Chapter 18
Jackson threw up his hands in frustration.
“I am trying to anchor it; what do you even mean?” he growled at the spirit. They had moved away from the demonic corpse and the surrounded corpses of dead players. The area wasn’t really conducive to learning. Lazarus knew the dungeon, however, and had moved them down a couple of corridors until they had come to a room not unlike the one Jackson had been in when he first woke up in this dungeon. Lazarus’s voice was calm.
“You need to anchor it with blood, but the thread needs to be under destruction. Blood smooths out all the sounds you make, silencing them, while destruction disrupts the light around you. However, blood holds it all together, so you need to make that your anchor point and tie it all off with it. You shouldn’t be struggling this much, fledgling.”
Jackson pointed at him.
“It’s not like the knowledge is instantly appearing, like with weave books or when my Domain was unlocked.”
Lazarus chuckled and tapped his nose.
“What, you’re mad because you actually have to put in the work to learn something?”
Jackson scowled at him. It wasn’t so much that, but rather he had other things on his mind. Specifically, all the information Lazarus was keeping from him. There was so much he wasn’t telling Jackson, and it nagged at him, like a small rock in his shoe or an itch he couldn’t scratch.
“You’re keeping things from me. It’s bothering me. At least tell me something. Here’s a start: why do the celestials want to kill vampyres? Why were you forced to seal away your coven?”
Lazarus looked away, studying the stone wall. Finally, he sighed and looked back at Jackson, his eyes awash with sadness.
“I sealed away my coven because it was the only way to save them,” Lazarus whispered. He took a deeper breath. “I can’t tell you everything; it’s just too dangerous. I won’t do it. Not until you reach journeyman and can guard your thoughts. I can tell you a part of it, though I honestly think you could figure it out yourself if you put any thought into it.”
Lazarus’s face formed into a look Jackson had grown to know well. It was the look he gave when he expected Jackson to figure it out for himself. Jackson was starting to hate that look. However, the spirit would not be satisfied until Jackson at least tried. Bowing to the inevitable, Jackson sat down, his arm over his raised right knee, and he thought about it.
Lazarus usually did not ask him to figure something out if the answer wasn’t there, somewhere. Almost always, Jackson had enough information to piece it together. As he had done with the goliath after Lazarus had suggested there was a way to deal with it, Jackson ran through his weaves, and he couldn’t find anything there that suggested any reason the gods of this world would want to kill him or any vampyre.
Jackson shook his head and dismissed the weaves as possible answers. He looked at his skills. Could it be his regeneration? It was a minor effect, to be sure, but it was undeniably powerful. Given enough time, Jackson could regenerate from almost everything, and speeding it up with consumption made it even better. He rubbed his chin with a thumb. Could it have something to do with the consume skill? On its surface, it didn’t seem that powerful; Jackson had been very close after all. Even after taking down the goliath with it, he had to basically allow himself to get seriously injured to make it work.
Jackson sighed and rubbed his face.
“Just tell me what it is, Laz. I can’t figure it out.”
Lazarus was amused.
“Sometimes you surprise me with your resourcefulness; your inability to see what is right in front of you is astonishing.”
Jackson scowled at him, but it just made the spirit laugh.
“Peace. At least you tried.”
Lazarus’s expression sobered.
“It has to do with consume. Ah, I see by your expression, young fledgling, that you had almost figured it out. What you failed to put together is that the consume skill causes final death. On anything you’re able to drain of its vitality, its blood.”
Realization dawned, and Lazarus nodded.
“I see you begin to understand now, fledgling. Yes, the consume skill can kill celestials, even at its basic rank. It only improves and grows as it ranks up. That reason alone was enough for the gods to kill us.”
Lazarus’s voice grew hard, a touch haunted.
“Kill us, they did. They hunted us down, killed our women, our children, and any vampyre they found, they killed. They called us leeches and burned us alive. We ran, from realm to realm, but they found us every time... My sister, Lezreal, she…”
Lazarus’s voice cracked, but he cleared his throat and went on.
“She used a blood-sealing spell. At the level she wove it, well, it took everything she had, everything she was; she literally entwined all of herself in the weave. It sealed the last realm we had fled to. She did it after I had put them in a blood sleep, trying to mask their spirits.”
Lazarus looked at Jackson.
“I lost everything that day. But there is hope to find them again and bring them back. That’s why I need you, and that’s why you need to survive, which is why you need to learn these weaves. Now, can we get back to it?”
The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.
It had cost Lazarus something to tell Jackson that. Jackson considered him, head cocked, and he scowled.
“What?” Lazarus said it sharply, crossing his arms.
Jackson shook his head.
“Thanks for telling me that, that’s all.” Lazarus shrugged.
“Show me your thanks by learning these weaves.”
Jackson nodded and stood up, dusting himself off.
“Okay then. Let’s get back to work.”
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Jackson's eyes narrowed in determination as a renewed vigor to master this surged through him. When the spirit had been talking, Jackson could see the ghost of the memories in his eyes. He was a vampyre, and that could have easily been him had he been native to this world. Anyone or anything that would enact such horrors when they did not have to deserved to be overthrown.
But that was something that needed to be tabled for now. Jackson needed to grow stronger. He remembered what Lazarus had said earlier, and this time Jackson started with a layer of blood, weaving from the top, down his body, and around. He kept the thread as close as he could to himself, and after he had done that, he intertwined it with destruction, weaving it outward until it covered the blood, then he tied off the weave at his head.
