White mist that extends deep into the skies above, the angry howling of a fierce wind screaming into my ears, and a silver lake glowing in the barren icy landscape. The lake situated in the middle of an icy plain remained unfrozen, clouds of thick ice particles floated into the sky, and the surface remained pure, and dazzling.
I can feel it, a pulse humming in the air, drawing me to the silver lake. It was calling me, welcoming me, and offering itself to me. I walked naked across the freezing ice, ignoring the numbness in my body, the cold needles piercing my skin, and dived in.
My lungs drowned in freezing agony, my body was embraced in a sizzling cold, and I could feel my heart beat growing slower, and slower. Even as I move towards my death, I could not help but admire how beautiful that lake was. There in the centre of the lake I saw something, but as I tried to focus on it a terrible pain assaulted my astral body, and darkness enveloped me.
The sound of water droplets hummed against my ears, my eyes opened to stare at the white ceiling above me. My body was covered in a thin layer of frost, as I tried to get up, my hands felt freezing cold liquid. The room was flooded by a stream of silver water, around 2mm high. Compared to the water I saw moments before, this form of silver looked dull, and drab.
“The purity is low, and I could only manifest a tiny portion of the lake.”
I stood up and stared at the sparking water flowing on the floor. A deep biting cold caused my body to shiver violently, ice particles leaked from my breath. I noticed a chair in the corner of the room, with a simple hand gesture, a small orb of water floated next to my finger tips, using my index finger I pointed towards the chair.
The silver bullet shot out and splashed against the chair, knocking it down, and leaving permafrost where the collision happened. The bullet did not melt back into water, and leak to the ground like what one would normally expect; it simply disappeared. Acacia brought another water ball to his fingers, this time he poured concentrated internal mana from his body into it. Once again the bullet shot out, a loud crack sounded as splinters of wood danced in the air, and an icy hole formed on the chair.
If mana was concentrated into a materialized form of magic, the density raises, if the magic happened to be a projectile, the damage output would be increased. Acacia repeated the process again, this time the bullet fired at a blinding speed, hitting the chair again. By applying mana into the acceleration, the base speed of the spell increases.
Acacia put back the chair a little to his side, once again he prepared a water ball, this time he was to the left of the chair, he poured mana into the water ball again and pointed forward. The water ball accelerated but curved left and hit the chair again. By applying mana to the left side of the manifested projectile, it changed direction leftward.
The same experiment was applied again and again, the water ball would be formed quicker but result in less damage, and sometimes it would form into an edged shape, piercing the chair before disappearing. All spells had specific properties to them, manipulating those properties were the sign of an experienced magic user, how well they do it will depend on talent. The more defined, and the more characteristics strengthened, the more the mana was drained.
Two people could use the same spell, however the speed, effect, shape, power, and movement would differ according to talent, ability, and concentration.
Acacia walked to the chair and exhaled loudly, a breath of white mist froze the chair underneath him. It caused his body to finally warm up, he poured mana into his lungs, and arteries to reinforce his organs. Slowly but surely he shifted mana to different body parts to strengthen them, and combat the frost invading him internally.
Acacia coughed loudly, after a few minutes he calmed down. The silver water had already receded over time, leaving the room empty, and dry, as if the water never existed in the first place, and never belonged to this world to begin with. His body that should have been soaked was completely dry.
Acacia picked up the robe that had several tears in it, and put it back on. At the moment he resembled a a beggar,
He quickly exited the room, and went to the 18th floor. As soon as he pushed open the door, he was greeted by the smell of grease, and metal. Shelves of tools, weapons, and trinkets lay stacked all over the room. It was the store room for master's storehouse, and collections. He walked past many of the tools, and stopped in front of a long black staff, that seemed to suck in all light.
Elegant red runes were carved deeply across it, and the staff hummed gently as Acacia grabbed it.
“Master's prided staff, for my selfish goals I will be using your personal items, forgive me master.”
Gripping the staff firmly, he walked to the general training area on the 10th floor.
Loud thuds echoed in the solitary floor, however after several minutes the sound of the staff clattering on the floor could be heard. Acacia was coughing violently, as droplets of blood leaked from his mouth, and unto the floor.
Acacia stared absent minded at the blood, he furiously shook his head, and exhaled slowly, his pearly white teeth was dyed a crimson red, as he swallowed his frustrations.
“It seems I can only last around ten minutes under physically harsh conditions. The taint is affecting me in more ways then I expected.”
There was no point in having combat knowledge of his other selves, but not being able to perform them physically. From a pragmatic standpoint he could not rely solely on magic, and needed to expand his skill set, however his tainted health was a major problem.
Acacia glared silently at the staff.
“No I still need to do it, at the very least I need my muscles to remember the stances, and movements.”
Due to constantly coughing up bits of blood, Acacia could only limit the physical training of the staff techniques for a few minutes every hour, sometimes he would push too far, and end up coughing out blood.
