“Planning another expedition?” Agnes asks with a raised brow, ignoring Emily’s declaration.
“Yeah. I want to have a look further into The Crystal Waters. Maybe find a dungeon this time if I’m lucky. Why? Wanna come?” Emily says with a teasing grin.
“No thanks,” Agnes says with a scoff. “I’m not one for fighting mindless beasts. Though, I guess you’d fit right in.”
“Ha. Well, this mindless beast needs to design a new spell for your tattoo. So, sit down and tell me about your combat spells’ lightning resistance.”
Agnes nods, her face shifting to a serious expression as she drops to the ground.
“The main spells I use on myself in combat are steel body and iron Valkyrie. Iron Valkyrie gives the same resistance as steel body does, so you should be able to adjust the spell for steel body.”
“Got it. Please activate steel body for me then. I’m going to take some measurements.”
Anges nods and starts casting. Her skin shimmers as a silver glow envelopes her, wrapping her skin and muscles in a metallic sheen of power. Emily walks behind her, dropping down and placing both palms against her skin.
“Tell me when the lightning starts getting painful.”
“Got it.”
Emily casts stunning touch, maintaining the spell and pouring a constant stream of weak magical lightning into Agnes, who doesn’t even flinch as the spell activates. Emily slowly starts pouring more mana in, adjusting the spell to increase the power output. The spell reaches the same strength as a second circle attack spell and Agnes visibly grits her teeth.
“I feel it now, but it’s still bearable.”
Nodding and making note in a blank folder, Emily continues increasing the spell’s power. After a few more seconds, Agnes hisses and taps out.
“It hurts now.”
Emily cancels the spell instantly, letting the crackling lightning fade but keeping her hands on Agnes’ back.
“Got it. I have a good reference for how strong I can tune the spell now. Please stay still for a little bit longer and don’t resist my scans so I can take your physical measurements and some measurements of your mana circuits,” Emily says calmly.
“Wait, why do you need those?” Agnes asks in confusion, glancing over her shoulder at Emily.
“Well, unlike a standard enchanted tattoo, I’m not just tattooing an already-designed pattern. So, in this case, I can model the spell around your system to give it maximum efficiency by doing things like putting intake runes near junction points in your magic circuits.”
“What about my physical measurements?”
“They’d normally take those when you actually get the tattoo and just scale it to you then and there. I’m just making it easier on myself by grabbing them in one go now.”
“Okay. Scan away I guess.” Agnes turns back and goes still.
Emily shuts her eyes, first sending a light stream of machina to trace the entirety of Agnes’ body. In a few seconds, Emily has a full three-dimensional render of Agnes drawn into her notes with every dimension she could need recorded around it. Next, she releases a slow stream of unattributed mana, keeping it linked to herself while guiding it around Agnes’ system. It’s a much slower process, as Emily has to adjust the stream constantly to stop it becoming so weak it’s dispersed by Agnes’ internal mana movement, or so strong that it’s perceived as an attack.
Ten minutes later, Emily opens her eyes and lets out a sigh of relief.
“There we go. That should be all the measurements I need for now.”
Agnes stands up, cracking her neck in relief.
“Thank Goddess. I should’ve known it would be uncomfortable to have someone else poking around inside my body like that.”
“Just wait till I actually do the tattoo. It’s gonna get a whole lot worse,” Emily teases. “Now, final question. Where do you want the tattoo to cover? The more skin used the more effective I can make it.”
“I’m fine with everything but my face, so go wild. Now, let’s continue sparring. I won’t be happy if I don’t hit that smug face of yours at least once before classes start.”
“Ha, good luck,” Emily replies, standing up and preparing her spells to go again.
***
Emily returns to her room after finishing her spar with Agnes, who has agreed not to tell anyone about her ascension, something she didn’t even care to question. Emily sets about designing the tattoo for Agnes, spinning together spells in the Spellweave to use as a foundation.
Hmm. This is far more complicated than making a normal spell. It will probably take me a couple of days if I fully devote myself to it. Let’s throw this to my two secondary cores to do in the background. It should be ready in a week if I do that.
Come lunchtime, she casts the task to her other cores and heads to meet her friends. Dante and Enzo join them for lunch today, and afterwards, they all head to the hub together.
“Hello, how can I help you?” the clerk behind the counter, Anka, asks with a dead stare.
“Woah. What are you doing here during the day?” Emily asks with confusion.
