Rainer looked curiously at the place Luna brought them to. His Avatars showed their convenience as he and Luna had since gone beyond the southern continent and were left over open waters. But it was still easy enough to use his second Avatar to deal with the meeting with the blacksmith and other guild issues.
He wondered how long until they reached where Luna wanted them to go. Though it seemed as if these southern waters were untraversable for a reason. Rainer had seen why, knowing if it hadn’t been for [Soul Detection] and then [Void-walking], he may have had quite the issue with some of the monsters they passed. This world may lack 3rd Tier experts in its current state, but the same didn’t seem to be true for monsters.
He started to get the feeling that it wasn’t that level 24 Tier 2 experts couldn’t level without dungeons, its that they were either too weak or afraid to.
Then again, who had experience bonuses like he did? No matter how skilled they were, their paths were too narrow, and the best of the best wouldn’t even have a quarter of his titles. And many of his titles he only gained after dying numerous times in the attempt.
Rainer Void-walked again, sensing a soul that definitely shouldn’t be messed with.
From close to half-a-mile away, he watched as a giant sea serpent leapt from the water. He could almost see its confusion as its open maw met with only air.
Despite knowing he could probably kill it with [Blade of the Void], the sheer pressure the attacking monster gave off made him rethink that. A bit of experience wasn’t worth risking his life to such a degree. So he vanished once more with Luna, this time further into the distance.
Hovering in the same violet throne over a desolate beach, Rainer continued following Luna’s directions. They finally landed at her request, the throne left behind to disappear.
But a few steps into what seemed like a beach leading into a desert - Rainer wasn’t sure if that was normally possible - Rainer felt the telltale sign they had crossed into what could be considered a Forbidden Land. Since when had there been this place in the south? Did the monster-infested waters keep anyone from heading here? There was certainly a massive body of water between here and the Southern Continent. Perhaps larger than the continent itself. But, while Rainer was one of the most proficient, there were other teleporters in this world, both now and in the past.
He supposed with such a clear marker, like a massive ocean, there was no need to call it a Forbidden South. But rather to just consider all southern waters as an area not to enter lightly. As opposed to the North where it was easy to accidentally enter and be too far in once you noticed the curse affecting you.
Rainer hadn’t been much affected, as he had his own encounter with a cursed land, and had his [Curse Resistance]. Luna seemed as if she hadn’t noticed it yet, but soon became surrounded in a halo of violet and silver flame.
“Luna?”
“Luna’s good,” the Fairy chirped towards him along with a smile. Her face refocused back in front as she continued to head towards where her Fire was leading her.
The effect of the curse got stronger, and Rainer could already see the biggest issue with this land that kept most people from it - his pools shrunk. According to what he’s heard so far, the weakening capped out, but the pools of Mana and Aura shrank to nothing. And it would only get stronger further in.
Though thankfully Luna already found what she was looking for.
In this wide-open desert, there was a single short tree. But rather than bark, it looked to be made of black-fire.
Luna turned back to him, as if asking if he should go too.
Rainer shook his head. This was her opportunity. He would stay back here and let her accept this gift that was related to her Faerie Fire.
What the hell are these thoughts?!
A cooling feeling then hit Rainer’s mind as his eyes snapped open wide. The Black-fire seemed to almost screech in pain.
Rainer vanished in a Void-walk, grabbing Luna in his arms, before descending an [Arcanium Descent] over the two of them. Not to harm, but rather remove whatever was affecting their minds.
Unhappy with its meal being interrupted, the tree of black-fire lashed out, its tendrils moving quickly towards them. Rainer shot out beams of Arcane with [Arcanum], yet the fire only seemed to grow stronger.
Infuriated and not content to just run, he roared out with [Devil’s Soul Language]. The recent increases in his Soul only furthered the damage this did. It cut at the thing’s Soul like an inescapable scalpel. Despite the sheer size of this strange creature’s Soul outpacing Rainer, it recoiled in pain, it’s tendrils dropping and becoming a small, black orb of fire away from the tree.
Grabbing it with an Arcane-weave, he slashed an outgoing connection of Soul with his [Arcane Blade] and vanished with several more Void-walks before finally [Void-Travelling] back to the edge of the Southern Continent.
