Lasair finally had to confront her problems. Which was probably good, considering how many had built up. She had made a full mental list, as follows.

One: Upgrade [MINOR PYROMANCY] and [MAJOR MANA CONTROL]. No reason not to get stronger.

Two: Get [ASSIGN] positions for everything she had made. Again, no reason not to use the power.

Three: Experiment with [SOUL TETHER]. The bond with her favorite nightlight had potential, and she planned on making full use of it.

Four: Figure out structured mana. It was one hell of a daunting task, but the power and precision were too great to pass up.

Five: Look into the whole 'pledged to your cause' thing. It sounded like a cult. Was the Adventurer's Forge a cult? Did cults need a god? Was she a god? She didn't feel like a god. And gods probably didn't have incredibly detailed fantasies about committing arson. She sure hoped they didn't.

Six: Abilities. Now that she had gotten a good look at the menu for creating them, Lasair was confident she could create one.

The plan was to knock out problems number four, six, and possibly three. An ability harnessing structured mana would be very nice, and having access to Apollo's abilities and affinities wouldn't hurt either.

First things first, she made a new [CHEST]. The first one had stored three [ARTIFACTS], but had only managed to hang on to [THE CIRCLE OF LIFE]. The new one would be situated in her core room, a far more defensible position.

She had spruced up the core room a bit. It, of course, had the perfect walls and corners that only [SHAPE SELF] could provide. A solid gold plinth held her core, which still glowed a deep crimson with cracks of white from the first [SOUL BOND].

The only tunnel to the Aviary was filled with [SMALL FLAMETHROWERS], so privacy was not a concern. Even if that bastard of an ice mage came back, she had three more [LIEUTENANTS] now, all of whom would probably enjoy kicking his ass. Even Midas might get up from his napping to help out. Wherever the little guy was. She still hadn't found him.

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Midas awoke, fully rested. That was a very nice nap. Best follow it up with another nap. His napping spot still didn't seem to have noticed him, which was slightly disappointing. Ah well. He curled up again, getting one last glance outside before he fell into slumber once more.

A simple wooden sign, hung from a high stone wall.

Now entering Willowdale.

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

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Now, to actually make the ability. Lasair had Apollo come down to the core room, as distance seemed to have at least a slight effect on [SOUL TETHER]. He floated in as calmly as ever, humming a small tune.

She had an idea of what she wanted to make. It had to do with Apollo's hypnosis. Specifically, how it affected the mind. The ice mage had a skill called [COMMANDING PRESENCE], which sent a tendril of mana directly into the target's mind and forced it to comply.

Apollo's [MANA-DRIVEN SONG] worked more on context. It wrapped the target's mind in the illusion and sensation of a situation in which they would act the desired way. With putting elf boy to sleep, instead of just forcing his mind to shut down, Apollo made him feel genuinely tired and exhausted.

It was a far less invasive way of going about things, and seemed more efficient anyway.

What Lasair wanted to create was a shell around the caster that deflected context, making anyone else's mind just skip over them. It was simple in theory, but she only had a basic idea of how to apply it.

What made it even better was that an ability like that would be perfect for the little thief. His [CORE'S SPYMASTER] class gave a good hint to what he got up to, and what was basically invisibility would be a great help.

The issue was will.

Apollo had to remove the current context to replace it with his desired effect. This was hard against anyone that was very perceptive or grounded in their situation. Surprise attacks like on elf boy often worked, but that was not going to be useful for a passive ability.

Maybe she could just hope the ability grew as its owner leveled. If this were a game, the ability she had in her head would probably be chance to not be detected, with the chance getting better as you leveled up. With the weird as all hell system, that might just work.

She opened the [ARTIFACT] menu, and Apollo's eye cracked open as the [SOUL TETHER] sent his ability over to Lasair. It rushed in all at once, a sensation full of trumpeting brass and crashing symbols. And it was perfect.

She formed the shell with whispers, small notes drifting on the wind. Relax. Unwind. There was nothing dangerous here. There was nothing at all.

She reinforced it with suggestions. Look away. Turn around. Forget you ever saw this.

She tied it all together with demands. STOP. YOU SEE NOTHING. HOLD YOUR TONGUE, LEST I TURN IT TO ASH.

And the cherry on top, a calling card. Something you would only find after the job was done, and the smoke had cleared. A smell. A simple little scent, that would come to be recognized as the smell that followed devastation.

The sultry sweet smell of burning hickory.

[MANA-DRIVEN SONG] had built the shell, but Lasair reinforced it with [MAJOR MANA CONTROL]. It was a simple trick. One of the very few things she had discerned of structured mana, which just happened to be a staple of all code.

An if-then.

The framework on which all functions rested. If someone hits this button, if they scroll down, if HP reaches zero. As she compacted mana further than ever before, she wove a simple line into the ability's structure.

If it doesn't work, Then just run the damn thing again!

The ability would be pretty expensive for the caster, but even if someone saw through it, the repeated application would be incredibly disorienting.

It snapped together like a perfect puzzle. The whispering notes of [MANA-DRIVEN SONG]. The perfect scent of blazing hickory. The cold and calculating power of mana. And it was done. Suspended inside the open chest was a newly crafted orb, flickers of grey in a sea of black.

[INSPECT]: [HARMONIOUS IGNORANCE]: THEY WILL SEE NOTHING, FOR THERE IS NOTHING TO SEE.

Hell yes.