Daily Life with Three Systems: Chapter 26

SO. I remember why I use the system for all my magical books. 

Spell tomes are fucking expensive. 

Like, I had a very comfortable nest egg from all those S-Class missions I did... 

All gone. 

For like... ten books. 

Fucking hell. 

but I am now a proud owner of 'Magical Sword Creation', 'Mana Arms and Armor', 'Gems of Power', 'Totemic Might', 'Artificers Guide', 'Magical Jewelry', 'Arcane Symbols', 'Iron Maker Magic', 'Imbuing Magic', and 'Magical Pottery'. 

That last one was pretty cheap. I kind of got it because I had a little money left over, but like... not enough to really get something 'interesting'. 

From the summaries I read, it's Blacksmithing for the first two, an expansion on gem affinities and enchanting with them, the power the iconography of a totem grants- like for instance what a totem of a horse would give instead of a totem of a lion- a more generalization book on item creation, probably the one I needed most, Magical Jewelry should expand on what I know about gem magics, Arcane Symbols seems to be based around carving objects, Iron Maker Magic is Iron Maker Magic. 

Then Imbuement is another important aspect of enchanting, I thought that a book exclusively on it would allow me a better foundation to create my own enchantments and magical pottery... is magical pottery. 

It... kind of interests me, not going to lie. 

ANYWAYS there's one final thing I need to do before I leave the area. 

"Open: Gate of the Maiden! Virgo!" I call out, swinging her key. 

"I'm here, master!" She beams after a flash of light with a noise akin to a doorbell. 

"Good." I nod slowly. "Do you think that you could take us to... uh... the place? Y'know the place I've been talking about?" 

She blinks twice, looking around briefly. She then stomps twice, my magic power dipping a percent with each stomp, tilting her head. "Oh! Of course!" 

"So... how will this like... work? Do I hold onto your legs or..." 

"Come here, Master!" The woman smiles brightly. 

I step over slowly as she abruptly reaches out, arms wrapping around me and pulling my face into her chest. "Keep your face there so you don't get any dirt in your eyes, and Heeeere we go!" 

She leaps and suddenly the noise of a jackhammer surrounds us, I genuinely have no idea how we look right now. If what I'm feeling is correct the tunnel behind us is crumbling as we drill deeper and deeper into the earth. 

Eventually we break through a wall, I can feel my feet touch the ground and the woman brushes the back of my head with a hand. "We're here!" 

I go to take a step back but she continues holding me. 

"..." 

"Oh! My apologies." She quietly laughs as she allows my face out of her bust. 

"Thank you, Virgo." I nod once as I take in the surroundings. "That was... an experience?" 

"I am an instrument of your will!" She smiles brightly. "I am to fulfill aaaaall of your desires~" 

"Nah, you're one of my closest companions. None of that 'tool' shit." I scoff, a small flash of light brightening up the cave as I open an archive window. 

There are bones absolutely... everywhere... 

A chill enters my body as I take a steadying breath. 

I... wasn't ready for this. 

There's genuinely something unnerving being around so much death. 

I close my eyes for a moment, running a hand through my hair. 

There's a genuinely unsettling presence here. 

I'd imagine... there are souls of dragons trapped around here... like that one jade dragon. Whatever his name was... Zirconis maybe? 

"Alllllright. Let's see here." I whisper, walking over to a nearby skull and placing my hand on it. 

My archive magic scans it, quickly replicating the bone for my algorithm. "First things first..." 

"Dragons with an affinity for divination." I Whisper under my breath. "Five sets." 

Each roll is like a genuine punch to my magical power. 

One percent. 

But from what I can see... yeah, there is a dragon somewhere here that has an affinity for divination. 

Virgo peers over my shoulder as I gesture to the dots. "Shall we?" 

She nods eagerly as we begin walking through the twisted caverns, stepping around bone spires, skulls, claws, and spines. 

This is... genuinely horrifying. 

It takes the better part of two hours and around thirty percent of my magical power, but eventually I find what I'm looking for and scan it into the system. 

Making sure to mark the skeleton for the future- as who knows if I may need it- I step back. 

'Alright, now that I've got these... I can begin looking for something else.' 

