Clover meditated, dutifully ignoring an itch on his forehead. It hadn't been more than thirty minutes, and already he was struggling to sit still.
To keep himself entertained and to perhaps ward off the encroaching bout of insanity that came with such a long bout of [Meditation], he observed the flows and currents of mana around him as they fluctuated, each dyed with their own color and texture.
He tracked them, letting his awareness flow freely from one band of energy to the next, like a boat gently drifting down a river, careful to not let his mind wander too far, lest he fall out of [Meditation].
Now that he was more experienced and his magical proficiency had risen, he could more deftly navigate the shifting sea of mana. No longer was he adrift without a lighthouse to guide him - no longer did it seem so overwhelming. In fact, placed in perspective by [Unstable Mana Bolt] and [Lesser Golem Creation], he realized that the ambient mana, at least in the Safe Zone, was quite sparse.
In the past, he had been overly sensitive to even the slightest stimuli - a spark of magical power was enough to blind him, metaphorically leaving him blinking spots out of his vision.
Now, he was a bit more resilient.
Past the noise and turbulence, similar to the fiery aura Claire possessed, Clover observed that each person in his range emitted a vaguely circular domain of mana. Most had weak and dull auras, but each was unique in its own way, varying in size, shape, and hundreds of other small traits.
As they moved, they influenced the vast tapestry of energy, shedding flakes of their aura that dyed the ambient mana with their mark. It was a subtle effect for most, something Clover had to strain to sense, but as someone - he couldn't be sure who without opening his eyes - walked past, emitting a powerful cold energy with each step, Clover found that if he focused, he could trace or otherwise track their path by following the fading ice-like impressions they left behind in the ambient mana.
Clover’s eyebrow twitched as the itching sensation refused to dissipate, continuing to distract him. Why did things like this only happen when he closed his eyes and sat down to focus? He was making magical breakthroughs here!
His thoughts and emotions ran away from him, slipping from his control, and unwillingly, he fell out of [Meditation].
Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 10. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 11. +1 Skill Point.
Clover scratched his forehead. He hadn't made it the hour he needed to complete the Quest for [Meditation]'s Landmark Path, but he had made good progress. With each attempt, he was getting better at pushing aside distractions. However, he did lament the disproportionate difficulty of the Path. It was totally out of line with his other Paths.
Clover refocused himself, this time trying to enter [Meditation] while keeping his eyes open. The twist raised the difficulty, but after a few moments, he was able to fall back into a meditative state. Trying not to move anything other than his eyes, he watched as people in the Safe Zone went about their lives.
It was strange, almost disorienting, to clearly sense the ambient mana but not see it.
He breathed deeply. Each breath brought with it a new wave of energy that coursed through his core, spreading throughout his body.
Time ticked by as he slowly refined his Skill, his MP gradually refilling. Again and again, he fell out of his meditative state, but he was not discouraged. Before the sting of failure could set in, he was already diving into a new bout of [Meditation].
Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 12. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 13. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 14. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 15. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! Meditation has reached Level 16. +1 Skill Point.
Clover cracked his back - it felt like he had been sitting still for almost the entire day, though he knew that wasn't the truth. He had regenerated 81 MP. Estimating that [Meditation] roughly doubled his recovery speed - an assumption that he didn't have any concrete numbers to back up but felt vaguely correct - that meant he'd meditated for 4 hours.
Clover dug into his bag, grabbed a block of clay, and placed it in his lap. He had enough mana to start on his project, yet he did not. Instead, he stared at the gray chunk of material, unsure what direction to take the Golem's design. Time hadn't made the right decision any more apparent.
Clover heard a clock faintly ticking in the distance.
The pressure to make the right choice strangled his creativity, binding him with hesitation. If he messed up and his design proved to be ineffective, he’d be… well, screwed for a lack of a better word.
With a wrinkled forehead, an epiphany struck Clover, saving him from his indecision. If he made smaller prototypes of each design before committing to one, he wouldn’t have to blindly commit to a design and risk spending hours on a Golem that may not even conceptually work. Plus, it would let him Level [Lesser Golem Creation].