“Haaaa. I went over budget this month, so I’m having to take extra shifts,” Anka says with a tired sigh. “Please don’t make it worse.”
“Sorry. I’d like to register for an expedition please,” Emily says apologetically.
Poor girl. Alchemy is an expensive vocation.
“Sure, let me get the paperwork now.” Anka turns around, slowly gathering a few sheets of paper and a few magical instruments before returning.
“Okay. Now, first, I expect you are the leader of this expedition?”
Emily nods at her question.
Stolen story; please report.
“Great. Please note your name, circle, and family affiliation down here then.” She places down a sheet Emily recognises from Oscar’s expedition along with an enchanted quill.
“Sure. Just checking, but who gets to see these forms?” Emily asks before writing anything.
“Before the expedition, only me, the clerk who files them, and the members of staff who approve the expedition. Afterwards, any of the families registered as participating can request these forms along with the results of the expedition. Why?” Anka asks as her shoulders sag and the bags under her eyes seem to grow.
Her family aren’t close to the Mandragos and she’s far too disinterested to spread information. She’ll probably care more about getting rid of me quickly than how I answer.
Making a quick decision, Emily answers honestly.
“I don’t want my sponsor family to find out my circle yet.”
“I see. Don’t worry. The mages giving approvals are all Covenant affiliates and are under contracts not to leak information. Just register with a different family affiliation and they’ll never know,” Anka says, pushing the sheet towards Emily.
“That’s not against the rules?” Emily asks while filling out the sheet.
“Nope,” Anka responds curtly.
Odd. Why do they even give us a chance to give the credit of our expeditions to a different family? They definitely have records of which family we belong to.
Emily shrugs and finishes writing, placing the quill down and passing the sheet back.
“Done. Next, all of you add your information to this sheet please.” Anka hands another sheet to Juliana beside Emily. “While they’re doing that. You fill out this. It’s just simple stuff on when you’re leaving, how long you plan on being gone for, and the goals of the expedition.”
Emily takes the next sheet and fills it out as well, guessing that the trip would take two months. They soon finish the paperwork and hand it over for Anka to submit, signing with their magic signatures.
“There you go, your expedition should be approved within a few weeks. Anything else?”
“Nope. Thanks for your help!” Emily says, leaving the tired girl to her work and leading her friends away from the counter to talk.
“Who’d you sign up under?” Hester asks once they’re clear of the counter’s queue.
“The Madonna family,” Emily responds with a grin, before turning her best puppy dog eyes on Juliana. “And it would be wonderful if said family could help me out with securing transport to and from The Glade.”
“Of course, you don’t want to deal with the boring bits.” Juliana rolls her eyes, a teasing glint in her smile. “Sure, I’d be happy to help. Do you need help collecting preservable food as well?”
“Yes please!”
***
A week later, Emily knocks on the door to Agnes’ room early in the morning. After a few seconds of waiting, the door fades from existence and Agnes welcomes her in.
“Come on through. I’ve set up space in my study.”
Emily nods and walks in, taking in the minimalistic setup of the mage’s room. Unlike Jenny’s comfortable, personalised living space, Agnes’ room is plain and undecorated. It’s surprisingly similar to Emily’s room before she added masses of machines, just slightly bigger and with more doors leading to connected spaces.
Agnes guides her towards one of said doors, opening it up to reveal her study. Emily laughs in approval as she steps in, the room far more in line with what she expected of the woman. There’s a single shelf with a small collection of books placed next to a wide desk, but all of the walls in the room are coated with hanging weapons of various types.
From flintlock pistols to spears and bows, Emily can’t help but appreciate the vast collection, recognising a few of the commissions Agnes ordered from her.
“It’s impressive, isn’t it?” Agnes asks with a smug grin, noticing Emily’s interest. “I have more in my practice room. I’ll show them to you afterwards, if you want.”
“Sure!” Emily agrees, interested in using some of Agnes’ more exotic pieces that she didn’t make herself for inspiration.
Emily turns her attention away from the weapons to the middle of the room, where a small wheeled stool and a low, padded table are placed surrounded by a few secondary tables. She walks over and settles down on the stool, glancing at Agnes, hovering in the door unsure what to do.
“Could you grab me some water please while I get everything set up?”
“Sure,” Agnes says, leaving the room.
Emily turns back to the tables and reaches out, conjuring items from her newly created spatial item.
¯¯¯¯¯
[Utility Belt]
[Rank:] D
[Description:] A belt of five interwoven holder-locked pocket dimensions.
