Vorn fiddled with the same spell matrix for what felt like the thousandth time. He was trying to accomplish something he thought would be relatively simple, but as it turns out, going from basic elemental manipulation to a full-on privacy screen had a bit of a difficulty spike.

Still, it wasn’t as if he was pressed for time, they had already been on the road for three days, and they still had another week and a half before they reached the dungeon. The advanced guild members, all A-Zero or higher, had been teleported to the dungeon to set up a Forward Operating Base and do some preliminary searching. At this point, the group of Academy students had been missing for over eighty hours inside of a highly unpredictable and extremely dangerous dungeon, but they were each Classed mages and nobility to boot, so there was a chance they were still alive.

That was all secondary to Vorn, though, who was using this large windfall of free time, where he was taking the helm of their body, to experiment with his spellcraft. It wasn’t going… Great. At first, he was blazing through spells, just transferring his formally sorcery-powered elemental manipulation into, metaphorically, cold and efficient spells. However, once he was done with that, he had to get creative. His group has its fair share of secrets, so Vorn figured that a privacy screen would be perfect.

That… Had perhaps been a tad ambitious. One way of completing it would have been just to make a bubble of wind that spun fast enough that it drowned out all surrounding noise, but that was a little too conspicuous for a spell that was meant to keep people from listening in on them. It would, obviously, be better for the spell to not draw any attention at all.

One of the primary downsides of [Discovery], which felt almost like a superpower the way it neatly pointed him in the direction he needed to take to reach said discovery, was that it relied on his underlying knowledge. It wasn’t a supernatural power that drew knowledge from the Shard itself, it was just a compass that his mind could take around needless detours. For someone as prone to getting distracted as Vorn, especially in matters of magic, it was a godsend.

The fact that it scaled with his, frankly completely fucking insane, magic stats was just more icing on the cake. He could make freakishly strange leaps in logic based on his extremely varied consumption of arcane texts. When turning [River of Fire] into a codified spell, he was able to take his knowledge of heat and space to make a completely different defensive spell based on the same spell matrix, [Vacuum Ward]. It essentially inverted the river of fire spell, drawing and expelling all matter and energy from a small area in front of him and redirecting it behind him. This simultaneously made a vacuum, blocking most, but not all, fire-based attacks, while also keeping itself relatively efficient by just redirecting the energy instead of 'destroying' it. Rowan gave him a strange look when he mentioned destroying matter, so he figured there must be something he was missing, but he wouldn't ask for fear of sabotaging his progress. Fresh discoveries were worth more to his Path, after all.

He had considered using a modified [Vacuum Ward] for the privacy shield, but… It drew all matter away, including the atmosphere, meaning that they, even ensconced in a bubble of air, would eventually run out of oxygen, and it would give anyone who ventured near them a hell of a scare as they suddenly ventured into an area that they couldn’t breathe and where the surface of their eyes started boiling. Not exactly friendly to the public. Hell, even having access to the spell wouldn't do him any favors when it came to public perception. The only reason they knew about vacuums in the first place was because of a... Rather destructive accidental discovery. The bloated corpses apparently disturbed even the very experienced morticians that were asked to handle them.

Even ignoring public perception, the moment either spell ended, the near-deafening crack of the returning atmosphere was something that couldn’t be avoided, not until Vorn was a much better mage. Not exactly a point for subtlety.

Suffice it to say, he would need a few more days… Or, he could just ask Rowan for a few ideas. He generally tried to avoid ‘cheating’, as that would slow the progression of his Path, but Vorn was getting nowhere fast, and he didn’t want to waste the few blessedly quiet weeks he had to experiment.

“A spell to block all sound from escaping? You want to use this for a privacy shield right? So why bother with blocking sound at all? Just scramble all the noise that escapes the shield. The whole idea is using it in public, so it should just blend in with the background noise. We use a similar concept for electronics in my world called ‘encryption’. It’s different and more complicated, but the basic idea is, ‘who cares if they have the information if it’s completely indecipherable?’” Rowan explained.

