Vitmori POV

As Reyvyre made her way out, Dread and the others decided to go back down to the training room to talk, clearly needing some more time to plan before they made the trek back to the Theocracy.

Meanwhile, I followed Reyvyre instead of going directly to the workshop. I'd rather not ruin whatever surprise she's got lined up, and honestly, I'm pretty worried about the state she was in. She seemed cheerful enough; instead, she appeared outright ecstatic as she hurried down the steps. Taking a closer look at her, I'm surprised to see that her mana is nearly totally exhausted; while her mana heart still pulsed steadily, the four rings swirling around her heart are thin and faint. From what I know of magic, if she is able to sustain most of her bodily needs through mana alone, then there's no surprise that she looks worn out as badly as she does now. 'What have you been up to? No wonder you look terrible; your mana is nearly depleted.'

Reyvyre just smiled to herself as she continued her descent. "I just wanted to make myself useful, and I may have gotten carried away. No worries though, I'll get something to eat soon and sleep later, and I'll be fine soon enough." She mused as she gave a dismissive wave of her hand. "Besides, you'll see soon enough. Though I am grateful you're accompanying me, it's nice to know that you haven't gone ahead and looked at my work before I could show it to you myself." She mentioned as she cast a glance in my general direction.

Before long, we were approaching the spitter wolf den when we came across Historietta; she was harassing/doting on one of the wolves standing guard at the mouth of the cave, though if the wolf's tail was anything to go by, it didn't seem to mind. I went ahead and conjured myself a green ball of light, just so Historietta knew I was around, having it hover around Reyvyre's shoulder on our approach. Historietta happened to glance our way, a smile on her face at first before a look of worry made its way over her expression as she looked over Reyvyre. "Whoa, you look wiped out. Are you alright?" She asked before glancing at something and frowning a little more." You exhausted your mana, didn't you? You're also entirely sleep deprived, aren't you?" She stated knowingly before glancing over at my ball of light. "Don't you have labor laws in your world? Why are you overworking her?" She asked accusingly, she clearly cared for Reyvyre, and I suppose it would make sense since she's likely known her longer than I have.

Before I was able to make my case, Reyvyre spoke up with a smile as she held up her hands in a placating manner. "It's okay, your majesty; I lost track of time with a project I took on without Vitmori's approval. I promise it's not his fault."

Historietta appeared to be satisfied, but she still looked concerned for Reyvyre as I pitched in. 'She's got something to show me, but she promised that she would eat and sleep once she was done.'

With that, she appeared to relent for now as she returned to casually fondling one of the spitter wolf's fluffy ears before looking over at me. "I see; well, if you don't mind, might I join you? I wanted to check out those journals one more time before I had to go back home. If that's okay." She asked, seemingly embarrassed about her little outburst a moment ago.

I didn't see anything wrong with that, and I was just as worried about Reyvyre when I saw her, so I could see where she was coming from. 'Sure, I don't mind if you come along, and feel free to look at the journals; it's not like I can do anything with them.'

With that, Historietta appeared to relax visibly and smiled as she bobbed her head once. "Thanks, Vitmori." She then looked over at Reyvyre and smiled a little more. "Lead the way."

With that matter settled, the two made their way inside the den. Legosi didn't seem to be among the wolves, but the she-wolf that appeared to be in charge of the affairs within the den watched the duo as they crossed, her eyes not leaving them until after they made their way out of the den and out of sight. Soon enough, they made their way into the workshop, and the first thing I spotted was the wooden soldier from before, only it looked nothing like it did before. Reyvyre stood beside the workstation as she gestured to the wooden figure and flashed a grin. "Tah-dah! I rebuilt that wooden soldier. Honestly, I ended up just taking the whole thing apart, but I made sure to reuse the wood; it was such high quality, that it would've been a waste not to." She explained as she looked over her work.

