Novels2Search
Mistwood
Chapter 0028

Chapter 0028

Since there aren't any lessons planned for today, I was going to do more scouting around the forest, forage a bit, and bring back any plants I want to replant into my garden space. With the additional boundary markers in use now, clearing the undergrowth has sped up a little over the last few days. There's more space for me to work with, even if not by much.

However, the mines have a few things I want to grab.

The most important of those is more spatial stones. I want a decent amount of those so that I can craft a few things.

So I clean up after breakfast, pull on my tunic and pants, fix on my armor, make sure my bracelet is stocked, and [Teleport] to the mines. Without delay, I enter the mines and begin making my way down to the fifth floor, allowing my instincts to guide my path.

When it comes to the darker floors of the mines, I'm not bothered by them – I made two of the dusk-sight bracelets that I gave to Thomas, keeping one for myself. It's on my right wrist, behind my stasis pocket bracelet, and allows me to see just fine once I reach those floors.

The only loot I bother collecting is from the monsters I kill on my way down and what boulders I destroy in order to clear a path. I don't really want anything from higher up in the mines, though I won't leave behind any I do cause to drop. Not with me having plenty of space available for them.

Upon reaching the fifth floor, the first thing I do is take a stone out of my stasis bracelet. This stone is dark grey in color, perfectly spherical, and fits nicely in the palm of my hand. Silvery-blue runes decorate its surface, glowing with a faint light.

[Warpstone (Inactive)] A warpstone, designed for allowing one to warp to a registered waystone. This one is inactive and has yet to be set to a waystone.

I reach forward with the warpstone and touch it to the waystone. The runes on it begin to glow more brightly as a silvery-blue mist flows out of the waystone and into it, seeping deep within. A new rune sequence forms on the stone in my hand, partially filling in an empty space on it. That's changed the warpstone, and I check it in the System to make sure the change was the desired one.

[Warpstone (Mistwood Mines 5F)] A warpstone which allows the user to warp to the waystone on the fifth floor of the Mistwood Mines, if they've already activated it.

I link two more of these stones to the waystone here, then send them all back into my storage. All three are for me – I like to have backups of things just in case. Thomas himself won't be coming down here anytime soon as he's not strong enough on his own and I no longer need a porter, so there's no need for him to have one.

Now that I have those, returning to this point in the mines will be easier for future trips, I just need to [Teleport] to the entrance, enter the mines, then use one of the warpstones.

My first task of this visit completed, I begin clearing out the fifth floor. The monsters here are trivially easy to defeat – their strongest stats are 35 at the most, while I have 77 Magic. Even the warp golems can't stand against me here anymore. My [Magic Missile]snow carry enough concussive force that impacting the golems' chests takes out all of their HP from the sheer amount of damage just one spell carries with it.

Partially because there's enough of said force to shatter the entire torso.

I collect all of the sturdy stones and spatial stones I can find, as well as the spatial mithril, spatial magic crystals, temporal stones, temporal mithril, and temporal magic crystals I come across. Any stone which seems particularly earthy to me gets shattered, their sturdy stones and clay clumps looted and, when they drop them, their earth magic crystals and earth mithril and earth steel.

Element-attuned metals which can be used for weapons which are more effective against certain types of monsters. They'll sell for quite a lot as well, if I choose to do that with them.

Since I'm killing all of the monsters I encounter, I gain quite a bit of that type of loot as well, and I make sure to gather it. Not all of it will be useful to me but I can sell them in town, while some of the loot does hold use to me.

Especially the spook lights' light magic crystals.

While the bracelet I'm wearing has a space 11' on each side, the amount of exploration I'm doing and the ease with which I can take down monsters causes it to fill up fairly fast. If I were down on the eighth floor, the deepest I can safely handle right now, it would probably take me more than a day to fill the bracelet due to needing to take more care when killing things there.

Unless there were even more boulders blocking the paths than here. Today's main goal was acquiring more spatial stones and spatial magic crystals, and to a lesser degree, light magic crystals. I'll save traveling deeper into the mines for another time.

So once my bracelet has barely any space to hold anything else, I pull out a crystal similar to the warpstones. The crystal glows with a faint, silvery-blue light, dark grey runes set into its surface. The runes themselves glow with a silver light that's just a little bit brighter than the rest of the crystal's, making it stand out more.

[Escapestone] A specialized warpstone designed for quickly exiting a Labyrinth. Upon activation, the activator will find himself at the entrance to the Labyrinth within. If activated outside of a Labyrinth, the stone will fail. The stone contains only one use.

