CHAPTER 27

As Daelyn tried to read his mana signature, he was surprised to find that instead of two, his first ring had three open slots for skills. The ring itself seemed to be made completely out of the fusion between dark and blood mana, and it seemed like it could hold three skills at the same time. Daelyn was a bit startled by this, but he was more surprised by the fact that only two of the three slots had been occupied.

One slot exuded a suffocating feeling for the people affected by it, a feeling as if the air around Daelyn was replaced with a completely different kind of gas. It felt as if the very energy that the world was made out of was pushed away, to be replaced with an energy that was innate to Daelyn himself. He felt great as he basked in the energy that surrounded him, and as he basked in it more and more, the concept of the skill came to him, it was auramancy. It was the ability to push out your own mana, and create a space in which you have complete reign over the energies that inhabit it. A space that belonged to him, and him only.

As he felt the intent behind the skill, and understood what it was, he was suddenly launched out of it, and he came back to observing his skillset. He was a bit surprised by this, and as he tried to once again enter the same state, he found that he could only inquire about the basic information that the skill held, the information he already knew, and the understanding he had reached of the skill.

It seemed like it was only a glossary in comparison to the state he was in earlier, where he felt the current understanding he had of the skill, and where he had felt his understanding continuously expanding as he was in that state.

As he tried the same with the other skill in the second slot, he was met with an entirely different feeling.

Where he had the suffocating feeling of the air around him being replaced by a different kind of gas, now the air around him was replaced with a dense liquid. He felt that the liquid was in an odd stage, it was both a physical liquid, and a magical energy. Daelyn felt like he was part of a large and intricate network, a large network which seemed to transport the liquid which was in state of duality. The liquid seemed to be in a dual state of both being in a material, and a magical energy. He felt it flow in this state of duality, making it seem like it was both at the same time.

 However, the most peculiar was the liquid itself, as it seemed to have a mana signature. The liquid seemed to have the characteristic of a being imprinted on it. He felt the form the odd liquid was in, he felt the imprint on it, and he felt it was his. He felt he could manipulate it, he felt like it was an extension of his will, as he was both it, and it was him. He basked in this feeling of being part of the large intricate network, and he basked in the feeling of having complete reign over it. He realized that it was the manipulation of his own blood, and the mana that it harboured. He felt that he could manipulate his blood to become mana, and his mana to become his blood. He felt that it was possible to use energy of the mana signature that was imprinted on the blood, to turn the blood into mana. He felt he could change it, mould it, and use it to his desire.

Daelyn felt like a sovereign, reigning over his empire, having it listen to his every command, and he basked in the feeling.

As the feeling reached its climax, he was once again rudely awakened from it. The feeling left him as he returned to his eagle vision of his mana signature. The feeling had left him as quickly as it had arrived, taking no note of his enjoyment.

He desperately tried to regain the feeling of sovereignty, he tried again and again to achieve it by feeling the skill, by trying to comprehend it, but he only felt the information and understanding that he had associated with it. He did not feel anything else besides that.

He once again was locked out of that state of enlightenment, and he could only sulk as he couldn’t manage more than the eagle vision of his mana signature.

He realized that he had seen all he could, and he realized that his lesson was still in session. He quickly discarded his eagle vision of his mana signature, and left his soulspace.

As he came out of it, he saw an irritated Orthrus. Daelyn was quite confused, as he did not know what he had done, but Orthrus interrupted his thoughts.

“You were in there for half an hour, what were you doing?”

Daelyn quickly tried to gather his words under Orthrus’ deadly gaze, and as he finally succeeded, Orthrus’ expression changed.

“I-I was, immersing myself I guess, in my skills. Also, it seems I have three skill slots in my first circle! The first two are already occupied by dark blood manipulation, and auramancy.” Daelyn said in an excited and proud voice.

However, his excited tone was soon followed up with a curious one, as he said with an inquisitive and curious tone: “How did I actually get three slots instead of two?”

Orthrus seemed to be frozen in place as he heard Daelyn’s proclamation. He knew it was possible to gain three skill slots, but it couldn’t be done until later stages! No, it is possible in this case, this might also be one of the secrets of blood warlocks, they always seemed quite secretive about their skillset, this might explain something. He had never understood the reason behind the blood warlock’s secrecy, but he might come to understood more as he observed his disciple.

While Orthrus was lost in thought, Daelyn quickly pulled him out of it, as he wanted answers for his questions.

“Orthrus! Don’t get lost in thought! Answer me, please.” He tried to accompany his words with a demanding yet persuasive tone, but he could only sound demanding and naïve in Orthrus’ ears. Daelyn even tried to make some puppy eyes, but Orthrus had been used to far worse than those mangled eyes of a beggar, and he returned Daelyn’s attempt at puppy eyes with a deadly gaze.

“I am your master, your teacher, not your servant. Remember that, you damned brat.” He said with a stern and cold tone as he scoffed at Daelyn.

