My new skill settles around me, and I instantly activate it. Because I can already tell, it’s not just about runes. It incorporates what I’ve been learning for a while now, in using [Suppression] to make myself quieter, harder to notice. In [Deconstructing] Norman’s and Kuro’s stealth, and applying those lessons to my own skills.
I trigger [Obfuscation], and I can feel it settle on me, as if asking a question. It’s a faint, lingering field around me, and with a few adjustments, I make it tamp down my mana, the noise I make, my authority… and madame Shelly notices instantly. She hums as she turns and looks at me from the sides.
[Obfuscation 1 > 2]
“Hurm! Well, well, Yuki, seems like you’ve figured out quite a nice little trick, there,” she says with a smile. “I can see it stick to your runes already, too. What a versatile little skill… Say, how much for you to-”
“Not teaching it,” I say, shaking my head with a faint smile, which makes the older lady pout again.
“Fine,” she huffs. “I’ll get your secrets out of you someday, just you wait!”
“Thank you, madame Shelly,” I say quietly, giving her a small nod. The words come out sincere. She was a mentor to me, even if just for a little while. And she’ll probably be one for a little while longer.
At my sincere thanks, the zoof lights up in happiness. “Come, come! We still have some time on our lesson left, yet! Let’s see if we can wring another bit of enlightenment outta ya, Yuri. Show me that new skill of yours!”
I snicker softly, but let her enthusiasm pull me in, spending another hour or two refining my hidden runes skills. Imbuer makes it possible to distill the skill down into runic arrays, which means I can, somewhat, apply it twice.
Since it’s already a skill meant - at least somewhat - for runecraft, I can actively cast it on a piece to change the runes. Distilling it into an enchantment, however, lets me apply it far more strongly. Of course, in the future I’ll do both. The additional testing nets me another level - and distilling another skill into runes finally gets my job up to the last level it needs.
[Obfuscation 2 > 3]
[Job up! Imbuer 24 > 25]
More points trickle into my vessel, and I am once more forced to strengthen my attunement loop. It’s become an almost meditative exercise, despite its difficulty, as I keep it up even while sleeping. But I push that thought aside, swiftly smiling as the job maxes out.
“Apologies, madame Shelly, but I’ll have to leave it at this for today,” I say simply.
The old zoof just laughs a little bit. “Yes, yes. Go, go. Go out there, and don’t forget to have fun with enchanting!” she says, quickly ushering me out of the backroom, and then out of the guild hall entirely, dumping me back on the frozen streets.
I snicker slightly at her antics. By now, it’s close to midnight, and I slowly stroll along the frozen streets. Flobs are rarely out at this time - the rain has turned to hail, now, and with the mana infused in it, it’d hurt if it properly hit me. Kuro takes it without problem, though, being tougher than I am.
Still, to spare them some trouble, I swiftly move along the frozen streets, occasionally anchoring myself so that gusts of wind don’t pull me off the island, and look for a ruin that is uninhabited while also shielding me from enough rain that I can comfortably make a decision on my new class.
It doesn’t take me too long to sneak into a half-fallen building, its roof barely withstanding the hail and wind as I climb in through a broken wall. Most of it is in terrible shape, but one of the corners is reasonably dry, and keeps the wind out well enough. Once I settle onto the cold stone, I take a long, slow breath.
And trigger my job evolution.
[Job Options: <Tinkerer>, <Musician>, <Threadspinner>, <Biochanter>, <Shadowbinder>, <Moonlight Mage>, [New!] <Reinforcer>, [New!] <Grand Array>, [New!] <Instiller>, [New!] <Runic Amplifier>, [New!] <Core Controller>]
With glee, I see that scrollmaker has disappeared. “Take that, stupid scrolls,” I whisper quietly. Why would I need to store casts of my skills when I have mana for days? I’m glad to see the weak job gone, probably subsumed into one of the new ones.
The same thing has happened to preserver, I notice. Though for that one, I have a hunch. It prolly got consumed by reinforcer. That seems like a pretty direct upgrade over preserving, while still having all the same capabilities. In general, I imagine that reinforcer is all about lengthening the duration of any mana-constructs I make, and strengthening them.
It’s fun to think that someday, I might be able to make near-permanent things just from mana. Maybe even a self-repairing, wonderfully soft shirt…
I shake my head to get the thought out of it. That’d take at least threadspinner, as well! For now, I cross it off my mental list of projects, and instead focus on things for the short-term. Grand array seems more straightforward in its function. It’ll probably help me make massive enchantments composed of tons of runes, like I did to trap Ezekiel.
Instiller seems like imbuer’s direct successor. A simple upgrade that allows me to even more neatly instill my skills into objects. Probably faster, more powerful. Maybe I can even do the opposite and instill an enchantment’s property into myself? Hmm. The still part would also fit the system’s proclivity for wordplays, making my enchantments quiet.
Then there’s Runic Amplifier, which seems like a fairly powerful job. It pretty directly says “make enchantments stronger” on the tin. Not even by learning more enchantments, or scribing runes more dense, but alternatively - learning additional skills that can very directly increase the power of a magical item.
And finally, core controller. This one I’d guess comes from me using a mana core a lot, in order to draw mana from other people, or hand it out to them. Many enchantments use cores at some point in their process, since they act as natural mana batteries. We even found them in that very first labyrinth Bay and I took apart. Learning how to change them, maybe even make them, could be very beneficial…
Those are all the new ones. Of course, biochanter remains a strong contender, and I do quite like the idea of threadspinner and even moonlight mage, now that I’m gathering more essence.
The only question that remains is… what to pick?
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