The Forbidden South matched its northern counterpart. It was not a place to tread lightly.
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The pair stood overlooking a large cliff, waves hitting against its sheer face. Looking down at Luna in his arms, Rainer checked to make sure nothing was missing. She seemed to be a bit zoned out but otherwise unharmed.
“Luna?” Rainer asked, not quite willing to set her down yet.
“Sorry Rainer.”
Rainer chuckled, “It was hardly your fault. We’ll just have assume in the future that something reacting to your fire isn’t a good thing,” he said a bit sadly. He knew he wasn’t the only one hoping for something related to the first Fae Queen. Instead they found a sentient Fire that somehow lured Luna to it. Or perhaps it really was Luna's Fire that lead her there and the creature of Black-Fire just took advantage of the situation. He had assumed Luna would lose the clash, but who knew? With his Soul attacks as reinforcements... but that wasn't something to casually test out.
Looking at the Arcane-weaved orb on the ground, the black fire within seemed docile enough. He had taken it only out of a gut-reaction more than anything else. It was his thing, wasn’t it, to steal advantages when he could? His recently acquired [Void Insulation] seemed to show its worth, though Rainer knew he would have escaped the mental effects eventually. In fact, when [Void Insulation] freed him, he was already escaping on his own, finding fault in what he was thinking.
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It was just a question of ‘when’ and if it would be soon enough. Hearing the damage caused to the Black-Fire had been a nice bonus from [Void Insulation], though.
As if sensing there might be a snack, Jor popped out of his shoulder. Rainer was momentarily stunned as he got a look at the serpent. While Jor still had a sharp glean of violet, the transparency wasn’t there any longer. Violet scales covered his body and the general sense of power the serpent gave off just floating there was immense.
Jor may lack an outlet for this strength, but swallowing future Gods would certainly be far easier.
Before Rainer could ask whether he should really eat it, Jor had already snatched it up from a distance. Looking every bit the food connoisseur that he was, a strange look of thought crossed the serpent’s oddly expressive face.
‘Delicious. Find more.’
The distorted, genderless voice entered directly into Rainer’s mind before the serpent vanished back into his shoulder, seemingly not done with the Divine Power he consumed earlier.
“What’d he say?”
“That he wants more,” Rainer responded, figuring they might as well assume Jor was a he unless the serpent said otherwise.
“Then we should get him more,” Luna nodded with a smile that didn’t fit the grim statement.
“That we should. Can you promise you won’t chase anything related to your fire without me?”
“It’s Rainer fault this happened,” she complained.
“Yes, yes it’s my fault.”
“It’s good you understand.”
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Rainer wondered over this elven blacksmith’s request. It’s true that his skills were incredibly useful, but were they useful enough to risk his life to help in his Trial? Yes Rainer was strong as a level 25 [Arcanist], but what exactly would it be like being brought back to that attribute and skill level? The whole idea of having his mind messed with so thoroughly bothered him.
He slapped his forehead. Why hadn’t he thought of that? He inwardly cringed at the elf’s reaction to this. If Elelaria found out about it and then told his grandfather… he’d be in trouble. Always a leader.
“I’ll have to ask, but due to special circumstances, my grandfather is only in 1st Tier, despite being my equal in strength. But if he says no… I can only offer the best of the best in terms of enchanted items.”
Both him and his grandfather also had an Avatar, so Rainer could also send his own. Even if he had no idea how control might change if only an Avatar went. That was something to speak to Amer about.
The Elf gave Rainer a skeptical look at the idea of someone being so powerful in the 1st Tier, but said nothing else.
“Either option will do. Both would be preferred. Thank you, Guildmaster.” The items displayed in the auction would certainly give him a large edge in completing his Trial. In fact, his original goal was only to get a full set of enchanted items to take into his Trial. He only opened with the idea of a helper. If this Guildmaster was actually able to acquire him a powerful helper, all the better. This had truly been worth the trip. And from what he gathered, the Enchanter’s Guild was the opposite of the restricted place he would have assumed it to be. Perfect for him.
“Then, welcome to the Enchanter’s Guild,” Rainer said, quite happy with this acquisition. It was a simple deal really, expensive metals to work with along with access to the Mana Crystals, something important in his type of blacksmithing. Having a full set of Trial Armor made in the way this Elf smithed would be invaluable.