It looked almost lifelike, and the face... I recognize the face... That's my face! 'This is me? Isn't it? How did you know what my face looked like, let alone the rest of my body?' I couldn't help but ask, though looking at it again, I realized why it took me a moment to recognize my own face. It was of a younger me, possibly in my late thirties, instead of the fifty-year-old mug that I had originally gotten used to. Hell, it looks like she even got my musculature right, and if I'm not wrong, I can see the imitation of a number of scars from old gunshot wounds and knife wounds, among other things. At least she had the decency to wrap a length of cloth around my waist, though before I could worry too much, I took a peek at my younger copy and saw that she had decided to not be as detailed down there as she had been with the rest of my body.

"Dude, you were jacked as an old man, weren't you?" Historietta said with a mix of amusement and awe as she looked over my younger copy. "I mean, I kinda had my doubts, but between all your titles and your build, I can easily see you as the badass Reyvyre told me about." She mused as she poked at my wooden abs, looking at one of the scars that trailed along them.

My already piqued curiosity ended up growing even more curious as I watched Reyvyre intently; she suddenly appeared rather bashful, her cheeks and the tips of her ears becoming noticeably red as she brought her hands to her face to hide her expression and failed terribly while doing so. "Uhh... Ahem... Well... As a mage, and with my particular fields of study and knowledge, I am able to dreamwalk and review my dreams or others from an outsider's perspective... You may have unintentionally shared many, many memories with me over these last several weeks, and I may have thoroughly explored them while I slept." Her ears very slightly flick as she becomes even more red before clearing her throat. "I etched an illusion spell into the primary gem to have your avatar appear as lifelike as possible once you take control of it. To help with accuracy, I reviewed many of the memories I had already seen to figure out the details of your physical form." She then swallowed, her embarrassment becoming even more pronounced somehow. "Before, I made sure to pass by these memories quickly to respect your privacy; however, for the sake of detail, I had to refer to many memories while you bathed and occasionally skinny-dipped with your beloved. You never revealed as much skin that I needed to refer to in any other circumstance, especially during your physical peak." She huffed and shook her head, glancing over at Historietta, who looked endlessly amused, showing off the biggest smirk she could manage.

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I'm not sure how I feel about this, I'm flattered that she put in that much effort, but now, I can't help but see her as a peeping tom and voyeur after she mentioned which memories she ended up referring to, to accomplish these goals. 'I see... Well, tell me how you made this, I'm not seeing any knife marks on the wood, nor do I see any wood shavings or any dust from sanding the wood down anywhere around here.'

Reyvyre cleared her throat, appearing rather eager to accept the change in the topic as she looked over to my orb of light. "You're absolutely right, I actually didn't carve any of the wood at all. I used a technique that's similar to the method we elves use to build the sentinels that guard our Grand Archives. Normally, this process would take the average artificer several days to charge the wood with enough mana to weave it like threads, let alone actually shape and weave the wood into a humanoid form. But this wood has been soaked in mana for several centuries at least, making it extremely malleable, not to mention that I have a magic ability that's way beyond the average artificer." She explained with a grin, having since calmed down from earlier and feeling rather proud. "When you take control of this avatar, you should be able to use five of your six senses with ease." She mentioned as she patted my younger copy's shoulder.

'Wait, you said five out of six senses? Aren't there only five senses?' I asked, half wondering if I misheard what she had said.

Reyvyre seems to look perplexed by my question, but it seems even Historietta was confused at the mention of six senses. "Yes, your six senses, sight, hearing, touch, taste, smell, and mana. Any mage worth their salt is able to sense the flow of mana, though it takes a truly skilled mage to determine the differences and details in mana beyond sensing where it is."

'Ah, I see... So I'm assuming tasting is out of the question?' I ask, looking myself over once again. It was a bit of an eerie feeling to stare at the lifeless face of my younger self, though I can confidently say that Reyvyre managed to keep my looks well beyond the uncanny valley.

Reyvyre seemed to look somewhat regretful once I asked as she sighed softly. "I'm afraid so, Vitmori. The sense of smell was by far the trickiest sense I had to recreate for something that is not of flesh and blood, but taste is beyond my capabilities with a wooden figure." She explained as she shook her head.

'It's fine; I was just curious. I suppose I wouldn't even need to eat, considering that my body will be made entirely of wood.' I consider, by all accounts, this is outstanding work, my only complaints being that my privacy had to be violated for such a thing to be accomplished, but oh well.

