CC 10: Thesaurize ~ Twenty-Six!

Time until mana is available to you once more: 20:32:52.

Skill increase(s):

Mass Resurrection Aura (Apprentice VI).

Artisan Body (Apprentice II)

Battle Meditation (Student VII)

Hidden Sense (Student III)

Magical Synesthesia (Beginner IX)

Congratulations! Through the use of three skills that have a similar effect though a different method of achieving the same goal, you have found that these skills have supreme resonance:

Essence Cycle

Hidden Sense

Magical Synesthesia

Would you like to combine these skills in the Soul Forge? Note: You will need to unbind Essence Cycle from your ritual orb first. Yes / No.

This was far too much information for Joe to process right as he woke up, so he dismissed everything and automatically selected ‘no’ on the combination. Even in his bleary, sick-feeling state, he remembered the warning that Queen Marie had given him when he’d first earned the sensory magic. He smacked his lips and pulled a face as he went over the words she had said, “I'm not supposed to combine that under any circumstances. Also, bleh… why does everything taste terrible?”

His hands were sticky, so Joe clenched and unclenched them a few times before pulling them up to see what was on him. His eyes focused on the crimson ice that was stuck there; realizing in that moment what it meant to be without his spells for a whole day. Joe was covered in blood, he didn't even own a toothbrush at this point, and everything was incredibly dusty.

That last realization made him perk up, and he looked around to see that he was inside of the building that they’d been attempting to crack. Joe pulled himself to his feet, wondering why he was alone and unguarded… until he realized that there were dozens of Dwarves and humans likely ransacking the vault at that very moment. “Great. I'm filthy, I stink, I'm likely being robbed blind at this very moment, and I can't even scare the thieves away with some lightning.”

Grumbling like an ancient wizard being shaken out of his research to help find a broom for the janitor, Joe hobbled deeper into the building. Without his magic flowing through him, and his auras keeping him comfortable, the Ritualist felt weaker and everything in the world around him felt itchy. All of this combined to make him a powerless, grumpy, weak, shell of a wizard. “Whose idea was it to put me in a cloak made out of hair? What was I thinking? How does anyone else do laundry? Lastly, who tossed me behind the door so I’d be out of the way!”

The last of his thoughts were shouted at the Dwarves bustling about in the extremely large building. The interior was far more spacious than expected, indicating that there was some spatial magic trickery at play here. No one replied to his raspy, accusatory shout, so he had to content himself with grumbling and moving forward to see what had everyone so… casual.

The structure had been sealed off for untold thousands of years, and he could only imagine what sort of treasures and knowledge had awaited him if he’d been awake enough to actually get them. His frustrations quickly turned to excitement as he realized that everything had already been gathered, accounted for, and laid out in a central area. He could see the shine of lights off of the edge of still-sharp weapons, could hear the murmuring of appreciation as certain pieces were looked over, and his hopes began to rise.

“Joe! You’re awake!” The scholarly Dwarf in charge of the expedition rushed over, grabbed his arm, and pulled him to the pile of goods. “We've been cataloging this for the last few hours, you really dodged an arrow on that one.”

Her words caused Joe to realize that perhaps he’d been focused on the wrong things since he had woken up, alone, cold, on a hard stone floor. Taking a breath to center himself, he turned his eyes on the mustachioed Dwarf and solemnly asked her the question that should’ve been his first thought. “Did I manage to bring everyone back?”

She went silent for a moment, shaking her head and biting her lip. “Unfortunately, we missed a few people in our mad dash to get everyone together.”

Joe grunted as a hard weight solidified in his gut, as though he’d just had a knife embedded there. As he had that first-hand experience, the comparison was quite accurate. When he didn't manage to respond to her, the Dwarf continued speaking quietly. “Of the thirty-eight people that were slain by the wraiths, there were four people that had been completely covered by snow and we didn’t notice them. I'm not sure how long we’re going to have to wait for them to come back before we can give them their rewards.”

“What?” Joe perked up at that, his eyes widening. “We only missed humans? We got all the Dwarves back, though?”

“Yes. I’m sorry for the losses that your people took because of it.” She did truly seem ashamed at the moment, but a bright smile was blooming on Joe's face. “We should’ve expected some kind of trap or fight would be coming-”

“We didn't lose any Dwarves!” Joe shouted into the air, pumping his fist. His good-natured bellow was taken up by everyone in the surroundings, especially those that had gaping wounds in their armor and bright scars that showed they had been recently revived. After a moment, the Ritualist calmed down enough to hold his conversation again, but he felt as though he were walking on air at the moment. “I don't want to downplay the sacrifice of my human friends, but a death here and there is only annoying to us. The rest of you? You’re irreplaceable.”

There were a few people in the crowd that made mocking noises at him, but he knew it was all good-natured fun.

