Opened doors, Closed doors.

Compliments to surviving thus further. Upon the arrival of the 183rd day of System Integration. On one such special day; you shall be given the opportunity to wander peacefully among select members of the most significant forces of the Multiverse. Forge friendships, accumulate worthy adversaries, or find peace in solitude. Doors are revealed and yee alone holds the key.

In the morning, about four days ago. Which Henry claimed to be the 123rd day since the System arrived into our lives. This announcement decided to grace us with its presence. From the sounds of it, we will be spending the whole day with these so-called significant forces to make friends, enemies, or… do nothing at all? Either way, we have agreed to assume it is so. The idea of meeting people from outside our planet is both freakishly awesome and bafflingly daunting all mixed into one large dough of something for future me to handle. Another good thing is how this announcement had me—in some manner—once again conversing with The System.

So, as it turns out, I'm stuck here until the one year protection period has passed, as any human exiting the planet would cause said protection to expire. Not sure why only humans, but it is as it is… And since we are no longer recruiting people to join our cause. I'm feeling lost, what am I supposed to do now?

'System, is there a way to leave the planet without prematurely invalidating the protection?' Although there is still a lot to explore on our continent, due to our newly integrated nature. But I kinda feel like finding anything that would be challenging for me at my current level of strength is like finding a yellow needle in a haystack.

** DING **

Yes

'Awesome, are there several methods?'

Yes

'So I can use one of these methods to leave the planet early?

Yes

'Meet aliens and explore the multiverse!?'

Yes

'Fight strong foes and discover treasures!?'

Yes

'Will I be able to return?'

Yes

'Please teach me how?!'

No

… No amount of pleading on my part got it to divulge its secret! Believe me I had spent the time up until noon to pester it. Nada. Even then, the only reason I stopped was due to the appearance of my parents dragging me off for lunch... It was pleasant, Mini especially, is adorable as usual. Growing smarter and prankier every time I meet her. One thing of note during the pestering was how I brought up being annoyed at my devour limit of 10 levels daily, and was informed that due to the current rate of growth, it should be safe to expand that limitation to 100 levels–total, a week. The conversation also did well to refresh my memories of the existence of one such entity upon which I… we, all live upon, and how it allows life to flourish upon itself to further its own development. Unfortunately for me, The System still refuses to elaborate further. Either way, this new limit greatly expands my options.

Agus found me as we were finishing up, "Zen! I've been looking for you all morning! I've got something to show you!" He grabbed my arm and dragged me along. To the laughter of mom, dad and everyone. He did not even notice anyone else, focused and flustered as he was. I had heard people speak of his amazing enchantments and his now single minded pursuit of the profession, but experiencing first hand the change that he has become is truly novel indeed. Work ethics he gained from working with the Tenolo twins.

Back in what he loves to call his enchanting chamber. He retrieves an item from among the jumble of mess that is the whole chamber, presenting the item to me very eagerly… The Mana Core I had Artificial Infused with Conjure Weapons is now mounted on one end of a hilt-like object; a simple, but very well made and balanced short stick.

"Trigger the spell!" He urged me. So I did; a dagger. The spell is cast as should be, conjuring the weapon perfectly attached to the hilt. I tell Agus to give me a minute and Blinked outside to give the weapon a try—did not take me long to Blink back. Everything is as it should be.

"It hasn't even been 5 minutes. Did it work fine?" He asks me, to which I reply with a yes. Before I could voice a question, he once again tells me, "maybe try different weapon forms..?"

That can't be right, with the mere 124 mana that resides within the core a dagger was all it could conjure… 'Inspect.'

** DING **

Hilt-Foci of Weapon Conjuring

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

That did not answer my question… maybe the core? 'Inspect!'

Refined Mana Core (177/189)

12 mana? It should have cost the Core 60 to conjure a dagger, and that looks like a 50% plus increase to its mana pool?! As I stare at the Interface, the maximum mana ticks up. At 189 mana and a standard regeneration rate of 24 hours to full, it should recover one every seven or eight minutes. "Seriously Agus, what did you do to make this thing?"

That made him grin. "Well, first was to refine the Mana Core; by cutting, then after giving it a special coating. It is bathed in a very high temperature flame, which is done in a single concentrated burst. That would deepen its Pool by 50%, give or take."

"Then," he continues. "The hilt is made. Honestly, it's more of a wand, just made to be much sturdier and thoroughly specialized to cast one specific spell. That way, it is supporting the cast using ambient mana and streamlining the process, not to mention being part of the construct itself, thus decreasing the total volume summoned and providing a solid base for what material to conjure the weapon out of, cutting the mana cost to one fifths of its ordinary cost."

