That night we camp in the forest and in the morning, I head out towards the ritual site, alone.
The plan is quite simple. I do what I did last time and once I have the tentacle pacified, I call out to Croce. She convinced me that she’s hear me even over the distance between us after I showed my scepticism. Apparently, she’s rather be safe than sorry.
And so, I find myself here, for the third time.
Everything looks just as I’d left it, so my worry about someone else finding it may have been unfounded.
Anyway, as a last thing, before I do this again, I’m going to check my skills. I do want to see how effective the pressure resistance is in actually resisting pressure.
Level Up!
Silent step – level 50 -> 52
Fortified mind – level 74 -> 78
Languages – level 46 -> 57
General knowledge – level 48 -> 60
Visualize – level 64 -> 72
Focus magic – level 35 -> 46
Meditation – level 60 -> 65
Digestive system – level 30 -> 37
Pressure resistance – level 21 -> 42
Alright, that’s a big jump for pressure resistance. Hopefully it’s also a big jump in effectiveness.
Now, how do I go about activating this thing? Should I just go for the same thing as last time? Or maybe it’ll be better to only guide about the same amount of mana to the stones. Yeah, I’ll try it that way. Wouldn’t want to give it too much magic because of my improved efficiency.
I do what I usually do when improvising spells. I imagine the effect, some misty magic leaving me and wrapping around the ritual stones. Then I construct a quick sentence in my own language. This part is becoming progressively easier, since it’s literally just describing what I want to happen. The only thing limiting me previously was the lack of structure to the language.
And that’s it. Focus magic activates, helping me use just the right amount of mana. Once I feel that I’ve used about the right amount, I cut the spell and watch what happens.
Just like last time, the freely floating energy is absorbed by the stones. There, it is compresses into a tight and concentrated ball and shot towards the abyssal pit in the middle of the formation.
I sharpen my senses, intent on observing what’s to come. Last time, all I could see is this concentrated form of magic vanish. Since then, I’ve improved my mana sense though, and I think I should be able to spot something more.
And indeed I am. But at the same time, it’s very disappointing. Even now, the only progress I can make is that instead of vanishing all at once, my perception catches how it starts disappearing from one side.
Oh well. Not everything can work out immediately. I’ll get it eventually.
After that, it’s much of the same. The darkness withing the hole rises over the edge. Then the tentacle pops out, and the pressure descends.
The mental part, the eldritch aura, is much like the last time. Even though it manages to just barely touch me, my trait makes my mind too slippery for it to get a proper grip.
But the physical part. Well, unlike last time, where I couldn’t even move an inch, I’m able to move. Admittedly, it is only at a speed as if I were moving through honey, or something even thicker, but it’s something.
I even make some good progress on trying to do a step while under the cosmic influence of the horrors power, but it doesn’t last that long.
The power in the ritual runs out and the rift into the Void closes, once again cutting the tentacle off and leaving it behind.
This time, though, I know what’s coming. I waste no time in casting a spacetime distortion and pulling it into the air before it even begins to animate.
“Hey, Croce! I’ve got it!” I call out as loudly as I can.
While I’m waiting for her to arrive, the tentacle starts to mutate. The problem is that it doesn’t form the legs and maw it created last time.
Maybe it’s because it’s a different specimen, but this one transforms into something quite different.
In a twisted abomination of a magical girl transformation, the thing sprouts wing-like appendages. The only thing consistent with the previous one is the large and toothy maw at its front.
And then it begins to slowly move out of the gravity prison.
Okay, got it. The first transformation is based upon where it is, after that it can only adapt. So, next time I should wait while it’s on the ground and only catch it afterwards.
Either way, there’s nothing I can do about that now except to strengthen the distortion. And cast a second one on top of the first one, just in case.
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Fortunately, that seems to be enough. It struggles for a while but eventually it gives up. And in that I mean that it starts to mutate again, searching for a form that’ll help it escape.
It doesn’t have much time to figure it out, as I hear Croce call out to me.
“Ra’mon! It’s still too strong!”
Huh, I hadn’t even noticed the effect. Must be a really insidious effect to mange something like that to a powerful individual like Croce. And yes, she’s powerful. Even if not a conventional way.
“Got it! Just plug your ears or back away some more!” I shout back, remembering the death throes of the eldritch horror I crushed to death previously. I think they accentuated the eldritch aura, though it’s hard to remember with it not affecting me.
I begin the process of compressing its otherworldly form. Thanks to focus magic, I’m able to cast my spell a whopping five times simultaneously, compared to my previous four.
This speed the process up immensely. Which is good, because while it is a horror from beyond reality, there’s still that tortured quality to the screams that’s difficult to listen to.
A couple minutes later it’s dead and I call out to Croce again. Just in case, I maintain the spells though. I’m still not sure whether or not it’s faking it. A few more minutes can’t hurt. Not anymore than they already have, that is.