"Dragon with Light affinity. Ten rolls." 

Each roll is a further weight on my magical power, but it's moderately less that what it was. Eighty percent of what it was, so instead of one percent it's zero-point-eight. 

The results seem FAR more accurate as well.  

I should have done this back when I first finished the divination script. But better late than never, I suppose. 

Time for more walking. 

[Split] 

Thankfully this took less time than the first attempt. But this still begs the question of 'how the hell do I bring this back home?!' 

I gaze over the massive dragon. It's longer than the others, being a lung dragon of some sort. As such it seems to lack wings. 

"Virgo, what's the hardest part of a dragon's body? Correction. What would be probably the most valuable part?" I ask. 

"Oh, probably the horns... for both... of those questions... or it could be the teeth. I'm unsure." 

"So... dragons spew elements, right? Mostly from their mouth... sooooo... hypothetically wouldn't the teeth be more saturated by that like... holy energy?" I theorize. 

"Perhaps." Virgo shrugs. "Like I said, I have no real experience in this." 

"SO. We need to collect a tooth." My fist smacks into my open palm. "The better question is... how the fuck are we going to do that. I've heard dragon bone is borderline unbreakable." 

Virgo simply shrugs. 

"..." 

Oh! Idea! 

I step forwards, requipping that blocky piece of Heavenstone of mine. 

I begin tracing runes along the base of one of the teeth with it, glowing symbols are left in the wake of the heavenstone as I slowly circle the large jagged tooth the size of my torso. 

It's one of the smaller ones, even. The canines are nearly as tall as I am. 

As I complete the sequence, then add another band of script as I nod once. "That... should have softened the tooth in between the two rings of ecriture.." 

Rope coils around it as I offer some of it to Virgo. "Shall we?" 

My skin begins to grow slightly scaly as I tap into the power of the hydra, my hand tightens around the rope as we both pull- 

And nothing happens. 

"..." 

"Haaaah." I sigh, scratching my temple with a clawed digit. "Fucking dragons." 

My skrill wings pop out of my back as I crouch before the Light Ecriture. "Let's see here... maybe I didn't put enough juice into it to affect the tooth in any noticeable way." 

The runes begin glowing brighter and brighter as I dump seventy five percent of my reserves into it. 

Any more than this and they might blow up soooo uh... gonna stop now. 

I reach out, the hydra's strength added to my own and try to jostle the tooth. 

"..." 

"No?" I whisper. 

"Well... there's one more option, but ah... it couuuld get pretty dangerous." 

"and what is that, master?" The woman tilts her head. 

I requip a large purplish greatsword. It absolutely radiates magic. "I'm going to swing this." 

"..." 

"HUP!" I take it in both hands and swing the blade. 

Swwwsh-CLANG 

I slice though half of the tooth, nodding once as the blade strikes one of the non-softened teeth. 

With another swipe only a small portion of the tooth is hanging on towards the back. 

With a few jabs with my sword the tooth is severed causing me to pick it up with a hum. "Alllllright. This should be enough for my purposes... for now... now it's time to go home and do some reading. Can you uh... get us out?" 

"Oh! Of course master!" She spreads her arms wide causing me to sigh and slowly walk over... and get my face trapped in her chest once more. 

[Split] 

Alright... as it turns out... gems in magic is actually a pretty complex... science? 

That saying doesn't really work here. 

Regardless, there's a bunch of things that go into making the 'perfect' gem. 

And... 

I'm about to do something a little... experimental... 

"Ara, this might be a little... sacrilegious but I'm curious... would combining sunstone and moonstone have beneficial or detrimental effects?" 

The table full of tools rattles slightly. 

"She is afraid of what you're about to do." Virgo informs. 

"Well, I've got all these little pieces left over from carving the gems down into their cut forms and, well... we can't do much with them anyways sooooooo." 

"Light Ecriture: Soften!" 

I begin smushing the blue and orange-ish gem pieces together like you would in mixing two kinds of playdough, rolling it in the gem dust and hitting it with another 'soften' as it grows into a ball about the size of my fingernail. 

