Syl: Chapter 304

Chapter 304: Weaving and Shaping

When Vee returned to the room and witnessed what had occurred, she had a minor freakout and refused to come back until I cleaned up the mess. It was a quick job on my part, although even Llewel seemed slightly disturbed by having his arm "taken care of."

"You're both crazy, I can't believe you actually went through with it!" Vee exclaimed.

"It was a valuable test," Llewel defended. "And if it failed, I could have returned to my previous state."

"Just because you can doesn't mean you should. I swear, am I the only sane person left in this damn world?"

"It's honestly not that out of the ordinary to train traits and skills with similar actions," Llewel replied. "Why else would the system also provide methods to diminish if not entirely ignore the pain incurred from such training methods?"

"The berserker I partied with would set himself on fire and worked in coordination with his healer so they'd both benefit from it," I also added.

Vee still wasn't having it, and remained firm in her declaration that we were all just crazy and that maybe the system was messing with our minds. Llewel even gave further examples of some healers paying people to take damage so that they could heal them and gain the experience, which just made Vee even more upset.

After the back-and-forth hijinks finally ended, we returned to the crux of the matter.

"This means you have a somewhat replenishing supply of regeneration elixirs," Llewel said, his tone deadly serious. "I'm not sure on the time or costs, but you could quite literally revolutionize the world with that ability."

"This just makes the slime dungeon even more desirable," Vee replied. "You could make such a potion a potential reward for defeating the final boss."

"Assuming Syl here can actually produce enough for that, the result would be quite extraordinary. I daresay nations would fight over the right to challenge your dungeon."

I'd better not mention that I can produce them quite easily, after all, they are just [Sub-Cores], and it actually might be a good way for me to train my [Core Collective] trait. But… if I avoid breaking the economy, then who knows what I could trade a pink slime core for. Maybe I'd finally get my tendrils on that gold slime core? Not to mention black and gray slimes.

I was pretty excited, although evidently not as much as Vee, as I could practically taste the greed she was radiating through our bond.

With our experiments concluded, we began wrapping up for the day. Although Llewel made a personal request for the good of the Feirelle branch to have a pink core replaced, now that he knew they were effective. The one I'd eaten was the one personally assigned to save Loreleia's life, and she'd given it to me to settle our agreement.

"Sure, but I'll need plenty of food and time to compensate for the loss," I replied.

Llewel eagerly agreed, as from their perspective, I was being extremely generous. Even Vee was quite surprised by how quickly I'd agreed to it, without trying to milk the elves for more.

I wouldn't say they're family or anything, despite having their name literally plastered on me, but I have enjoyed my time here. I wouldn't want anything bad to happen to them, and I might need all the allies I can get in the future. Never burn bridges!

The next few days were rather dull in comparison as our elven friends were preoccupied with creating the arrangements for their big plan. This left Vee and me with plenty of free time to do what we wanted, most of which I spent patrolling the hunting grounds for food and to test out some of my new slime capabilities.

I couldn't go all out in case there were any prying eyes, but I definitely had my fun trying out some new combinations against the unsuspecting monsters. In particular, [Nitro Slime] had seemingly infinite new applications thanks to all the new trigger conditions I could create, and Vee and I even tried coordinating some explosions with Mana-detecting bombs.

I also spent some time with [Dimension Magic] and transferring my knowledge over to Vee. We did most of that in her own [Rift Door] space so she'd have a much easier time. Although even with my help and the completed product as a guideline, she was struggling to entirely recreate the monstrosity that was [Displaced].

It might be worth waiting until she gains more levels in her skills. Or maybe even Riftmancer.

Llewel had also come through with his promise of food and delivered so much raw meat that I would have been in trouble if I had an actual stomach. I devoured it in no time, allowing me to generate an abundance of new slime mass and more than enough to sacrifice another [Sub-Core].

At the same time, Llewel also brought one of the zombies with the intent that I eat it. Most of them had lost their purpose, and the ones that were to be submitted as evidence were already separated and preserved, but by having me eat one, he could confirm the diet of pink slimes.

I was never one to pass up free food, so I obviously dissolved it in slime, and the result was highly satisfying! The zombie had given almost as much slime mass as I'd receive from an alive monster, which meant now I had even more potential sources of slime food.

Monster meat, plants, and now even the undead have become a vital source of fuel! I wonder if I should pay a visit to Simon for old times' sake.

Since we had the time, I decided to check off another item on my list and brought up the topic with Llewel, who still claimed to be "in my debt". I brought up [Mana Weaving], [Mana Shaping], [Mana Dominion], which I'd heard of previously from Juniper.

"I've heard of the first two, and was offered both. I can only assume the final one is a penultimate skill, or perhaps even a fusion skill."

"Please tell me that you can show them to me?"

"I can, although before I do, I should offer you some advice between the two," Llewel replied. Naturally, I nodded, eager to hear some more information about magic!

"[Mana Weaving] focuses on high complexity spells, and while this might sound immediately beneficial, the tradeoff is a lower maximum output and slower casting time. You will treat Mana like threads in a tapestry, which allows you to interlace streams, layers, or types of Mana together. You can make more intricate spells with this, and even potentially add conditioning. "

"[Mana Shaping] focuses on powerful spells, disregarding complexity for raw output and speed. You will treat Mana like clay or molten metal, which allows you to compress, mold, and harden it into stable structures or raw manifestations. Your spells will be more direct, with far greater maximum potential at the cost of losing some flexibility."

