Mike still had time to burn, and he had a wallet full of money to burn right along with it. He spent a day buying materials for his future crafts. Most of what he bought consisted of the overpriced items he had been hesitant about before, but now had enough money to purchase without worry. He had filled up his workshop storage containers with materials, and even had some metal bars piled high in the corner of his home before he thought to himself that maybe he needed somewhere to store everything.
“That’ll be 10 silver for basic wood, 20 for treated, and 40 for magically enhanced wood.” The contractor said when Mike had asked about adding a shed extension to his home. Mike didn't mind paying a little extra for his wood to be treated and hardened, as that was something he knew would make the wood stronger, but he wasn't about to shell out an extra 20 silver for something he knew he could likely do better than the workers, and in half the time.
The construction process was nothing like what it had been before the system. He remembered when his parents had tried getting a deck added to their house, and the monstrous amount of paperwork that went into getting that done. They had needed permits, someone to give them an estimate, somebody else to come survey the land and make sure it could support a deck, yet another person to take a look at the survey plan for the house and make sure they weren’t going to hit a pipe or wire when adding the supports into the ground, and on top of all of that they needed to hire someone to actually come make the deck.
His parents had given up the process after finding out just how much the permits would cost, and they never ended up getting a deck for their backyard. Thankfully, the entire process was now much simpler, and far, far faster. In just two hours his shed was constructed and the funds had been transferred from his account to the workers. He stepped inside, finding the expansion to his home to be quite spacious for a glorified closet.
He had about 5 feet in every direction when he stood in the center of the room, and shelves lined every wall. He spent some time trying to organize his materials neatly into sections for each, but got lazy towards the end. Most of the monster parts ended up in one corner, not divided up further by any category.
When all of that was done, he left his home and went to spend some time with his friends. He had spent a few hours with Lucas, who was putting the final touches on a sculpture he had spent several days perfecting. He grabbed a meal at Otto's restaurant with John, talking mostly about the small nuances of mana and potential ways they could improve upon how they use it. He had also even tried learning a little about how to play the flute from Vladimir, who he hadn't talked to in quite a while. He had been quickly shooed away after 10 minutes of making the most horrific flute noises he had ever heard.
After a few more activities, the time had come for him to depart to Dune. Mike knew that it would be a few hours of traveling, and he was not looking forward to making the long trip again.
“We need a faster way to get there.” He said as he reached the halfway point of the journey. He didn't know exactly how that could be accomplished, but somebody could probably figure it out. He landed in Dune, his feet touching ground in the same spot that he had landed the previous two visits. It was becoming something of a habit for him to land in that spot, and he hoped they never put a building there.
He walked down into Raj’s bunker, finding that he wasn't inside. As he was walking back up the stairs to check the village hall, a section suddenly slid to the side just in front of him. He nearly tripped as the step he had been expecting his foot to land on wasn't there. Mike looked down the dark tunnel that had been revealed in front of him. “What kind of Indiana Jones type shit is this?” He began walking down the corridor, seeing no reason not to. At the end of the tunnel was a light that Mike recognized as the soft glow an enchantment gave off when it was activated.
He got to the end of the tunnel, and his sense of direction told him that he was somewhere under the oasis that Dune sat next to. He entered a room that was filled top to bottom with various enchantments of varying complexity. Each wall had several of these enchantments, except for one on the opposite side of the entrance. The unenchanted wall had an odd texture to it, almost looking like the scales of a reptile. Mike’s attention was brought to one of the corners of the room when Raj coughed.
“Welcome to my mancave.” Raj said, the half hearted attempt at a joke falling on deaf ears.
“What did you want to talk about?” Mike asked in a serious tone. He had been worried for his friend over the past couple days, and he wanted to know what the problem was so he could help.
“I have just had a lot on my mind lately.” Raj said. “I needed somebody to talk to about all of this.”
“What's on your mind?”
“I have been trying to learn how to improve my enchantments, and I have been getting better at the basics of rituals, but the cynical son of a bitch just keeps criticizing everything.” Raj lightly hit his fist against the scaled wall, and Mike nearly pissed himself when an eye shot open in the middle of the wall.
“It's not my fault your mana control isn’t up to par.” A feminine voice rang in Mike’s mind.
“I have a heroic mana manipulation skill! How could you possibly criticize something like that?”
“Like I said, subpar.” The voice said.
“Why the hell is your wall talking?” Mike demanded.
“Because she refuses to shut up.” Raj said, sighing and slumping over slightly. “Sometimes I wish she never contacted me.”
Mike tried to identify the massive eye.
Unknown
The eye’s gaze shot over to Mike, and he felt a pressure fall over his body. It wasn't quite physical, but he felt it press down on his body, mind, and something else within him. He quickly coated himself in mana, and the feeling vanished.
*Trait Skill unlocked! Suppression Resistance (Epic) (Trait)*
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Suppression Resistance (Epic) (Trait)
Coat yourself in mana to resist the aura of others.
The eye narrowed at Mike slightly before looking back at Raj.
“See, even this hammer wielding barbarian has a better grasp of mana than you do. Maybe he could give you some tips, as you really don’t seem to want to cooperate with me.”