Rattle Rattle 

"She is saying some very unkind words, master." Virgo frowns as I continue to knead and twist the ball of gemstones. 

Even now it's starting to turn a... not quite grey color... kind of like a really deep purplish salmon. 

After around five minutes of this I roll it between my hands into a perfect little sphere, a smile on my lips as I allow the light ecriture to fade, leaving a purple murky stone in my hand. 

"See. The plan for this is to fill the grooves of the light ecriture on the stylus. Drifting out from where the moonstone and sunstone meet in that yin-yang pattern. The issue is... I SURE AS HELL can't carve anything that small. Fornax, do you think you could manage that during the forging process?" 

CLANG 

"He said that merely shaping the alloy might be pushing it for him." Virgo admits. 

"Hrm..." I tap my chin. 

It has been about a month since Virgo and I had our little adventure in Crocus. Day one, I read every book I have on crafting. Next, I went out and bought supplies such as the sunstone and moonstone. The rest of the month was spent learning how to facet gems- practicing on some basic quartz- and making some more thunder ofuda to recharge me. Now three weeks after I started, I finally finished cutting the moon and sunstones into teardrop shapes with Ara's assistance. 

I've found out that Sunstone is the 'light' gem I'm seeking. 

But why am I including moonstone? 

Because Moonstone enhances Sunstone and vice-versa. 

Without the dark there is no light blah blah blah. 

I also remember sun having a connection with gold and silver having a connection to the moon, so I plan to use those metals in the settings for the gems. 

"Well, cutting up the tooth left us with some shards... maybe I could harden it and soften the alloy like I did to cut the tooth? I'll definitely need Seliah, then to steady my hands, though." I ponder. 

I rise from the stool beside ara, looking at the purple rock in my hand. 

I channel some light magic into it tapping my chin. 

The stone glows at about the same intensity the sunstone did. 

Which is kind of impressive considering that was a clear gem and this one is murky. 

I wonder if there's a way to create this... 'twilightstone' and have it be as clear as a real gem... 

Gem maker magic perhaps? 

It all comes back to maker magic, huh? 

Regardless this should suit my purposes of filling the runes of Light Ecriture I plan to carve into the stylus. 

Now all I have to do is combine the dragon bone and the heavenstone with Fornax. 

And carve the light ecriture into it. 

Wow that's going to be a complete pain. 

Oh well, might as well get started! 

I stand up, grabbing the heavenstone and begin slowly tracing some runes along the ground. 

Light Ecriture to ensure my magical aura doesn't bother Magnolia. I imagine that having the equivalent of a fucking mage nuke going off for the next... possibly eight hours would be a pain for just about EVERYONE. 

Also. Will be using dragon takeover and producing a magical aura like I probably will for an extended period of time will probably cause Acnologia to take a quick flight on over to see what's happening. So the barrier to prevent magical aura leakage is probably required. 

"Hoooh." I let out a low breath, finishing the box. "Oi, Fornax, you ready?" 

CLANG 

I crack my neck letting out a long breath. 

"I've got like... a thousand thunder ofuda." I admit after a brief moment of calculation... and I was right... the next number I was looking for to get an additional 'point' in my quest was one thousand. "This... SHOULD be enough. If not? Well... we can try again later with two or three thousand." 

I lift the blocky metal and the dragon tooth and look to Fornax, two large blue-ish draconic wings popping out of my back. 

I place both within the furnace and step back, my magic power plummets as a roar of flame rushes out of the forge's opening. 

Ten percent gone in an instant and a further percent lost every second. 

"How long do you think this will take?" I call out over the roar of rushing fire and hissing bellows. 

Clink 

"about two hours." Virgo answers. 

"TWO HOURS?!" I shout, eyes widening as I glance over my shoulder. "Fuck!" 

"The plants, the animals, the earth, please lend me your energy!" I raise my arms above my head, ethernano particles beginning to flow towards me. 

"Now, virgo..." I begin slowly as a box of paper is requipped behind me. I need you to take those and slap one on my wings every... ten seconds or so." 

"Yes!" She nods as she picks up the box of ofuda. 

[Split] 

Sweat pools on my brow as I kneel there in the dirt, heaving breaths leave my mouth. 