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Rainer gave a sleeping Luna one last glance with [Arcane Revelation], noting that her flame was calm. They wouldn’t be heading deep into the Southern Continent for a while. As always when he had little else to do, Rainer focused inwards. A situation that wasn't uncommon now that he had two Avatars.
He pulled ever so slightly on his Soul, letting bits of Arcane and Void naturally enter his body, and then mimicked both [Arcane Rage] and [Void Suppression], strengthening himself.
Rainer thought over the end goal but simply wasn’t sure what that could be. When it came to the Great Sage’s notes on becoming Flame-touched, the process was nowhere near this quick. Partially merging your Soul with your Fire Element effect Mana took decades, assuming you survived, and then further getting the energy to enter your body wasn’t a matter of ‘leaking’ but rather difficult and dangerous forcing. Something many failed, according to Yazir’s notes as the ancient cursed-lightning Magus tried to do the same for countless years.
Due to the a number of circumstances, both of these steps were relatively easy for Rainer. The first due to his ability to heal his soul along with his great familiarity with it. With [Devil Soul Language] as the final otherwise impossible helper. The second just happened naturally, likely due to Arcane and Void pushing the other out of his Soul and into his body.
Rainer promised to himself he’d stop if anything seemed to be going wrong. But he wondered just how well he could stick to that. Even now he could feel the slightest improvement to his Void and Arcane abilities after just a few hours of merging it with his body. No doubt an improvement in his Talents would be in his future. From what he understood, improving the body affected the Soul, and together they created Talents. Though that was just the Great Sage’s theory.
The prospect of future improvement was hard to ignore.
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Rainer paced around his [Sleep Learning] space as he thought over how to reach the final level.
[Arcane Domain] reached level 9 easily enough in just a few hours of overpowering it with impossible amounts of arcane energy and managing to still control it, but he found himself a bit stuck, the same as with [Arcane-Spatial Domain].
He had gotten his [Void Domain] to level 10 by sinking into his Void Will and incorporating the power of the Void into it. But he had since been avoiding letting himself get so affected. Would that still work?
He spread open an [Arcane Domain], a faint violet hue taking over everywhere it touched. The effect wasn’t much different to spreading Arcane Energy in the air with [Arcane Sound Infusion], except that it all belonged to him in a deeper way. The two worked together quite well.
He reached towards the Arcanium, and sank into the Arcane Power inside him. The tumultuous power ravaged through his mind and picked on his recent memory of black-fire. Rage consumed him.
How dare that worthless thing try to take Luna?
But as quickly as it came, Rainer forced himself to calm down, and now became almost as if an observer to the chaotic nature of the Arcanium. But this wasn’t enough to tie it into his [Arcane Domain] and raise its power one more level.
He switched between steady and chaotic, before he was finally at a place where he sunk deep enough into his Arcane Power but was still unaffected by its energy.
And, while still remaining himself, he used his [Arcane Domain] to channel the power of the Arcanium.
[Arcane Domain has reached level 10]
[Reached the maximum proficiency of a Tier 6 spell: Rewarding 10 skill points.]
A wave a violet descended as the spherical Domain around him strengthened and became far more visible. Spells came quicker and stronger, and the [Arcane Domain] felt no different than his own arm.
Rainer blew his hair out of his eyes. 26 more to go to [Void Harmony].
He knew he could have freely sank into his Arcane Power, and likely still gained the last level, just like with [Void Domain]. But he felt like he lost something if he purposely let his emotions be affected in such a manner.
With this gain in Skill Points, it was time to switch back to working on [Void Suppression].
Only two months and three weeks to go till the dungeon meet. If he wanted anything he gained from the Farseers to matter, he needed to get their secrets some time before the Dungeon Meet. He checked the strength of [Void Suppression] with his grandfather, and found that only if he knew beforehand could he fully sense Rainer. The skill itself took forever to ‘leave’ and it also often ended up being fatal if he used it for too long, which meant its current form wasn’t enough. Not to mention walking while Void Suppressed proved both difficult and awkward.
He also understood just how valuable a stealth skill could be for scouting in a Dungeon, especially of this possible calibre.
But more importantly, the idea of walking freely through the various Mage Guilds and copying down their secrets… how could he resist that?