Mike didn't know how the creature knew he wielded a hammer, as his weapon was currently stored in his soul, and his skin crawled a bit at the thought that she could potentially peer into his soul. Raj turned away from the reptile, walking down the dark corridor. He motioned for Mike to follow, and they ignored a few other jabs from the monster at Raj's expense. When they made it out of the tunnel, the staircase slid back into its place and they walked back to the enchantment room.
“So, care to explain?” Mike asked.
“That's Dune, the big ole’ sand snake that our fair village is named after.”
“I thought it was named after, you know, the dunes all around.”
“The desert itself is named Dune after our resident snake friend.” Raj said, clearly not happy about it.
“So why name the village after her as well?”
“Because she has the village under her thumb, or whatever the snake equivalent is.”
“How so?”
“I highly doubt you could identify her, but if she is to be believed from our past conversations, she is at least level 100, maybe higher by now.”
Mike gaped a bit. “How is something like that allowed within the safe zone?”
“The system has placed heavy restrictions on her, which is the only reason she hasn’t gone on a rampage all throughout the safe zone.”
“Can she still hear us from over here?”
“No.” Raj said. “She is surrounded by enchantments I made to limit how much she can perceive outside of that room. She can still feel our movements through the sand, but she can’t see or hear us.”
“Is that what has been weighing so heavily on your mind? I don’t mean to be rude, but it really doesn’t sound like that big of a deal.”
“It is.” Raj sat down in a chair, pouring some wine he had on standby into a glass. “She takes mana from the village and is using it to make herself stronger. She is the one who helped empower my rituals of repel foe and control climate, which she taught me to make in the first place. If it weren’t for her, we would be long dead.”
“So all of that is a bad thing?” Mike said, sitting in a chair close to Raj.
“Once again, it is. She is only using the village to get stronger, and once the safe zone barriers fall, her restrictions will be lifted and she will kill the entire village. I have made every attempt to appease her, following all of her demands. I don’t know how much it's actually helping our odds, but I can’t gamble my peoples lives by calling her bluff.”
“Alright let's circle back real quick, you said she taught you how to make those enchantments? Why would she do that?”
“Because she needs the village to continue getting stronger while the restrictions are still in effect. I can’t just leave because I made what may be the dumbest mistake of my life. I made a mana pact, which she facilitated with whatever high rarity skills such a powerhouse possesses. I promised me and my people would stay here in Dune, and in exchange she would protect us until she was freed. I didn't know her intentions were so malicious until after the fact. She taught me how to enchant because she wanted me to grow the village as much as I could.”
“Damn man.” Mike said. He paused for a moment to find the right words. “Is there anything we can do about this?”
“There isn't. Not for now at least. The only hope we might have would be if we could kill her, but she has said that her restrictions are lessened if her life is in danger. She may have lied, but that is a big gamble. We have no hope against a creature that is over level 100.”
“Can’t you just ignore her? I mean if she can't talk to you or hear you outside of that room then why go in there?”
“Because I need her help.” Raj said, taking a long sip of his wine. “I need to get this ritual done as fast as I can, and she can help me.”
“Man, you can’t put yourself through this.”
“I need to.”
Mike shook his head, gently tugging the glass of wine from the man's hand. “No, you don’t. It sounds like you are doing exactly what you warned me against. You are working yourself to death trying to get this thing to work.” He gestured around broadly, spilling a bit of the drink. He didn't care one bit. “You talk about how the people of Gratsden are on a ticking timer, but think about how bad it would be if you died or disappeared. You are leading twenty thousand people, and if anything I have heard from this is true, then you are leading them well. I am sure they would all agree when I say that your life is valuable, and shouldn't be thrown away so recklessly like this.”
“I’m sure the people of Gratsden would have a different opinion.” Raj said, looking somber.
“Maybe, but if they think your life isn't worth as much as I think it is, then maybe you shouldn't be killing yourself to save them. Tell me, do you think enough practice will be enough to finish that ritual without that snake's help?”
“I could, but-”
“Then we can get it done without her. I can help you get this thing done. I don’t know the theory behind almost all of this, but my mana control is better than anyone else I know, and I just know that can be useful.”
Raj was silent for a long moment before he spoke. “Fine, lets work on this thing. I need you to promise me one thing though.”
“What is it?”
Raj's face grew stone cold, though his voice trembled slightly as he spoke. “If we can't find a solution to keep my village safe before the safe zone barriers fall, I need you to kill me.”
Mike was shocked, and he had to sit back down in his chair to process that. “What do you mean? Why?”
“As the leader of this village, my people are also bound by my mana pact. I wish I knew this before making it, but I can't fix that now. If I die, that pact should be broken and my people can flee. I don't know how much time they will need to run, but I am confident that they will escape with you helping them.”
“Raj, I can’t make a promise like that.”
“You said my life isn't worth saving the few people that will be killed by Roots in the time I take to make this ritual. Maybe you are right. What I know to be true is that my life isn’t worth my entire village dying with me. I need you to promise me that should the snake get free, you kill me and save my people.”
Mike and Raj sat in silence for several minutes. He was not somebody who made promises lightly, and this was one that he didn't know he could keep if push came to shove. Would he really be able to kill one of his best friends? ‘The alternative would be indirectly killing tens of thousands’ he thought. He opened his mouth to respond, his words just as shaky as Raj’s had been. “I promise. Should that snake get free, and we have no hope of stopping it from going on a rampage, I will kill you and do my damn best to save your people.”