Holy fuck that was taxing. 

I... barely managed to hold on. 

I used... everything... without the spirit bomb chant... without the ofuda... without my third origin... I wouldn't have been able to finish that. 

Who knows how much longer my magic gathering spell allowed me to keep going. It wasn't that noticeable, perhaps only one or two percent of difference, but even still. That one percent... every fifty seconds it bought me another second of time. That probably added up to a little under five minutes over the course of that entire thing. 

It took a little under three hours to finish. Quite a bit over Fornax's estimation. 

I barely managed to hold on. 

The ofuda lasted a majority. Then I relied on the spirit bomb chant and flickering on my third origin to recharge my magical container for the remaining ten-ish minutes. 

I even had to rely on my stockpile magic which has grown to about three percent of my total capacity... and my demonic magic container which bought me three seconds and ten seconds respectively. 

But, I mean, my stockpile was refilled every time I tapped into my third origin so said three seconds was actually closer to twelve or so. 

I look to the set of six objects sat before me, the first, a long straight pen-like object made of silvery white-ish gold metal. 

It's about as thick as my index finger and about twice as long. The front kind of looks like the nub of a fountain pen. 

The other five objects? Featureless hoops. Rings. Unenchanted. Without any defining features. Just rings fit for all the fingers on one of my hands. 

Turns out we had a little material left over when I added the bone and metal together so Fornax made some basic rings. 

Thankfully he's able to pound out basic shapes. But it took more time... and magic. 

Making the rings and the pen's nub is probably what took so long in the first place. 

If we had just made a simple small bar we'd have been done in like an hour. 

But, of course, that bar would be useless to me, as there'd be no way in hell that I could shape it... even if it's quite a bit less durable than dragon bone. 

"Thank you for your assistance, Fornax, Solarium, Ara, Virgo... you've been a massive help." I wheeze from the ground. "Close." 

With that, the two silver and copper spirit disappear with a flash of light leaving only myself and Virgo. 

I look over my body. "Ugh, I'm all sweaty." 

My eyes slowly find their way to the gold spirit. "You can go back too, Virgo... if you want..." 

"No." She shakes her head. "I believe I'll prepare dinner." 

"You don't need to do that." I begin. "you're not pulling from my magical power right now." 

"I'm aware." Virgo nods. "You yourself didn't need to meddle in a prophesy foretold centuries ago to save the life of a woman whom you've never met... and yet... you did. So, I believe I'll be making dinner." 

"Haaah." I sigh, running my hands through my hair. "Well. I know I won't be able to convince you otherwise." 

"You won't~" the spirit agrees. 

[Split] 

My hands move with a genuine unnatural stillness, a hunk of tooth in one hand, the end jagged into little spires that I use to carve into the side of the stylus. 

Two large glowing gemstones sit on the end, now I'm just finishing the spiraling and coiling Light Ecriture carvings to focus energy down at the tip. 

Seilah looms behind me. This is taxing for both of us, but thankfully Ara and Solarium is helping us along slightly. 

with a few more gentle prods and scrapes I finally connect the line of runes. 

"DONE!" I boom, a bright smile on my face. 

This was a further month of work. 

Firstly figuring out the design, then marking it down on the stylus- ensuring that everything is a uniform size throughout- then came the actual carving. 

Spend literally half of my magic to soften the alloy, then jab jab jab jab... all over the course of three weeks. 

"It is finished?" Seilah asks slowly. "Hm. The carving, perhaps, but you seek to add those gems to the places you carved correct?" 

"Which I will do now." I confirm with a nod. 

Thankfully this part didn't take that long and I managed to fill the carved spots and sand them down to be flush with the rest of the metal. 

It really does look quite nice. The purplish color really goes well with the kind-of-blue. 

"Well... there's really only one thing to do now." I nod slowly. 

I rise from my seat, cracking my back briefly.  

"And that's test it!" I grin to the spirits and Seilah 

I turn, requipping the faux pen away briefly. One of my fists raises slightly as I grasp my forearm with my other hand, a grey magic circle crackles on the back of my clenched fist. 

Frankly it looks like I'm about to shout 'it's morphing time' or something similar. "Iron make: Walls!" 