“Wel- Tha- Yeah, that’s a pretty good idea.” Vorn sighed.

“You seem disappointed.” Rowan deadpanned.

“I just… It’s practical, smart, efficient, overall, the idea is literally perfect for a spell called: Privacy Shield.”

“But?”

“But… I don’t know, it feels like giving up. It’s probably objectively better for it to let out some noise, that’s definitely less noticeable than a complete vacuum of noise, but it’s just not what I envisioned.”

“So? Just do both, then. Nothing’s stopping you.”

“But one is objectively better than the other. It would be a waste of time.”

“Now I know something must be wrong. You saying learning a spell is a waste of time? I would sooner believe the sky is purple.”

“It’s just... I don’t get many opportunities to prepare before we face our almost certain deaths, and I don’t want to waste any time. I’ve already wasted a whole day on this privacy spell that I only planned to work on for an hour or two. What if in the time I'm wasting now I could have made a spell that would have saved our lives? Every second counts, right?” Vorn vented, his born-in anxiety rearing its head for the first time in weeks.

“That’s a completely reasonable fear, and one that I cannot claim is baseless. However, I’d like to ask you why we are exploring dungeons? For me, it’s simple. I like fighting. I like the thrill and adrenaline that washes over me, the absolute clarity I feel when given a simple and satisfying purpose. For Ark and Rexen, well, I don’t claim to understand them perfectly, but it doesn’t seem especially complicated. They need moral targets to experiment on, and the money doesn’t hurt either. For you, though, it’s different, isn’t it?”

“I told you about that conversation I had with Ark when you were checked out in the aftermath of the Last Stand title, right?” At Rowan’s affirmative grunt, Vorn continued, “Well, I didn’t go into detail of what we discussed. I want to do something with my life. I want to be important, a Pioneer of magical exploration. It’s a little childish, I know, but clearing dungeons with you helps me along that path. What better to research strange and outlandish arcane phenomena and magical beasts than a dungeon? Besides, it’s not like I can separate myself from you.” Vorn said, his inner voice rising with passion before being cut off with pragmatism at the end.

“Well then, you have your answer. I already told you when you first gained your class that you don’t have to fight if you don’t want to, but you seemed to have dismissed that idea out of hand. You are, at your core, a researcher. One with a versatile and extremely dangerous set of magical tools, but a researcher nonetheless. Any combat benefit you give us is purely a bonus, so don’t get so hung up on being the perfect combatant. It would make the fights too easy anyway. Honestly, I would recommend you working on contingency and emergency spells instead of combat ones in your free time.”

“I don't know, just telling myself to stop worrying about risking all of our lives doesn't sit right... But I guess I can give myself a little slack. I don't have to so laser focused on exploding monsters. I wouldn't want to ruin your fights! Besides that, what do you mean by ‘Emergency spells’?” Vorn asked with poorly disguised interest.

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“I don’t exactly know. Something like pulling water out of the air or making food. Things to help our survivability if we are ever in a tight spot. An air bubble would be another example, in case we’re ever stuck underwater. Teleportation exfiltration? Shields, too. Oh, and insulated shelter too. Maybe-”

“Wow, normally when I ask for spell ideas it’s just different variations of ‘turn that guy inside out’. I didn’t realize you were so into survivalist stuff.”

“It’s less a hobby and more a requirement of the job. Really, focus on making that air bubble. Being stuck in a flooding underwater cave is not somewhere you want to be.” Vorn could almost swear he could feel Rowan shuddering in their soulspace.

— — —

Another week had passed, and in that time, Vorn finally finished what he was now calling his [Absolute Silence] spell. He stuck with the idea of using a vacuum to create an unbreakable barrier of quiet. Sound is just vibration, so with nothing to vibrate, how could it travel? The trouble came from the previously discussed issue of having an unshielded vacuum in an atmosphere that was very much full of stuff that hated being pushed away. The sheer cost of keeping a static unshielded vacuum up for more than a few seconds would leave him completely drained. The atmosphere weighed several thousand tons, and it did not like being refused.

