don't want any casualties. Those with blacksmith experience report to the forges, we have some warriors to equip!". Crossax faded from view once more and Bignose glanced once more at his new master before he turned and strode from room heading for the warrens, they would need more goblins if they wanted to finish all this before the master awoke.