BOOM 

A sheet of iron rockets from the earth, climbing up a good six feet before stopping. 

Another appears beside it, this one thicker, then another and another. 

Five walls sit there, the first? Two inches thick, the next? Four. 

Eight. Sixteen and the final one is thirty-two. 

I had learned iron-make in passing during the two months I was making this... just like... in my off-time. 

It was quite easy expanding from Tin Make, so it's not as if I was learning an entirely new magic from the ground up. 

"Let's try this, then..." I grin as I drag my finger through the air, white light trailing behind my fingertips. "First, we need a baseline... let's try... half percent of my total magical capacity. A little overkill, perhaps, but still." 

"Light Ecriture! Pierce!" 

A beam of light shoots from the rune, streaking for the thinnest iron wall. 

BOOM 

The metal deforms, I can see the beam continue on past the iron wall, a hole has been pierced cleanly through it. 

I simply do it again. 

"Light Ecriture! Pierce!" 

The next wall stops my attack, it definitely carves in deep, I can actually see light poking through the other side... it looks like it just barely didn't make it all the way through. 

I nod slowly as I take a few steps to the side. I requip the stylus. "Okay... uh... I'm a little bit worried about this... uh... Virgo... is there anything in that direction?" 

"Just forest and more forest!" She supplies causing me to let out a small sigh of relief. 

"Alright then. Half a percent, same as all the rest." 

I use my new tool to sketch the pierce runes in the air. "Light Ecriture! Pierce!" 

BWEEEEEEE 

Alright. 

So. 

If the earlier attempts where like... the thickness of a garden hose this one was like a fucking kamehameha. 

Torso-sized. 

Beam of death. 

I can only blink owlishly as I stare at the nearly three foot thick wall of iron... that now has a hole large enough to crawl through. 

I can see my attack continued on beyond that... cutting through trees, rock, the dirt. 

I had aimed low for a reason, but it looks like someone carved a gutter into the forest... at least until it becomes a tunnel. 

"..." 

"huh..." I blink. 

"Wow." Seilah mutters offering a small golf clap. "Most impressive. That would have killed most of the nine demon gates in a single blow had it hit the head or torso. Except perhaps Torafuzar." 

"A wonderfully powerful focus, master!" Virgo supplies. 

Clang 

Rattle 

"The others are also offering words of appreciation. Fornax claiming that it was worth the stress and Ara announcing that it is by far the most powerful thing she has ever had a hand in making... Solarum appreciates the sun and moon aspect of the item." 

"Well, I couldn't have done if without you... all of you." My gaze swipes over the group of spirits and sole etherious. 

"And now... for the moment of truth!" 

Create Light Ecriture Stylus {+50 Points} 

"Fifty?! Come on. That was worth at least seventy!" I protest. "Ah well... eight more months to get what I need... I still need to work on those rings after all!" 

"But not today, it's been a looooong day and I still need to decide what I even want to do with those rings." 

Reasonably I just want one hundred for the Sharpshooter's Essence. 

Anything else is just a bonus. I really don't know what I'll pick after I get that. 

Now, you might ask, 'why even get the sharpshooter's essence? It's not like you use ranged weapons'. 

And, well, true. 

But at the same time... Occultist's Essence, Apprentice Essence, and the Barbarian's Essence. 

Each of these can grow and evolve further. Conjurist's Soul, Archmage's Soul, Berserker's Soul. 

They're basically end-game terraria shit. Vastly more powerful than the essences. 

Sharpshooter's essence is similar as it can grow into the 'Sniper's Soul'. 

Which... when combined with the four others can undergo a further evolution. 

Like, I'm talking some straight up tensura evolving into a demon lord type shit. 

It can become 'The Soul of the Universe'. Which takes ALL the effects of the souls, combines them, then gives them all a large boost. 

I'll... likely never gain the next evolution... the Soul of Eternity, but this should be more than enough. 

"Gate: Close." With that, the item spirits vanish. "Oh well. You can't deny that this was an incredible first attempt." 

"Mn." Seilah nods. 

"Indeed!" Virgo comments as we all turn and begin to make our way back towards the house.