He went into detail regarding the forging process of said wand-hilt. Mentioning something about using a mix of lesser pseudo-mithril which is silver saturated in a large infusion of mana and sealed for a few months; the resulting metal is used as the core. Which is then encased in steel that has been reforged and combined with a mix ground Monster Core from a monster with the metal element and a drop of wood essence distilled from a whole tree. And finally, everything is assembled together and inter-connectically bonded through use of runic enchantments. The final product, which is this Hilt-Foci thing would cut the spells cost to 20% its original cost, allow the core to bond with its holder thus allowing it to gain their mana regeneration rate while touching, and, its conjured weapons are of a sturdier material than mere mana conjured objects. Last but probably most important of all, the tool will refuse to cast should there be insufficient mana, thus preventing the Core from being spent and crumbling into dust.

"That's awesome, did you learn how to work with gems, smith, alchemize and enchant within these three to four months?" I ask him flabbergasted.

"Enchanting yes, and a bit of gem processing as that is not as common. The rest I commissioned from the best crafters we have around." He replies to me cheerfully.

"Nice! So did you kidnap me from lunch with my family just to show me this?" I ask him.

"I did what!?" he asks, a look of horror on his face. I summarized what happened for him. "Oh shit, I'm sorry! But.. I didn't just want to show you the item, I'm sorry!! I kinda wanted you to make more Infused Cores. But I really didn't mean to take you from a family lunch. I'm really really sor—."

"It's fine," I cut him off from his third apology. "We were finishing up anyway. I even had the chance to take a peak and everyone looked adequately entertained watching the kidnap happen."

"—r… uh, okay…" he changed words mid saying, then paused for a moment as his brain struggled to catch up with the change. "Glad that was fine, yes. So, what about making additional Infused Cores? Or maybe even just Mana Cores, I could definitely find use for any number of them."

"Should be doable. What spells and how much mana in the Cores?" With my current mana pool of 17,469. I should probably start making the smaller ones with a standard pool of 150 mana. My resource has been full for a while now, so I triggered my Mana Manipulation and fabricated one on the spot. To the bewilderment of our enchanter, his corresponding praise and worship I enjoyed very much. Of course, I returned in kind. I find his work truly impressive after all!

For now, we'll be making use of the rest of my Core 124s; which, we agree, refers to Mana Cores that have a pool of 124 mana. Mentioning cores and mana pools and containing within the same sentence was really getting old real quick. 156 of them Cores left, they are to be infused with Condense Water, Unsoil, and Lesser Heal. Utilities and support. This time, they will be made into an actual Wand. 25 of Condense Water and Unsoil each, 50 of Lesser Heal, and 6 of Blink, he is hoping to create life saving accessories that would allow their users to blink freely. And that leaves him with 50 blank Cores to use for whatever.

"Alright, I'll get it done today and deliver them to you by tomorrow." I tell him after our discussion. "If you got the blink ones to work, and if I provide you with more Infused Cores that is of a larger capacity, can you make some and give them to my family, maybe Henry, Jennifer and the others as well... Ah! You should keep one for yourself too."

Done, I left his Enchanting Chamber and summoned Gon. Minedora the Dwarven markswoman had texted me and requested I come visit. Something about the golem assembly machines. We took to the air and flew straight for SouthHolm.

---

"Welcome Spellsmith, they have been expecting you." The guard currently on duty greeted me upon landing. All three territories at Quadholm now own The System's multilingual translation perk. "They have been informed and are expecting you below, please follow me."

I follow him through the maze that is their underground kingdom, a strategic move on their part. After all, imagine attacking a place and all you accomplish is getting lost. The people currently living within had built it themselves, getting to memorize the twists and turns as they were building it, combined with their innate bond with the earth. They navigate the area unhindered. Even with my Mana Sense of a few three hundred meters far, I find the paths confusing, if not even more so. Like trying to find one specific strand of noodle in a bowl of ramen—from the inside.

A few minutes later, we exit to a large cavern, too symmetrical to be anything but Dwarven made. Where the guard says. "We have arrived. I shall take my leave."

"Thank you!" I speak at his retreating figure. Then turn to observe the cavern room. The entrance exits into a donut-like balcony that oversees another room. It is maybe fifty meters wide in diameter and five tall, excluding the lower room… I make my way inside, approaching the group of people who stand near the donut hole, near something that I recognize to be a large console machine—not to be confused with pre-integration gaming equipment—this one consists of a large monitor mounted on a standing metallic rectangle and various unfamiliar keys below it. Imagine an evil scientist and his newest creation to rule over the world, kinda console.

"Ah here he is!" Dora exclaimed at my arrival. "What took you so long? A machine that swallows stones and spits out perfectly functioning golems not exciting enough for you?!"

"You're joking, of course it is! Just that I had been in an equally exciting conversation when you texted." I replied to her in kind.

"Pray tell!" One of the Dwarven tinkers chipped. And he requested to meet with Agus after I regaled them with the details of his creations.

But Dora interrupts any further discussion with her yell. "Please! Time for nerd's meet and greet later! For now, activate the machine!!"