"What sort of gem or crystal did you write the enchantments on? A diamond?" Historietta asked, looking over my younger copy with a more studious gaze than a naughty one. It seems she was admiring the craftsmanship rather than my musculature, as far as I can tell.

Reyvyre was quick to respond, looking pleased that the question was asked. "I used a chunk of Lictdren's core as the vessel of the enchantments." She mentioned before looking to my ball of light. "And don't worry, Vitmori, historically, fragments of shattered core have been proven to be the highest grade of materials, able to handle the most enchantments while also conducting mana the easiest. In previous cases of its use, there have been no signs of the beings in the core ever re-emerging within the tools and pieces of equipment they were used for." She quickly explained.

That feels... Rather morbid... Especially since I see my own core as myself, my very being; then again, I've been making diamonds out of people, so fair enough. 'Well, alright then... Now, how do I go about controlling this thing?'

Reyvyre paused momentarily as she tilted her head side to side before shrugging a bit. "I'm afraid I don't know the specifics for such a ritual. It's not like I've ever helped a dungeon core inhabit a physical body before." She retorted, sarcasm dripping from her exhausted-sounding voice. "Though, like with most magic, I'm sure if you project your will and intent, you'll be able to connect to this avatar with relative ease." She explained, being more helpful after amusing herself for a moment.

A ritual, eh? So, I just need to speak words of intent, and something should happen. Hm... I go ahead and send my orb of light to enter my younger copy's chest for dramatic effect. Though afterwards, I reached out with my mana and began swirling it around the wood until I found the 'vessel' as Reyvyre put it. 'Vessel, painstakingly created for me, join with me and become my extension; allow me to traverse this world with your aid.' Once I finish, I feel another measure of mana pouring into the vessel until it ignites like a mana heart. More and more mana continues to flow as rings develop around the artificial mana heart. The flow slowed to a stop after a stable three rings formed, and as I studied the vessel, I could see the faintest of threads leading up to where my core was at the top of the mountain.

I can feel the connection, and it wasn't anything like when I formed bonds with any of my people or beasts. It's like it's right there, just out of reach. I focus a little harder and reach out as if to share senses as I've done with my beasts. Suddenly it's like the room has shifted, and instead of the face of my younger copy, I'm looking at the ceiling. "I... Did I do it?" I speak out, and suddenly my own voice reaches my ears as I can hear Historietta shift away with what I can assume is surprise. I go to sit up, having to actually think about how to move for a little bit as I push myself up to a sitting position with relative ease. Turning my head and shifting my eyes side to side, all the sensations feel new and strange, though I suppose this is a brand new body that has never done any of this before. I look between Historietta and Reyvyre before flashing a grin. "So, how do I look?" I couldn't help but ask as I brought my hand up, noticing how it now appeared flesh tone, my flesh tone, a sun-kissed brown, with the added details of hairs along the back of my hand and fingers, as well as the faded scar of a burn between my ring finger and pinkie knuckles.

"Well... You're hairier than I imagined, but I suppose manscaping isn't that important in the apocalypse." Historietta mused teasingly as she flashed a grin.

Reyvyre seemed to look closer at me, grabbing my wrist and making me turn it around, individually wiggling my fingers before smiling as she gazed into my eyes. "I daresay this is my finest work. Well Vitmori, welcome to being among those with bodies." She mused before yawning. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I should go eat before I pass out." She mentioned as she turned to walk off, clearly done with the day.

Historietta smiled as she watched Reyvyre leave before meeting my gaze. "I suppose you ought to get some clothes arranged, but hey, this means you'll be able to personally attend the Peace Banquet. Shame you won't be able to eat the food though." She mused as she sighed with exaggerated disappointment. "What are you planning to do first with your newfound body?"

I had to think on that for a moment, though a smile grew on my face as I moved to stand, pushing off the workbench. I stumbled a little at first, having pushed off harder than I needed to since I was both stronger than I remembered and not as heavy as I was before; though I got my balance soon enough. Now steadied on my two new feet, I flash a grin over at Historietta. "I think I'll go for a walk, maybe touch some grass." I muse cheerfully as I walk out of the workshop, one foot after the other.