I really shouldn't have made this and simply prepared myself for the trek out of the mines, but I also didn't want to deal with that. It took quite a lot of mana and magic crystals to craft, in addition to part of a spatial magic crystal. Fortunately, this trip more than made up for its creation as well as the creation of the other three warpstones.

Upon activation, the escapestone glows brighter, then I find myself at the entrance to the mines, the crystal in my hand crumbling into a dust which transitions into a mist that fades away. There's no one within view, so I refill my mana, then [Teleport] back home and drink some more mana potion again.

I'm glad I'm able to produce a lot of the potion now, it's really helping me feel comfortable with my mana levels.

"Hello, Aluci," I pat the wolf on the head as I pass by his campfire in the back yard.

Aluci's tail flicks up and down for a moment, but he otherwise has no reaction. That's normal for him, though, so I continue on to my crafting station, where I begin preparing for a project. The first order of business is preparing a mold using earth magics. I make sure the inside is shaped properly while the outside looks to be just a large, rectangular stone block.

Then, I prepare a treatment for the mold via alchemy, which I then infuse into the stone with magic. This strengthens the mold while ensuring nothing will stick to it.

I set that aside and begin grinding up a few spatial magic crystals I gathered today, along with some mana and magic crystals. Those are mixed in with slime goo and a powder made from the dark grey shells of a snail-like creature I encountered in the mines. This creates a sizable batch of the resulting gunk.

With the use of magic and no heat at all, several of the spatial stones are shifted from a solid state to a liquid one. I then thoroughly mix the liquid stone and spatial gunk, then pour the result into the mold and send a pulse of magic into it, rapidly solidifying the mixture.

The mold is broken next, revealing the object within. It's 7' in height, with a base that's 3' in width. Square in shape, the base has seven layers which progress grow smaller until it's 2'7" in width, the full bottom 7" in thickness. At the very top of the dark grey, obelisk-like object is a nearly-flat top with a slightly-pyramidal peak. Said top has three layers and starts at 2'3" in width on the lowest layer and 2'1" in width at the highest one, while being 3" in total thickness.

As for the section between the top and the bottom, it starts at 2'4" in width at the base and tapers up to 2'1" at the peak. Only a small taper, but that's all that needed for me to best create what I'm going for.

I check over the obelisk and smooth the stone as needed with a little bit of grinding magic. Only a few spots need it and once that's done, I mix up a specialized magic paint to paint onto each of the four sides of the pillar portion. This paint is silver in color and glows faintly as it's painted on. I don't connect the runes on the four sides to each other, leaving each side as its own pattern, even if identical to each of the others.

Once that's finished, I hold my hands out in front of me and cast a modified version of [Teleport] along with some other spells onto the obelisk. The glowing runes brighten, then dim a little, though they remain brighter than they were before I cast the spell.

[Crafting] is now Level 8! +1 Strength +1 Dexterity

That tells me I succeeded in what I was attempting to create, but it doesn't guarantee it's exactly as I wanted. I examine the stone with the System to call up its information.

[Waystone] An ordinary waystone, allowing one to warp to any other waystone within its range.

The range itself varies based on a variety of factors, including whether or not the other waystones have a similar enchantment frequency as it and how much mana it has stored up. One this strong should allow me to warp to another anywhere within the Mistwood Region apart from the more mana-rich areas such as the Mistwood itself and the mines.

I craft three more of these now that I've made sure I did one correctly. While the process itself is fairly simple, it takes a decent level of precision and knowledge of the right actions to take, resulting in an immense amount of Skill Experience each time.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

That earns me a Level into [Crafting] for each one, bumping me up to Level 10 in it upon the completion of the third one. Completing the fourth one earns me something else as well, probably because this one is a little bit different from the others. It looks nearly identical to the first three, but has an additional spell set into it, violet runes glowing along the corners of the pillar portion in addition to the silvery ones.

[Crafting] is now Level 11! +2 Strength +2 Dexterity

[Casting] is now Level 8! +100 MP +1 Magic +1 Mind

Casting the modified [Teleport] spell, combined with my earlier casts of it and other spells, pushed me to the threshold for that.

All in all, that's a good day's work. I move one of the normal waystones toward the edge of my property, near where the path leading into the village will eventually be. It's close to where Thomas comes from, at least. I place a hand against the waystone and use a specialized spell to activate another part of the waystone's enchantment.