"Doesn't the first one just sound way better?" Vee asked, as she'd been curiously listening in.

"You'd think so, but no. With [Mana Shaping], you can almost brute-force an effect using just Mana and your willpower. Rather than perfectly construct a [Fireball], you can smash the fire Mana into something resembling it and with potentially far greater output."

"Oh? That actually sounds really good. No need to get all fancy," Vee said excitedly.

"That's not to say you can't ever get fancy, and of course, any spells you've learnt through the system will function normally. But you won't get any benefits in creating them," Llewel added.

"Honestly, it sounds perfect for me," Vee answered. "I don't like creating custom spells, I'm more than happy to let Syl do the hard work."

"That makes sense, it's a method primarily shown in monsters. Orc shamans, for example, almost exclusively use [Mana Shaping] to forcibly create their magical effects."

"[Mana Weaving] sounds great for me too," I finally said. "I have so many different affinities and often have trouble getting them to work together. It feels like pulling teeth."

"I'd imagine so. Although now with your [Basic Elemental Magic], that should no longer be the case?" Llewel asked.

"But what if I want to do something with my intermediate elements? Or dimension? Or corrosion?"

He nodded. "I understand. I took [Mana Weaving] myself to be able to create more complex patterns."

"Yeah, that's definitely not for me," Vee commented. "I'll take big, stupid, strong spells, thanks."

"I will point out that [Mana Weaving] can still produce big effects, but you will need to potentially thread more layers, which in turn lowers casting speed," Llewel said.

"I would have thought you'd like it from the weaving part," I said to Vee.

"Sure, and if I were going by name alone, I would have picked it. But I can't stand trying to keep all the spells in shape. I don't know how you tolerate it."

Well, I do have a lot of helpers.

"Right. It seems you two have made up your minds, I'll show the skills then," he said and displayed them in each hand.

<[Mana Weaving]
Allows Mana to be woven as if it were threads, enabling the creation of stable, multi-layered spell structures.
Grants the ability to combine multiple affinities, weave conditional effects, and maintain several active constructs at once.
Skill level determines the maximum number of threads, the intricacy of patterns, casting stability, and efficiency when layering Mana flows.
Unlocks further Mana-related Traits and skills.>

<[Mana Shaping]
Allows Mana to be molded as though it were clay, enabling the creation of dense magical constructs.
Permits the rapid forging of spells, although such temporary constructs are not system-recognized. Existing spells can also be pushed beyond normal limits through brute force at the cost of potential instability.
Skill level determines the maximum size and density of constructs, shaping speed, form stability, and the efficiency of high-output casting.
Unlocks further Mana-related Traits and skills.>

I whistled, very impressed with both. I even took a quick glance at my old skill for comparison.

<[Mana Manipulation]
Allows your raw Mana to operate outside of your body without dissipating.
Also allows greater control over Mana, which can aid in creating custom spells.
Skill level determines maximum manipulation, Mana efficiency, and the time before dissipating.
Unlocks further Mana-related Traits and skills.>

I hardly recognize it anymore, to be honest.

"Any changes in your decisions after reading them?" Llewel asked curiously.

"No, I think [Mana Weaving] definitely suits me," I replied.

"Same with [Mana Shaping]," Vee said. "And it has the added bonus of potentially upsetting Mother. That line of my forged spell stuff not being system-recognized definitely sealed the deal."

"Really?" I asked, staring at Vee expectantly.

"What can I say? I can be petty when the situation calls for it," she said teasingly.

Llewel did not agree and couldn't believe the open blasphemy against one of the gods that Vee would repeatedly exhibit. I could only imagine the verbal lashing she would receive during her next evolution.

To my surprise, upgrading to these new skills meant paying a cost depending on how far away you were from level ten. I'd only ever experienced that when upgrading from Lesser to Greater, so it certainly caught me off guard.

Thankfully, my [Mana Manipulation] was at level eight, so I only had to pay two points while poor Vee had to pay four! I wanted to vomit at such a waste of points and tried to encourage her to level it up to seven, but she refused and mentioned she'd only very recently gotten it to six.

"I got lots of points from all my class levels, it's not like I need them all," she replied.

"But… It's ten to uncap a skill!"

"And I got more than enough to uncap something if I ever even get a skill to ten," she replied and bought the upgrade immediately.

I sighed as I paid my two points.

<Spend 2 Skill Points to Tier Up [Mana Manipulation LV 8]?>

Go for it!

<[Mana Manipulation LV 8] becomes [Mana Weaving LV 1]. Skill Points Remaining: 12.>

"What? It costs two points if I want to advance it to the next level? What a rip-off!" Vee screeched.

"Vee! You were going to waste points on an upgrade?"

"Well, I'm certainly not now if it costs two whole points… I was just curious since I'd never had a skill 'tier up' before," she replied evasively.

I wasn't buying it and reminded her once again of the importance of saving your points for a rainy day. You never knew when you'd get a sudden big upgrade, or a thieving god would take them as compensation.