However, this issue was ultimately resolved fairly easily. The whole issue was caused by one main word. ‘Unshielded’. Well, really it was two words, and they were ‘atmospheric pressure’, but that’s neither here nor there. The point was that locking the vacuum in a clear but very solid shield of solid conjured air would keep the angry atmosphere from crashing down and deafening everyone around them. All he had to do was create a pressure release valve, and viola, problem solved.

The 'air shield' was actually the thing that netted him the most progress, as it was essentially an extremely light, cheap, and insulating magical material that he could already envision a myriad of uses for.

Most of those uses had to be sacrificed in exchange for increased structural integrity, as the base version he had come up with didn’t hold up to pressure that well. That was what took up most of the time, honestly. Improving the extremely light material to resist atmospheric pressure took some doing. All that said, it was still a nearly fantastical discovery. Later, after summoning a pure chunk of the blue, extremely light material, Rowan commented it was extremely similar to a material called ‘aerogel’ from his world. Vorn was extremely thankful that he hadn’t known about that before making it himself.

The altered stuff he made for his privacy shield was much darker blue on account of being reinforced with solid mana and also didn’t insulate nearly as well. The mana saturated most of the trapped gasses in the extremely porous material making it supercharged with the air affinity. Air affinity materials were notoriously hard to work with, as they all, in their own way, embodied freedom. That didn’t exactly play well with being forged or crafted into something. The only reason it worked with the privacy shield was because Vorn was actively saturating his will into the material the entire time. The moment he stopped, the trapped air would explode out of the, what he was calling, mana-gel.

As for being separated from all breathable air by a shielded wall of pure nothingness... Well, as it turns out, Rowan knew the chemical formula for oxygen and even if he didn't, Vorn had access to literally all sorcery, if given enough time. Sure it was inefficient, but he could just summon breathable air. It wasn't even all that expensive if you weren't trying to cut someone in half with it.

All that aside, Vorn was extremely pleased for another reason… His path apparently loved him finding a potent new magical material. Hell, he technically found two. Vorn called it magical because apparently it was much easier to make with magic, and he doubted anyone could manufacture it mechanically in this world, or at the very least, not in the Cradle. For all intents and purposes, it was a magical material. The best part was, because it mainly used real air and only used mana for the framework, it would last much longer than most magical materials.

That only increased his reward, he figured.

Voran, Level 34 Twin Soul Spellblade

Age: 16 | Class 1: [Twin Soul: Body Path] | Class 2: [Twin Soul: Mind Path]

Path Progress | Class 1: [IIIII-----] 50% | Class 2: [IIIIIIIIII] 467% EXCESS PROGRESS

Recent Addition: Progress Meter! Thank you for using the Shard Interface Editing Feature that came with your Awakening! Is this to your satisfaction? Y / N

CON: 510

STR: 510

AGI: 510

DEX: 510

INT: 1020

WIS: 1020

CHR: 122

LUK: 122

[Titles: 1 New Title]

[Perks:]

[Skills: Don’t you think you’re avoiding one?]

Status: Hydrated, Excited, Astounded

Seven levels! And Vorn still had enough for four more! Just how significant was this stuff? And a new title to boot?

New Title: Postmortal Cognition

In accruing over a thousand INT and WIS Attribute points, you have long abandoned the mortal limits of human or human-like cognition. For doing this before reaching the First Major Threshold, the Shard has awarded you minor assistance in shedding your limited mortal thinking. These perks are temporary guiding lights and just one template you can model your mind after. Think carefully, you have no excuse for a lack of Intelligence.

+Threads of Thought

+Enhanced Thought Speed

Error! User is not eligible for Perk: ‘Threads of Thought’

Assessing…

…

…

Cause of error: Unique Constitution

‘Threads of Thought’ dissonant with shared soul: Rowan

Evaluating…

…

…

…

Potential Solution: Edit ‘Avatar’ Skill

Error: User does not understand Skill enough to give informed consent to edit!