“Awww!”

“I didn’t know he cared so much!”

“Look at that sweetie. He's not so bad, even if he is bald.”

He waved the crowd off, and they laughed and refocused on their own tasks and goals. “Sorry, I haven't meant to be so terribly rude, but I haven't caught your name yet.”

“Eh, I go by Ryu.” She flashed a grin at him as she held up a notebook and quill. “Because I write as fast as lightning.”

Joe rolled his eyes but decided against calling her out on it. “If you already have all the information on these items…”

As he trailed off, Ryu grimaced slightly and shook her head. “Prepare for disappointment, and make it double. Once upon a time, these were all probably powerfully-enchanted weapons, excellent spell books, potentially even formidable Artifact-quality items. But time… has not been kind to them. After having been steeped in the chaotic energies of Jotunheim for so long, locked away and the stasis spells never refreshed, most if not all of their power has been lost.”

The Ritualist managed to contain his disappointment, and he patiently looked over the items one by one as Ryu described their properties.

“These blades are still sharp, even if they could use a touch up. Everything was well preserved, and will be a useful base for re-enchantment if we can ensure that there’s no residue or imbued resentments in them that would mess up new inscriptions.” From there she moved over to the books, which were what Joe was the most excited about in the first place. “Unfortunately, as soon as anyone tries to turn the cover, the paper interior falls to dust. They must’ve been freeze dried for an unholy length of time to be in this state.”

“Weapons that are mundane but useful, books that were magical that are destroyed.” Joe let out a sigh, rubbing his bald head and having his hand come away slick with sweat. His left eye twitched at the feeling as he wiped his hand on his hairy cloak. The Ritualist muttered to himself before turning back to his Dwarven companion. “Just gotta keep telling myself I'm glad I revived everyone. Ryu, this can't be all there is, right? The amount of work that went into opening this, the fact that we now have to fight these in future Beast Waves?”

She could only shrug and gesture around the otherwise empty room. “There's still layers of frost and such on the ground, walls, and ceiling. We're going to need to get this place completely cleaned up before we can start inspecting it for anything that might be hidden.”

Perking up at that, Joe looked at his skills and tried to determine if his Hidden Sense required the use of mana. As far as he could tell, it didn’t. Before he said anything to the Dwarf, he looked at his status sheet and winced at what he saw.

Name: Joe ‘Tatum’s Chosen Legend' Class: Reductionist

Profession I: Arcanologist (Max)

Profession II: Ritualistic Alchemist (5/20)

Profession III: Grandmaster’s Apprentice (15/25)

Profession IV: None

Character Level: 27 Exp: 392,972 Exp to next level: 13,028

Rituarchitect Level: 12 Exp: 76,950 Exp to next level: 1,050

Reductionist Level: 8 Exp: 39391 Exp to next level: 5,609

Hit Points: 2,496/2,496

Mana: 0/8,393

Mana regen: 0/sec

Stamina:1,870/1,870

Stamina regen: 6.65/sec

Characteristic: Raw score

Strength (bound): 182

Dexterity: 184

Constitution (bound): 179

Light Intelligence (Bound): 192

Wisdom: 180

Dark Charisma: 142

Perception: 183

Luck: 118

Karmic Luck: 20

He’d made significant progress in his level thanks to the constant, if low, experience from his ritual towers fighting on his behalf. Joe was slightly confused to see that both of his Specializations had increased in level without him noticing. After a moment of consideration, it made sense thanks to having been so close to attaining them—and that was even before he’d spent a ton of time building ritual towers. Not to mention outfitting them with new spells so that they could be swapped out in the event of a tower being destroyed. “Kinda odd that I didn't see them, but all that really means is I didn't gain any reward for increasing them.”

Checking his notifications just to be sure, Joe confirmed and tried to move on. “No mana whatsoever, but I think my magical senses still work. I guess we’ll find out?”

He began walking around the open area, moving very slowly just in case his powers would take a moment to kick in. The downside to this was that it was quite boring to stare at the floor, or the walls, with nothing else to do and no idea if he was missing something. Joe began fidgeting with his ritual orbs, having them pull out of his bandolier and twirl around his fingers as he usually did to practice with them. Only after he had been doing this for a few minutes did he realize that he was able to use his weapons without magic. “Oh! Good! I'm not totally defenseless! Right, using these takes an ‘exotic’ skill, some kind of psychic energy. No mana required.”

Somehow, simply having that option made his current state much more palatable, and he continued strolling around the room with a smile. After he had marched across the perimeter, Joe went to the next most likely spot.

Instead of ever so slowly making his way across the floors, he simply went straight to the center of the open space and sat down, trying to get a feel for the area. Immediately, something began tickling the back of his mind, and a near-feral grin slithered across his face.

“Jackpot.”