Lazarus clapped.
“Yes! There you go; you’ve finally done it!”
The Judge confirmed what he said:
You have learned the Blood Veil Weave (Apprentice Level 1). Using this weave turns you invisible; however, the low rank of this weave means it is not mana efficient, and the longer you keep it active, the more mana it will use.
Jackson nodded in satisfaction. He knew it would likely have a high maintenance cost, especially to maintain it, but it was simply awesome that he could do it at all. He released the weave and pumped a fist into the air, grinning.
“I did it! Ha! It’s time for the next one, Laz! Gimme!”
Lazarus chuckled. The spirit was leaning against the far wall.
“I think next we will try the destruction infusion; it’s actually the easiest, I think. Observe.”
When Lazarus showed Jackson a weave, he did not actually weave any aspects. He merely showed him what the thread should look like, doing so using some kind of spirit energy, though he was able to differentiate them with different colors. Red for blood and a dark violet for destruction. He wove it around his body, not unlike the blood veil, but he packed the threads of blood underneath the destruction threads, twisting each layer. The threads of destruction were then tied to it, causing the threads of blood to feed into the destruction threads. When it was done, it looked like an intricate, if convoluted, knot that pulsed around the entire body.
Jackson blinked and spun out threads of blood and destruction of his own, except of course his were actual mana aspect threads. He repeated what Lazarus had shown him, and with a shock, he got it right the first time.
You have learned the Destruction Infusion Weave (Apprentice Level 1). Using this weave infuses you with destructive power. It empowers your strikes, enhances your movement, and increases your strength. Maintaining this costs more mana the longer it is active.
Jackson grinned again, and Lazarus nodded in satisfaction.
“By my count,” he said, “you only have one more left to learn. Are you ready?”
Jackson gave him a thumbs up.
“Lay the next one on me, Laz.”
“Blood binding is a harder weave, but you have to reach out with it and extend it from yourself. You’ve so far kept your weaves fairly close to you, haven’t you?” Lazarus asked.
Jackson nodded slowly, wondering what he was driving at.
“Yes, I thought so. This might prove difficult, then. Partly because you have no target. Ehh, no matter, simply use me for visual reference.”
With that, Lazarus sent out tendrils of crimson spirit, which he used to represent blood weaves. As he did, it began to twist, simultaneously tying it as he went. It was fast, but the result was a rope
A rope of blood whipped out and tied itself around Jackson's leg.
“Huh, nice. Alright, I am going to try.”
Jackson started weaving as Lazarus had, but it quickly spun out of control. He got the knots wrong, and the speed he needed to weave at caused it all to simply grow too tangled. It fell apart. He growled, but before Lazarus could say anything, Jackson tried again and promptly failed.
“Why!” Jackson yelled, scowling. Lazarus held up a hand.
“If you allow yourself to get frustrated like that, you’ll keep failing. You’re an enchanter, right?”
Jackson glared at him.
“Yes, and what does that have to do with anything?” he snapped.
Lazarus chuckled.
“You really have quite the temper when you’re frustrated, my young fledgling. What is it that enchantments respond to?”
Jackson thought about it; the answer came quickly enough, and he said, a little grudgingly,
“It responds to imagination, to will.”
Lazarus nodded sagely.
“Indeed,” was all he said. That look came over his face again—the look that expected Jackson to put it together for himself. He had given Jackson the information needed, and now he expected him to come up with the answer. Annoyed but far from deterred, Jackson considered. Weaves responded to imagination, but wasn’t that just limited to enchanting? Why would it be? Jackson was making assumptions again. If weaves responded to imagination and will with enchanting, why would they not respond the same way with spells? There was no reason they shouldn’t. Up until now, he had tried to form the spells just by twisting the weaves to fit what he had been shown, and it had worked in a way, and Jackson figured that was because the weaves had responded to his intent, if not the ghost of the image he had in his head.
That wasn’t enough, though, for something like this. He needed a complete image and a clear will. Taking a deep breath, Jackson put thought into action, forming the picture in his mind, willing the weaves to respond while he wove them in the way Lazarus had shown. This time the crimson rope formed nearly as fast, if not faster, than Lazarus’s, whipping around the spirit's leg but, of course, tightening around nothing. Lazarus was not physical, after all.
Jackson saw the message he had been wanting to see.
You have learned the Blood Binding Weave (Apprentice Level 1)! This weave can bind one target, preventing them from moving or taking any action. Note that this weave takes mana to maintain and may fail on higher-ranked targets. Note: You have used five out of five of your weave slots. You can learn no more weaves at this rank.
Jackson smiled widely.
“That’s it! Haha! I think we are ready to move on now, wouldn’t you say, Laz?”
Lazarus gave him a subtle smile, his eyes twinkling with satisfaction. He showed Jackson the blood mist weave, which was a similar weave to the blood binding, in the sense that he had to cast it outward. It ended up being a kind of massive blanket, depending on the area he was trying to cover.
Congratulations! You have learned the Blood Mist Weave (Apprentice Level 1).
Jackson grinned and gave a thumbs up to Lazarus.
“Alright, that’s all of the weaves! I think it is time for us to head to the third floor.”