This will make it extremely difficult for someone to move without disabling said spell. With another specialized spell, I access another feature of the waystone.

Waystone renamed from [] to [Rowan Zovanzik's Home].

Now that it's been named, I activate the waystone, granting me the ability to use it from the others once they've been placed down.

With my home's waystone set, I [Teleport] over to the mines and place one of the waystones outside of its entrance. I won't be able to use it to warp to the crystal waystone within the mines, but I can use it to save my mana while traveling between here and home. Creating these wasn't in my plans for today, but the earlier trip here made me decide on doing this.

I set this as the waystone's location, then rename it.

Waystone renamed from [] to [Mistwood Mines].

After activating the waystone so I can use it, I mount Aluci, who appeared in horse form as I worked. He leads me toward the village, though we make a small detour to place down, name, and activate the special waystone.

Anchor Waystone renamed from [] to [Central Mistwood Region].

Soon after that, we reach the nearest farm on the path, where Patrick is helping his parents with some weeding work.

This is the first time I've been close enough to the farms here to see them, and they're just as compact as in the other Mistlands I've visited, though a lot smaller as well. Plants are able to grow closer together than outside of here, and bear more of their crop, so they can feed more with less space. Since they're mostly just supplying themselves, they don't need a large property.

The fence looks to be in good repair, even if a little on the older side. One of its beams was recently replaced, judging by its appearance. That's good. It should provide a little bit of an obstacle if there's an attack, even if not a good one.

"Hello," I greet the boy as he gives me a suspicious look, then look at his parents. "Hello, to both of you as well."

"When'd you get the kills?" Patrick asks as he and his parents approach, caution in his parents' mind and suspicion in his own. "You ain't been here three months yet."

"A few days ago," I answer. "The beasts attacked Thomas and Chief on their way to visit me, and Chief stated it doesn't have to be on the three-month mark, as long as it's no later than then."

"Did ya use magic to tan the hide so fast?" He asks. "Ain't able to do that normally. Trust me. I've tanned plenty o' rabbits before."

"Alchemy can speed processes up quite a bit."

"You ain't gonna answer, are ya?"

"Patrick," his father quickly covers his mouth. "Don't bother him."

There's concern in his mind, along with a small touch of fear. A difference between how he perceives the local magi and outside mages. He trusts Robin and Rose, but fears retaliation from me.

Trying to hide I'm a mage doesn't seem to be working, so I might as well be honest. Continuing to deny it when everyone is already certain would probably only make their suspicions of me worse.

"Tanning is a process which changes the structure of the hide to strengthen it and make it resist rot," I say. "Alchemy is able to perform that process much more quickly. Though yes, a small amount of magic was involved. To tan something more quickly, you can use water magic to cause the tanning solution to penetrate inside more quickly. You can also use it to draw moisture out of the hide more quickly, preparing it for the tanning stage in less time."

"So you are a mage," Patrick escapes his father's grip. "Thomas kept avoiding answering, but I was pretty sure."

"I asked him not to tell others," I state. "I'd like to settle into the area a bit and have a lot of work still left to do for that."

"Is that how you knew the baby ain't cursed?" Patrick asks, a little bit of skepticism over that still in his mind. "'Cause you're a mage?"

The local mages confirming it has essentially informed the locals that Nolan isn't cursed, but one's view of something can't just shift overnight. It'll take some time for them to adjust to the idea of it.

"I can feel curse energies that are near me, yes," I answer. "All experienced mages feel them. Anyway, would someone mind letting me know where Thomas lives? I have something I want to ask him."

"Follow the path that way," Patrick's father points. "Pass the next farm, then take a left and travel to the next one over. That's Thomas's place."

"Thanks," I say. "Have a good day."

Aluci begins walking down the path, the directions themselves not actually needed. I just wanted to talk with them a little bit as I passed by as it makes me more welcoming to the village's members who don't already know me. It's a shame I can't really keep up the claim that I'm not a mage, but I'll admit defeat on that one.

Even as weak as I am compared to how I was before making the deal with Zolbiatz, magic is too much a part of my life to hide it for very long. At least I can keep the higher magics a secret more easily, and the waystones will help with that.

"Hello," I say once I arrive at Thomas's place, his father currently harvesting vegetables to the side of their house, though he stopped once he heard Aluci's hooves on the path. "Is Thomas around?"

"THOMAS!" His father shouts.

A minute later, Thomas comes out from behind the house, curiosity in his mind as he enters my range while approaching me.

"Hoi, there," he says. "What's going on?"