Feeling somewhat like a genius, Clover's hands almost unconsciously flowed into action, pulling at the clay. He decided to first create a prototype of his idea for a many-handed Golem. The specifics of its design still eluded him, but he knew enough to get started.
He shifted the clay, forming a flat circular base, and then out of it, he began to form three arms.
He considered making the arms inhuman in nature - something more similar to a spider's spiked legs or an octopus's tentacles, but in the end, he decided to go with the design he was most familiar with. Mainly because, when he inevitably hit a roadblock in its construction, he’d be able to look down at his own arms and model the Golem’s after them.
Clover bit back a wince; molding the sculpture was painful, but he could push through the discomfort. If he avoided putting pressure around the area where he had lost a finger, it wasn't too bad.
Motivated forward by the pain, Clover fell into a focused haze.
Congratulations! Sculpting has reached Level 12. +1 Skill Point.
Clover etched out individual fingers for each hand, careful to give them defined knuckles and a proportionate length. To his touch, the clay softened, moving easier with his desires and sticking in place unnaturally once he had made his adjustments.
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An indeterminate amount of time later, he finished the small prototype sculpture.
Congratulations! Sculpting has reached Level 13. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! Sculpting has reached Level 14. +1 Skill Point.
The finished design wasn't exactly what he had in mind when he had started, but it was close enough. Questions of how and where he would secure the Golem on his body filtered through the back of his mind; he ignored the questions for now. He'd cross that road when he came to it. He could always iterate on it if it proved to be an effective concept.
Clover readjusted the sculpture in his hands and then closed his eyes. "[Lesser Golem Creation]," he said softly.
A surge of mana flowed through the free thread in his soul space, generating shapes and patterns of power. This time, as the ball of potential formed and a blank canvas was opened within it, he did not let the System guide the process.
Focusing his intent, he dyed the entirety of the magical canvas black. More easily than the first time, the magic followed his command, constructing the backdrop for his image.
Once that process was complete, he pulled from the colors that seemed to naturally spring out of the edges of the creation and made a distant star that twinkled softly. Below that, struggling to keep all the details straight, Clover crafted a hand that reached into the darkness, endlessly stretching toward the star, unable to ever grasp it.
He strained, racing to complete the image and fill in its details before the Skill's time elapsed. Some details he did not have to fill in on his own; a sense of longing naturally took root in the hand - a tangible emotion that acted as an anchor holding it together, and drawing in details and colors all on its own, minorly altering his intended design.
In the last few seconds he had available before the process shifted to its next stage, he attempted to reinforce the edges of the image, copying what the System had done.
With a rattle, a force began to press at the edges of the image - hands of darkness wound forward, grasping at the scene, attempting to rip chunks off of it.
Clover tensed his jaw and resisted the changes, straining his mental acuity. For a few moments, his hastily constructed barrier held, then with a crackle, it fell. Hands of darkness lashed at the construct, continuing to tear at the image. Pressure built, compressing the energy inside the sphere until, suddenly, the vicious attack ceased.
Shards of energy like broken glass fell into the void of his soul, and out of it, a darkened stone hand emerged - the magical core of his newest Golem.
Clover's awareness broadened as mana began to take root within the clay sculpture, casting threads of magic throughout its length. Unlike the other times he observed the process, he noticed that as the mana built within the clay, it felt like a change was brewing. The System presented him with the option of resisting it, but he chose not to.
Mana merged with the material, mutating into something different.
Clover opened his eyes wide as he watched three additional hands of blackened clay sprout out of the sculpture. The Golem twitched twice, and then the changes stopped. The new arms of clay had stopped their growth at roughly half the size of the originals.
Congratulations! Lesser Golem Creation has reached Level 6. +1 Skill Point.
Congratulations! Lesser Golem Creation has reached Level 7. +1 Skill Point.
What the hell?
With three black arms crowding in with the original three, the golem looked like something out of a nightmare.
He used [Appraisal] on it.
Congratulations! Appraisal has reached Level 7. +1 Skill Point.