He saw Daelyn’s face contort as the little brat realized his plans had been foiled, and Orthrus saw him back down and quietly await Orthrus’ reaction.

“Well, anyway, I’m not going to always give you the answer, so I will give you a hint. Different skill rings are unlocked because the body can hold more skills. The body is able to hold more skills because it is more acclimated to the pulling force that the skills in the numerous rings require, and as the rings become more numerous, so does the mana signature become more complex, it can wield more traction power, and it becomes more powerful. So what does it mean if it can already hold three skills in the first ring?” Orthrus asked like a teacher would, he had a questioning tone, an answer at the ready, and the urge to have his student learn on his own.

He looked on with excitement as he saw his student freeze up at the question. He saw his expression change from an obedient one, to a thoughtful one. He saw his student put his hand on his chin, and he saw his student’s brows furrow, as the mental struggle on his face become more and more apparent.

Orthrus received great pleasure from this sight, as it reminded him of himself when he was around the same age, well close to it anyway. He was always struggling with understanding the concepts behind magic, he always wanted to find out the answers behind the complicated answers that were presented him in the sun elf society, he dearly remembered the times he spent with his friends, and his family.

He also remembered the face of a certain young boy who was very interested in his magic. He remembered it like the day before yesterday, the little boy had taken an interest in him after Orthrus had saved the caravan of merchants the boy belonged to. He remembered the fight very well. The bandits had attacked at twilight, making it hard for them to be spotted by the exhausted caravan guards, which resulted in the deaths of several of them.

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Orthrus just happened to be close by, because he wanted to collect some enlarged insect species which were native to the region. They were mostly passive, and almost never attacked humans, but they were quite powerful nonetheless. He had been tracking a particularly strong one for several days, until he came across the battle between the merchants and the bandits. The insect had been squished under the hooves of the mounted bandits as they carried out their charge, and its death had greatly infuriated Orthrus. He had wanted to make it part of a small hivemind project he was working on at the time, and it had just been killed without a reason. He wouldn’t stand for this, and quickly conjured up his most powerful creatures, massacring the bandits.

The little boy in the caravan had been obsessed with him, as he had never seen such a strong mage, and wanted to learn. His curiosity won out from his fear, and he gained a conviction to learn magic from Orthrus. The boy kept pestering Orthrus to teach him, and just as Orthrus was ready to kill the boy, the boy’s father came to thank him for his help, and asked him to give his son payed tuition.

Orthrus wasn’t interested in it, as he had to find another one of those insects, until he heard the sum he would receive. He could buy a queen insect with that kind of money.

Orthrus, being the fervent researcher he was, he quickly accepted the deal, and taught the boy the basics of elemental magic. The boy turned to taming wild creatures in the end, as he had been obsessed with Othrus’ creatures from the beginning. Orthrus was happy that he went down such a peaceful path, as he wanted to refrain from ‘blessing’ the world with another chimeramancer.

While Othrus was lost in thought as some obscene memory had sprung up from his past, Daelyn was straining his mind, trying to find the answer to the question.

So, if different skill rings are unlocked by the core having more traction, does that mean something for the first skill ring? No, the first skill ring has the most traction, so that doesn’t limit the number.

Daelyn tried to create multiple theories that might be the solution to this question, but he had to discard them every time, until he came across one.

Orthrus said something about the body being able to handle more skills with more skill rings, right? So, that means that the body must be exceptionally strong to hold more in the first skill ring! No, that’s stupid. That would mean that dark elves have more in the first skill ring than humans.

Daelyn kept pondering and pondering, but he could only come to the solution that a tougher body would be able to handle more magical energy, and thus have more skill slots.  

He sighed, before he proposing his theory with an unsure voice, as he was quite sure that is wasn’t the right answer.

“Orthrus, is it because some people have a tougher body that can hold more magic, that they have multiple skill slots?”

Orthrus didn’t respond, as it was clear that he was lost in thought. His eyes seemed absent, his body did not move, and his expression was indifferent, as only the smallest sign of emotion sometimes got through from time to time.

Daelyn tried to get his attention by shouting: “Orthrus! Can you hear me?!”

Orthrus was quickly snapped out of his thoughts by Daelyn’s shouts, and he looked upon the little boy with an irritated expression.

“What did I say about being the master?” He said with a cold and threatening tone. He leaned back as his threatening gaze made way for one that seemed more befit to his age.

He sighed, and said with a tired voice: “What is it with you and anomalies? Honestly, you’re the biggest anomaly I have come across. I imagine you want some answers, first what colour was the skill ring?”

“Ehm, they were a mixture of red and black, they resembled the fusion of blood and dark mana a lot, almost identical. Now, please answer the question.” Daelyn said with a pleading yet factual voice.