"Wanted to ask you to come with me to the chief's place," I answer. "There's something I'd like to ask him and it's relevant to you as well."

"Okay," he looks at his father. "I've finished up, so I'll head over with him now."

"Good luck," his father tells him.

I dismount Aluci, and the three of us walk toward the chief's residence. It's easy to know which one is his as it's not just a log cabin with a smaller one behind it for storage and enough farm space to feed the household. Instead, it's a large log cabin with a good-sized yard, but only a small garden within it. The yard has a stone wall rather than a wooden fence, though the wall was built from stones picked up around the place and then fitted together rather than cut and stuck together with mortar.

For an area like this, that's a high-quality home and wall. He would be more protected if it was built using sturdy stones and mortar, then enchanted. That would provide a stronger barrier against attacks, though I think it's really meant for distinguishing his lot from others than protection.

"Chief," Thomas says as he enters the house without knocking. "Rowan has a question for us."

Chief is currently in his kitchen, skinning a rabbit. Surprise fills his mind when he sees me, no doubt because of my presence within the village. I have been here for about two months without entering it, after all.

"Yes?" Chief asks.

"Has Thomas told you about the waystone within the mines?" I ask.

"He did," he answers.

"I've crafted a few of them," I tell him. "Though not any as fancy as that. It will make moving around the area easier. There's one at my property, and I'd like to stick one at the mines and one within or close to the village. Then another a little more central to the region, so it'd be more north of the village than here. That one doesn't need to be by anything specific, its purpose is to act as a central point for all of the others, allowing warping between them even if they aren't within range of each other.

"The reason I want to put one here in the village," I continue. "Is to both make it easier and faster for me to reach here, but also so the two of you don't need to travel as much to visit me when you do. You'll need to make the trip out to my place to activate the one there so you can warp to it, but after that, you can simply warp to it from the one here. It doesn't cost you any mana or require any knowledge of or skill in magic to use.

There's surprise in their minds, but also curiosity.

"That ain't a problem," Chief tells me. "Did you want it in the village, or simply near it?"

"Either works," I answer. "Outside is best, though it can also be indoors if you wish. Once it's in place, however, moving it will be very difficult. You'll need me to do so if you want its location shifted even an inch."

"You can place it outside," Chief tells me.

"Outside your home or the village?" I ask for clarification.

"My home," he answers.

That's much closer to the village than I expected. I was sure he'd say outside of it due to the waystone being an unknown magic object and not fully trusting me.

"On the other side of the path," he adds. "Ain't anyone livin' on that lot now, so you can stick it in the yard."

"Alright," I say. "Thank you. Thomas? Let me show you to activate it so you can warp, once I finish installing it."

I pick a spot about ten feet back from the path on the next property, which does look a little run-down. Thomas mentions that they let livestock graze on it to keep the grass low, but the elderly couple who lived here before now passed away a few years ago. With the dwindling village size, there isn't anyone to move into it yet.

Well, they do have a few young adults, but they all currently still live with their families. Around here – and indeed, like in many small villages in the sticks like this – young adults continue to live with their parents until they either marry or move out of the area.

Waystone renamed from [] to [Mistwood Village].

"There we go," I tell Thomas as I activate it for myself. "Now you'll be able to visit me more easily, once you activate the one at my home, and the mines as well, once you activate the one there. Though I'm assuming that'll wait until after you and Chief return from Tempest Oak in a few days."

"Yeah," he says. "Ain't gonna travel that much today, not when we've got the trip tomorrow. Wait. You've already installed the one at the mines?"

"Permission was granted, was it not?" I ask. "I felt sure you and Chief would be fine with it if it meant easier travel, especially if it came from a mage."

"We just feel the Wi-that the other mages would say something if they were really dangerous," he says, then sighs. "Though I suppose the fact that you were able to put them down and reach us without being stopped is indicative of that."

"My only intention is to make things easier," I tell him. "Shortening travel by this much is the least I can do. Well, it's mostly for selfish reasons. Using a waystone is pretty easy, even if it requires there being one at the destination and me having activated it before."

"I suppose that makes sense," he says.

"I'll be heading back now," I say as Aluci turns around and begins walking away. "See you for the next lessons, Thomas. May the gods and spirits guide your paths."

"May the gods and spirits guide your paths," he says.

I activate the waystone and select the option for my home on it, then appear at the waystone there.

Now that today's work has been done, it's time for me to fix myself a hot meal and spend the rest of the day relaxing.