Lesser Golem
Durability: 35/35
Mana: 25/25
Traits: [Altered Clay], [The Hand That Stretches Toward The Stars I]
Clover scientifically poked at the many-handed Golem. Like with Mr. Cat, transforming from a mundane sculpture to a Golem had somewhat hardened the clay, but to a lesser degree. Even with its smaller size, Mr. Cat had a durability of 25, and the larger dinosaur Golem had a durability of 100. In comparison, 35 Durability wasn't very impressive.
As for its Traits, he had a slight inkling of what they may allow him to do. Though [Altered Clay] confused him the most, the shorter limbs of darkened black clay didn't feel significantly different than the non-altered material, at least to the touch. He'd have to use it to find out if some sort of special ability came with the change.
On the other hand, he suspected he knew what [The Hand That Stretches Toward The Stars I] would do. The Trait practically buzzed with magical potential, and a strange System-given instinct informed him vaguely of its use.
Clover turned his attention to the totem that represented the Golem within his soul. Slowly and carefully, he placed the many-handed chunk of animated clay on the ground, and then he slowly tested its capabilities, ordering it to lift its arms in succession.
Dumbly, it followed his orders with a slight delay. Then, growing more confident that the nightmarish abomination of a Golem wouldn't suddenly rebel against his command and attack him, Clover ordered it through an onslaught of tests to gauge its mobility.
As he experimented, Clover found that the Golem tended to use only its three normal clay arms to walk on the ground - the others didn’t reach, leading to an unsteady and rocky style of movement. While it walked, the darkened limbs hung from its circular frame, stretching and undulating in a way that should have been impossible for hardened clay.
In fact, the only time the three darkened limbs came into contact with the ground was when the Golem rocked unsteadily to balance it.
With a grin, Clover investigated the use of the darkened clay limbs, eventually discovering that they could stretch easily to three times their initial length - past that, the growth slowed and became more difficult to produce.
Similarly, he found that the limbs of lighter clay could also stretch, though to a much lesser degree.
In perhaps a terrifying display if he wasn’t in control of the Golem, Clover micromanaged the many-handed Golem’s movements, stretching its limbs up the side of his wheelchair, trying to make it climb it. After many failed attempts, he succeeded.
Clover laughed at the absurdity of the Golem.
Though it wasn't all good news, as he had expected, he had trouble micromanaging the Golem's movements - 6 arms were too many for him to easily control at once.
Additionally, he had doubts if the Golem could hold his entire weight even if he made it larger. The clay had been magically reinforced, but compared to other materials, it still had limitations in terms of Durability. He pushed down against the flat top of the Golem, testing how much of his weight it could hold.
Before he could reach a significant fraction of his weight, the many-handed Golem collapsed, a slight crack running through one of its limbs as it was unable to support the weight.
Clover's brow furrowed; there wasn't an easy solution. He suspected the clay's inherent malleability was part of the reason the Golem could stretch so easily. Even if he wanted to change materials to something more robust, he had nothing available to use.
He paused. That wasn’t true. Since coming to the factory, he had racked up a number of Skill Points. He opened the Skill Paths screen.
Minor Tactile Terrakinesis 0/10
Moving rocks with your mind can sometimes be more tiring than moving them with your hands.
Prerequisites(2): Magical Talent I, Sculpting I, ?, One-hand*, ?, ?, Earth-related Affinity, ?...
Quest: None.
The Path's description was simple and clear, a welcome change that, regardless of any other reason, made him want to take it. More practically, he predicted that the Path would unlock a Sub-Skill; after all, [Stone Puppetry] had come from the same branch.
In the best-case scenario, if the Path really did give him some sort of terrakinesis, not only would it allow him to make larger Golems in a reduced amount of time, but it would also open up new horizons for him, allowing him to make use of new materials.
Immediately, new ideas for Golems sprang to his mind.
Clover nodded to himself. He'd complete the Path, and then, with the options it opened up for him, he'd continue the prototyping process.
He put ten Skill Points into the Path, causing a blue screen to appear.