Ascension Shard Guide: The ‘Avatar’ Skill functions by projecting a gestalt entity of soul and mental energy that can function independently of the main body. It is limited in only being able to observe the world around it and has next to no ability to interact with anything other than spirits or other mental energy constructs. If the Avatar is damaged, the User will receive a small amount of damage to their soul. Alert: All soul damage is True Damage. True Damage penetrates all armor, spiritual, and mental defenses.

Explanation complete!

Do you consent to the alteration of your Skill: ‘Avatar’?

Y / N

If he was being honest with himself, Vorn regretted taking the skill in the first place. Sure, it was legendary, but an hour with the skill told him how useful it was. He had tried to find a use for it while Rowan was in his 'retreat' with Falnier, but fuck that shit. Sure, it would be great for scouting… If Vorn weren’t literally putting his soul at risk. You know, his eternal link to the cycle of life and death? Yeah, Vorn wasn’t especially risk averse, and even less so with magic, but that wasn’t something he just wasn’t willing to fuck around with. He didn’t know that the damage would be small, but even if he had, the thought of some necromancer or ancient lich grabbing a hold of a fragment of his soul? Terrifying.

Really, the Shard was doing him a favor. A suspiciously huge favor.

“Yes.”

Commencing alteration:

Reducing spiritual component…

…

Successful!

Enhancing Flow of Mental Energy…

…

…

Successful!

Incorporating ‘Threads of Thought’ into Skill

…

…

…

Failure!

Downgrading ‘Threads of Thought’ into ‘Split Mind’

…

…

…

…

Downgrade Successful!

Incorporating ‘Split Mind’ into Skill

…

…

…

Successful!

New Skill Created!

Mind Puppet (Unique)

Create a puppet made of mental energy that has an exact copy of your mind. A thin thread of Spiritual energy will connect you to the puppet, and severing this thread will result in the destruction of the puppet and all knowledge it contains. To avoid losing this knowledge, it is recommended to reabsorb it every 24 to 72 hours. Having a puppet activated reduces your INT and WIS by 30%, and reabsorbing it gives a bonus of 20% INT and WIS for twelve hours. Distance, Toughness, and Number of Puppets scales with INT. Judgement and Endurance scales with WIS.

Status:

Vorn’s Mind Puppet, Level 34

Age: N/A | Class: [Puppet]

CON: N/A

STR: N/A

AGI: N/A

DEX: N/A

INT: 306

WIS: 306

CHR: N/A

LUK: N/A

Status: Not Yet Conscious

As this Skill incorporates the devolved version of the temporary Skill: ‘Threads of Thought’, it will be revoked should you not model a new Postmortal Mind for yourself by the Second Minor Threshold.

Reminder:

Major Thresholds are 100, 300, 500, and 1000, and function as barriers that must be overcome before you can evolve. Monsters have additional Major Thresholds at 50, 200, 400, 600, and 800.

Minor Thresholds are in between the major ones and serve as turning points allowing you to reset your Path, and reset all Shard-given Skills and Perks with it. Once abandoned, a Path cannot be retreaded. The Minor Thresholds are 50, 150, 250, 350, 450, and 950.

We are sorry for the inconvenience, Unique Being. May your journey of Ascension be Legendary.

“So… Did you see that too?” Vorn asked.

“Yes. I thought we were done with the errors after the first day. Though, knowing us, I guess it isn’t shocking that another Shard aneurysm occurred. How often do you think it even encounters errors?” Rowan posited.

“Surely it must happen fairly often. I mean, yeah, we’re a Unique Being, but we’ve already run into two in as many months.” Vorn said, hoping that may even be true.

Somehow, though no words were exchanged, Vorn could feel Rowan raise an eyebrow in their soulspace.

“Okay, so maybe it’s literally unheard of on this planet, but there are literally infinite planets. On a cosmic scale, it has to be pretty common.”

Rowan didn’t say a word, content to let Vorn dig himself deeper.

“Yeah, I guess bringing up cosmic probability most likely hurts my point.” He said with a sigh.