After a much longer time than I would’ve expected, Croce shows up at the clearing. Her face is twisted in a strange mixture of pain, confusion and tiredness.
“Is it really that bad?” I ask, still a bit disbelieving of the severity of the aura. How overpowered can it be?! It’s already dead!
“Yes, it is. Now shush, I need to concentrate.”
She sits down pretty much exactly where she is and starts, presumably meditating.
Okay. What am I supposed to do then? Just wait around? No, I don’t think so.
Maybe I could start working on that item we wanted to make? The one that would use the corpse as a material, hopefully becoming a training tool against the aura as a consequence of that.
Oh, wait! I gotta see how this compares to my usual pressure training.
Level Up!
Focus magic – level 46 -> 48
Meditation – level 65 -> 66
Pressure resistance – level 42 -> 45
Damn! And twofold damn! First one because that’s the smallest number of skills that have levelled up at the same time in quite some time. I guess most of the skill are very high level already and don’t progress as fast from quick and simple actions.
And also damn, because that’s a whole three level in pressure resistance. Sure, it isn’t that much, but it is also of a decently high level. And also, I was only resisting it a minute at most. That’s crazy effective!
Then again, it is an eldritch horror, maybe even an eldritch god, so what was I expecting. Even the fact I managed to resist at all is a miracle. Who cares that the aura was lost likely weaker because it wasn’t really here.
Anyway, what was I talking about? Ah, eldritch artifact, yes.
How am I going to do that though? Obviously, some kind of ritual will be involved, something similar to what I already did that merges multiple materials.
The real question is, what is the other thing I’ll be merging? Both material composition and the form it’ll take.
Hmm, actually, I already know at least one part of the recipe. The mucus of the Sappard trees is definitely a must. It already reminds me of something eldritch.
But the rest, well that’s a mystery. It really depends on how the item is to be used. Is it going to be purely a training tool? Or should it also have a different function?
Questions, so many questions. Maybe I should wait for Croce to awaken. She’ll know more about these sorts of things.
But that just brings me back to what I should do in the meantime.
In the end, I can’t come up with much else to do while waiting, so I also sit down and meditate. And go back to my visualization exercise. It’s getting progressively easier and each time I manage to imagine just that much more detail.
After five cycles of the exercise, Croce still hasn’t moved a muscle.
“Are you trying to obtain the trait? Wouldn’t it be more effective to get the skill now that we have a weaker source of the effect to train on?” I eventually ask. I can’t help myself, I’m not that patient when it comes to waiting for others.
Her face twists into one of annoyance. “No, I’m so close. I can feel it.”
I raise my eyebrow, even though she can’t see it. “Really? I didn’t know people could sense that sort of thing.”
“Fine, maybe I can’t actually sense it,” she replies after a minute of silence, “but I can do this. Just a bit more.”
I sigh, “Look, Croce. I really doubt you’re going to get it that easily. I’m not sure how long it took me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it took me eons of meditation under a more intense source of the aura.” The actual Void, but that’s better left unsaid.
“And besides, surely, it’s possible to get the trait and also the skill, right? And also, didn’t you say that at the higher levels skills are more effective?”
Another moment of silence passes.
“Fine, but we’re not sharing this until I have a good head start with the skill,” she looks at me menacingly.
“Sure, that’s fine by me. Anyway, now that that’s done. Do you have any advice on how to make this item?”
“A book would be best.”
“Really? And how am I supposed to make a book in the middle of a forest? In case you forgot, the corpses dissipate within two days.”
She actually looks offended at that one. “I do not forget, remember that. And it doesn’t have to be a good quality book. Besides, magic can do quite the, well, magical things.
And let’s not forget what we’re trying to teach here. Cognito-hazards are related to information, so what better medium to use than a book. It could also contain some actually useful information, sort of as a reward for overcoming the aura.
Or,” her eyes glint, “it would be a useful defence against unwanted eyes. But that’s for the future.”
I once again forgot that she is the Keeper of Knowledge, or whatever. It’s difficult to imagine how high her stats and skills must be to be able to fit all that information.
But I digress. Apparently, we’re making a book.
Immediately an idea comes to mind. Among other things, the monsters hide could be used as a leather binding for the book. Of course, I don’t know how to work hide into leather, but that’s what I have magic for.
Hmm, would this qualify as a grimoire once it’s finished? Only if the hidden knowledge within is about magic. But I shouldn’t be so hasty with this. My house is a prime example of not understood magics. Then again, in this case I’d want a magical book that lives and grows with me.
Yeah, I’ll make a couple of versions with Croce, and once I’m confident in my abilities I’ll create a similarly overcomplicated ritual as I used for my house. That should be enough for a really good grimoire.