Orthrus sighed once again. Daelyn looked on in surprise, as Orthrus’ demeanor seemed to radically change. His normally stoic yet inquisitive expression turned to a tired and indifferent one. It seemed like he had aged several decades in the span of a few seconds.

Daelyn, being startled by the change in demeanour, took a few steps back, and looked on in both shock and awe as he tried to process what could have happened to Orthrus’ demeanour.

Orthrus noticed his apprehensiveness, and noticed his own demeanour. He let his dark mana flow through his body, as he noticed that the effects of old age were working on him. Being alive for over four centuries doesn’t do a lot of good for the body. Especially for a sun elf who doesn’t bathe in the sun almost every second of the day.

He sighed, before addressing Daelyn.

“You don’t have to worry, I’m fine. Now, you were quite close with your answer, but it isn’t that the body can withstand the magic powers it harbours, it’s that it can guide it. It’s quite common for higher level mages to have a third skill slot, as they are more in tune with their element. By being able to guide mana through the body with greater ease, it allows for a stronger foundation and thus opens up the possibility for a third skill slot. However, this is quite uncommon as the mage in question would need to absorb a lot of mana that is attuned with their element, and they would to make it their own. This is even more rare with dark mages and blood mages, as they could go mad if they do not handle the absorption of the mana correctly. The third skill slot is normally unlocked by both the skill ring and the core of the mana signature turning to the element of the mage, and becoming stronger. This allows for stronger traction between the individual rings, and thus allows for more skill slots in a ring.” Orthrus said with a calm tone.

He paused for a second, as he both needed to take a breather, and he wanted to let Daelyn process the information.

“Well, besides that it is hard to get to that stage by absorbing a lot of mana with the affinity, changing the structure of your body and soul to fit that affinity, and changing the energies governing your mana signature, it also has some downsides in itself. It makes it easier to progress magic or other abilities that are related to that affinity, but it also makes it harder to gain or progress abilities that aren’t tied to that affinity. This means that it is only attractive for mages that specialize in their affinity, but you didn’t really have a choice in the matter, I assume?”

Daelyn was quite surprised at the answer he received, as he didn’t really know what kind of consequences this would have for the future, so he asked.

“Well, I do think both my soul and body are attuned to the dark blood mana on a high level. Does that mean I won’t be able to get any other magic besides that?” Daelyn asked with an unsure and nervous tone.

“Well, it depends on how much your soul was exposed to. If your body, soul, and mana signature have been completely attuned to your dark blood mana, then it will be far easier to learn and master dark blood magic, but learning anything else will be very, very hard. So, how much of your soul has turned into that red and black colour?” Orthrus said with a calm and inquisitive tone.

“All of it.”

A moment of silence reigned, as Orthrus had to take some time to process Daelyn’s proclamation. As it finally dawned on Orthrus, Daelyn saw him sigh, and Orthrus seemed to age even more in those few seconds than he had before.

“God damnit Daelyn. I don’t know how this happened, and I don’t care anymore, since I already know the circumstances were absolute batshit insane for something like this to happen. Okay, first things first, you’re going to have to focus on abilities that are attuned with your element, and thus use your blood. You’re going to have a hard time in any kind of one on one combat, so we’re going to focus on creating minions later on. However, your circumstances are unbelievable, so we’re going to wait a little bit with that, until you have become competent in auramancy. You can throw away any hope of learning abilities that aren’t tied to your affinity as skills. It will be very hard to learn any kind of magic, or any kind of ability that uses any kind of energy at its base, as it won’t be able to make use of your blood mana, or even settle into the skill slot because of the fact that both the core and the skill slots are made from dark blood mana. Learning auramancy is your best bet at the moment.”

“How long will that take?” Asked Daelyn with a questioning gaze, as his eyes had a tingle in them at the prospect of learning auramancy.

“Well, if you have some kind of talent for it, maybe a year. If you don’t have any talent for it, two to three years. You can research necromancy, rot magic, and chimeramancy in the meantime, it will help you.” Said Orthrus with a thoughtful voice.

Daelyn’s expression showed his disappointment at the estimate, but it quickly flared up as he realized something, and he voiced his excitement.

“But, if I’m so attuned to dark blood mana, that must mean that I can learn it in at least a year, right?” He said with a hopeful voice.

Orthrus looked Daelyn in the eye, sighed, and said with an irritated voice: “Being attuned to an element does not mean you have talent in using magic. You may be able to guide the magic easily, but if you don’t know how to mould or shape it, you can’t do anything with it. Talent is something that can’t be gained through magic. If you don’t have talent, you will need to work harder than somebody with talent to reach the same level in the same amount of time. If you can’t understand this, I would recommend that you find another master, otherwise you will just be wasting my time.”

Daelyn nodded, before saying with a voice filled with anticipation: “If I’m going to have to work hard, can we already start the lesson? Then we will be able to see if I have some talent, won’t we?”

Orthrus grinned, before saying with a daring voice: “Whenever you are ready.”