Over the course of two weeks, aside from magic, and physical training, and reading books, and notes left behind by his master.
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After spending so long cooped up in the tower, did he finally begin walking out side. This time he wore new clothes made of black leather, a back pack, and his staff.
He stared at the bright sky, and mumbled to himself.
“Let's see how much has changed in this area.”
Acacia had never wandered very far, only enough to collect food to last him the day, he ate berries, leaves, plants, flowers and mushrooms. While the option of hunting animals existed, he could no longer stomach meat, after what he experienced at the end of time.
The trees towered mightily in the sky, but still not as obscenely tall as the black tower, the leaves were a vibrant green, and the weather was fairly warm. Acacia wandered in circles, occasionally carving a sign on a tree, sometime he would take out an empty notebook, and write something down, and other times he would draw out a rough map.
The goal was to simply survey the region, and the process was meticulous.
“The forest grew a lot farther, and more dense than I expected.”
At the moment Acacia concentrated mana in his ears, and eyes; trying to detect the slightest of movements. The farther he went from the tower, the more he detected signs of life. Some claw marks on the trees, grass bent in unusual ways, and tiny footprints.
“Judging from the uneven depth of the foot print the creature was likely carrying something, from the size of the print, the creature should possibly be around 4-5 feet tall. Judging by all the different types of prints, it was travelling in a group, roughly ten in that party.”
Acacia slowly followed the trail, marked a tree, and looked for signs of life.
Break
The creature had an earthy green skin, brown coloured coloured hair, large roundish heads, and big floppy ears, in a way they were oddly funny looking more than anything else.. They were about five feet tall, and had scrawny bodies, with some muscle. They wore pelts, and carried primitive weapons made from wood, bone, and stones.
Several deformed, and poorly built mud huts littered the small valley next to the forest, a quick estimate showed the village to have over one hundred members.
Right now Acacia was overlooking the village from afar on top of a tree, using a telescope.
“Looks like a subspecies of gremlins.”
A small smile formed on Acacia's lips.
“How lucky of me, they also have opposable thumbs.”
Throughout the day Acacia merely observed the small village, and jot down notes. When it turned evening he would leave, and come back the next day. The same process repeated itself for a few weeks.
He watched them hunt animals, grab fruits, and dig for plants.
On one sunny day Acacia grumbled lightly as he recited his notes.
“Primitive society, omnivorous, slightly cowardly and follows idolatry, constantly worshiping a statue in the center of a village. Their tools constantly break, their hunting methods are clumsy, and they have a large cowardly racial trait inside them. Often running from aggressive prey they could have killed.”
Acacia pondered for a Moment on their cousins. Their cousins were smaller, social, and had an affinity for construction. But due to their weak nature, they were easily dominated, and made into a slave race by others.
In 1555 of the imperial calendar, the archbishop of Thasis for unknown reasons declared the gremlins were an affront to god, starting the gremlin genocide. In the year 1600, the last known gremlin breathed it's last breath, officially signaling the extinction of the race from this world. Apparently during the genocide a new slave race was promoted. Rumors say the new business dealings had financial connections to the church.
“However, I never read about a gremlin subspecies before in the racial encyclopedia, guess even after all the years of advancement, our knowledge is still incomplete.”
A low sigh escaped his lips, there was no point thinking too far in the future, first he had to build a foundation, he stared idly at the village silently before he decided to act.
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The sky was dark, and the looming trees caused the forest to become an impenetrable shadow. A small green figure walked clumsily across the night, with his spear in hand. In front of him was a young deer, occupied with drinking water from a stream. A silent rustle was heard, a small sound was made, and a body collapsed on the ground.
Acacia stared idly at the collapsed humanoid, next to it's head was a small shattered vial releasing purple gas. It was a mix of wulberry, catonic ivy, and other ingredients that made it a vial filled with paralytic gas. Acacia waited for the gas to subside before walking up to the body, and slowly flipped it over.
The paralyzed creature eyed Acacia in fright.
“You're about as big as I am, pretty heavy.”
He bent down to the creature. and smiled, he pointed his index finger, and touched it's forehead.
“Don't worry I won't kill you, you're too precious for me to kill.”
Acacia said so in a gentle, and calming tone.
“Be glad, you'll be the first to help me with my goals, and.....”
A strange smile crept into his childlike face.
In a far off area, a giant white mountain stands proudly amidst an ancient forest, occasionally brown feathers fall from the skies above.
A deep dark ancient swamp with towering trees, sunken land, and gigantic traces of clawed foot prints embedded deeply into the soil.
In a massive valley hidden from light, and shrouded in mist, thousands of thundering foot steps echoed throughout the valley.
In a barren land large holes littered the dry soil, from the darkness within, sharp piercing gazes could be seen.
On the massive emerald lakes, and clear streams, a slow hiss echoed from the waters, as hundreds of shadow skittered across the shallow depths.
Acacia's eyes glowed a brilliant red.
“I'll have everyone do their part, whether they want to, or not.”