I never had thought they would have Bombs. The worst part is, I lost a chance to have a Magic user. She was right THERE! And now she is way out of my place to find.
At least I have new Information. It took me a few days to get into his brain but it was worth it.
The Continent I am on is called Litrak. They came from the East where the Magistrate of Telk has its land, and moved the rather dangerous route between the Mountains, which have a Fungal problem and the Forest where people vanish if they go too far in, possibly by Root arrows to the skull and growing into a tree.
Their direct neighbor is the Republic of Ilstin. Not quite what I would call a Republic, but is similar enough to be called as one by me. They are rather Merchant oriented, as those have the most power. As for why I don't think of them as a Republic, the people vote with their wallet. If they do not like the merchant in their area, they just buy from another and they lose not only commerce but also power in the Republic, as that is the rather strange way to measure power in their lands.
Right at the bottom of the South is the Kingdom of Ulk. They have the most basic Noble ordered Kingdom and are totally human. Other races are mostly slaves. Even Elves and Dwarfs are only lower class creatures and worthy of enslavement.
The West is a rather problematic thing. There are the grasslands directly next to the Kingdom, but hard to tell who is owning them, as there are more Tribes of Beastmen, derogatorily called Ferrals. They live and move in those large fields and love to fight. Elves are there too, but they are treated special and given the treatment of non aggression, as they often tend to the ailing lands.
Then there is the Empire. It is rather behind the grasslands, but border right at the Mountains of the Dead. It is rumored the Empire is at fault for the Mountains deadliness, but no one knows really what the real reason is, at least Clarke didn’t.
Why are they called the Dead Mountains? Too many rumors to count. The most came from strange illnesses turning skin and flesh black and swelling, teeth and hair falling out, others died drowning just laying in their beds with fever. Most just never came back.
If I could guess, that sounds like kind of radiation poisoning, and if this is true, the Empire has nuclear capabilities. Not good.
…
The new knowledge opens my view wider. There are many political powers fighting openly and covert for many generations and those fights are always for either territory, power, resources or simply hurt feelings. Although outright wars are not directly involved right now, the whole area is sitting right on a powder keg and just waiting to explode. The reason is the Dark Forest. The Monsters are strong and their resources even more valuable than somewhere else.
The deepest parts of the woods are uncharted and most only hunt the surroundings or go inside the shallows. No one goes deeper than around ten kilometers as this means vanishing. Taking away trees is also dangerous, as it often sends a monster wave to the logging place. The risk and rewards are rather skewed, but every Country still buys about one tree of magical wood each year, but holds on to no more than that as the retaliation of the dark Forest gets way fiercer, with more plundered resources.
It should be the Roots, that incentivize the reaction, as they are commanding the plants and by proxy the Monsters living inside. Just let the food source for some monsters dwindle or make them wander somewhere else and the whole ecosystem starts moving in predicted ways. Red never had seen such an event, but knows of the mechanics, without the full understanding of it.
…
Clarke was a fully human. His body is way better to blend in than Red. No offense to Red, but Roots are not seen in the Cities. So I am able to get more Information with him, when I go to Cities. Modifications are already on the way, as I changed the structure of his facial bones. His skin color became whiter and his Hair changed to a rather off white. Well he is no albino, but it might be seen as special inside Telk.
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My next goal will be able to go into the hunting towns inside the Magistrate, but not right now, as I have the hulking Backpack of the guy called Burk to unpack. So many interesting things to find.
…
Two sets of rather camouflaged tents, heating rocks, runic pot to heat water and food, spare clothes and some reserve cloaks with perception inhibition(that does not work on me), some magical light and a spacial pouch with different kind of ingredients. There are facial masks against spores, dried meat and some potions. Another healing kit with different salves and bandages for non life threatening injuries and then there is a pair of magical gloves, obviously for protection, when someone harvests some new plants or materials.
Until now there is all the miscellaneous stuff known to be inside. Then there is the hidden pouch of Burk. High antivenom, life potion, two additional bombs and some empty places. He must have grabbed the rest of the stuff, when he took the bomb. Luckily not the whole thing, so I have things to use for myself.
To look into the magical pouch I use my Presence, and find the inside rather weird. The restriction of ‘no living beings inside’ is not there, as then a Hand would also not go inside, and it does. The whole Magic is duplicating the space multiple times and holding it over the same place. Like overlapping two spirits but with space and holding it in place. A jewel on the cord lowers the weight, and that is it. It sounds simple, but I have to understand the runic system, they use to make the whole thing work. This will be a great start in a new aspect of discoveries. I should be able to create some own ways to use it. With only using miasmic intent I have a rather limited abilities, but with runes giving it more direct meaning I could make it permanent without me being present.
The next item is the rather dangerous bomb. Two are still there, and they have a rather frightening power. They explode, made a sphere of inertia and captured any shrapnel before it hit anybody. This is even for Clarke a rather expensive explosive.
By spinning the two halves a rune gets broken, that holds the whole sphere stable. All contained Mana gets agitated and runs wild in the runic circles. In that unstable state another impact like hitting the floor or my former gate is just the last straw and all the Magic escapes the confines with intent.
The curious thing is, there is another finer inscription and another Monster core for Energy inside. This must be the inertia bubble, that stops everything in a specific radius, making the inside of the bubble even more volatile as it contains also the explosion like a pot put over a firecracker.
The sources are monster cores. Rather expensive for one time use, as monster cores are precious alchemic materials in Telk. Not every core can be used and needs to have the right element, so it has to even be more specific to create those things. I bet one of them could be sold for at least five to eight small gold coins if not even a Large. This is enough to buy a House or a few Slaves.
The runes are rather readable and should help me finding the connections between them better. Disassembling them although will be too dangerous. I keep them complete until I understand every single Rune inside.
…
The runic alphabet is an extreme puzzle. It makes no rhyme or reason. Every Rune is separate but works differently with runes around them. It is like someone created this system as a practical joke. There are redundant runes which do nothing particular but are not random at all, while the runes themselves are so convolute, they do different things at different places.
My favorite is the “start” rune of most runic circles. They siphon Mana from the monster core and let it in the circle. The rune that gets the flow after the siphon first is the sixth rune unless there is this specific rune between siphon and the sixth, then it is the seventh, but if there is another of this redundant runes, then it becomes the third, as the seventh just is a pass through right back to the third without doing anything.
What in the Void is this chaotic system, and who do I need to punch in the face to thank him for that?
The worst thing is, the Bomb itself has another kind of Rune, that holds the rings stable, and this one is a completely different system, as it is 3d and looks way more organic with round edges instead of the sharp, close to Celtic style of the most used rings. This different Rune looks like it is from a different civilization. So I can hope to find different ways to use runic scriptures in the future.
Reverse engineering will need much time. I question if this is some kind of copy protection or if Sentients really can read those things normally.
…
Five days passed way too fast. My main focus was on taking over Clarke, resuming my Garden projects and understanding the strange new Items I got. Instead I should have rebuild my Gate. I expect a new expedition from the Magistrate in about one or tops two Months with Mink as the leader, so it was not in my priority to repair it too fast, just creating a bridge over the Pitfall and stabilizing the walls near the hole where the Gate was.
This was a rather poor decision from me, as I have visitors. Not from Telk this time, but from the forest, as they are Roots. Just how do I suddenly catch so many peoples eyes, is something I have to think about. Right now I have seven elves right here, and am out of traps.