[Effect:] Allows the user to freely access one hundred and twenty-five square metres of storage space.
_____
The belt is a delicate work of magic that took Emily a few days of frozen time to refine. Five of the six pouches on the belt have a lesser space crystal held within, with a similar spell to her drawstring pouch carved on. The leather belt itself has several runes woven in, and another crystal attached in the small of her back, creating a control array that allows Emily to summon items from any of the separate spaces at will, surpassing the size limit on third circle storage spells by sidestepping the issue.
The sixth pouch on the belt is left untouched for The Clock, since she discovered it’s impossible to place the mysterious pocket watch into dimensional storage.
The small tables around Emily quickly fill with different jars of beast materials, magic crystals, and a few tools. She starts preparing the ingredients, crushing crystals, pulping beast flesh, and even burning a few items to mix the ashes in with the rest.
A little while later Emily looks up from her prepared salves and inks, the design of which required a stint in frozen time to perfect. Agnes is sitting on a chair at the side watching, having re-entered the room earlier only to be ignored by Emily.
“You ready?” she asks expectantly.
“Yep. Please strip to your underwear and lie down on your stomach. I’ll start with your back,” Emily answers without looking up, cleaning up the now empty containers and dirty tools.
Agnes complies, dropping her clothes to the floor and climbing onto the padded table. Emily finishes clearing up and looks at Agnes, pulling out a full virtual stencil of the tattoo array and laying it over her body. She gives Agnes a once over, checking the tattoo lines up as she expected and appreciating the old battle scars Agnes has kept.
Looks good.
She reaches for a black salve in a ramekin next to her and scoops out a healthy portion of the gunk. Carefully, she smears it across the stencil on Agnes’ back, slowly drawing out a complicated mix of lines and runes. Agnes shivers slightly at the cold touch, but otherwise says nothing as Emily works.
Emily switches between a few different magical mixes, painting on several colours and textures. After a while, Emily asks Agnes to flip over.
“Wait, is that it?” Agnes asks confusedly as she turns. “It didn’t even hurt.”
“Ha,” Emily chuckles. “No, that’s just me preparing. I’m getting all of your skin prepped before I start tattooing. You’ll definitely know when the real thing starts.”
She repeats her work on the front, covering Agnes in a dizzying pattern from her neck down to her toes and pushing her underwear out of the way at times to complete the whole pattern.
“Done. Onto your front again please. I’m starting properly now.”
Agnes nods and turns over while Emily picks up a set of thin, hollow white iron needles. She dips each of them into a different ink, then lays them down on a tray next to their respective inks. She keeps one of them in her hand, leans against the table in front of her, and raises it to the centre of the patterns on Agnes’ back.
“This is going to hurt. Please don’t resist, and try not to move too much, or this will take a lot longer. Just let me know if you need to bite something,” Emily says calmly, her last comment making Agnes flinch slightly.
“It can’t be that bad, right?”
Emily doesn’t respond, taking a deep breath and releasing it, falling into a deep focused trance. She lowers the needle to the skin and pours a carefully calculated spark of lightning attributed mana in before stabbing down.
In one careful, almost mechanical, motion, the needle punctures the skin, injects a mix of ink and mana, then pulls back. Almost instantly, her hand shifts imperceptibly to the right and stabs again. Emily’s hand turns into a blur, repeating the same motion over and over again without a millimetre of deviation from the intended path, carving a line of magic into Agnes’ body.
The mana and beast materials mixed into the ink react with the salve smeared on her skin and burn into the flesh below. Agnes grits her teeth as the mix sears deep into her, forcing herself to remain calm and preventing her mana from fighting back.
Emily ignores Agnes’ reaction, not even hearing her grunted complaints through her deep trance. Her hand flashes between the tray and Agnes, switching needles and mana elements smoothly, growing the pattern slowly.
After several hours of nonstop movement, including getting Agnes to flip halfway through, Emily completes her artwork. She sits back, dropping a bloodstained needle onto the tray and letting out a sigh of relief.
Agnes lets out a tired groan, turning her head to look at Emily with minimal movement.
“Are you done?”
“Yep! And, I have to say, I really outdid myself, considering it’s my first time,” Emily says with pride, admiring her work.
“Considering how much it hurt, you’d better have,” Agnes grumbles with more than a little resentment, forcing herself to sit up. “Let’s see if it was worth it.”