The Arcane Emperor

Chapter 83 Arcanum

Rainer returned from the Fae Realm after talking a bit more with Laneth and Amer. Specifically, he questioned Amer on his plans for further rituals with [Arcane Weaving] and his advice on the matter. As well as receiving the spell formula for both the gold finding spell and the sword extending one. He left when Amer and Laneth started talking about a certain Fae and Rainer kept getting flashbacks to what he saw with [Void Seer]. Remembering at the last moment, he grabbed the fruits Sarah asked for as well.

Looking at the sword extending spell, Rainer took some time to read over the tier 2 metal magic before making plans to learn it tonight in [Sleep Learning]. With nothing else to do as he waited for his companions to return, he went over the book on the [Ring of the Nalmar Knighthood] before eventually leaving the Inn for a break.

As before, he went around town looking for places playing music while marking down others to visit with his party on a purchased map of the city. Any place that took his fancy he'd join in whenever there was a lull in performances. Practicing not only his [Arcane Weaving] but the harmony Mana technique, Rainer gradually made progress, though it seemed to be a pure expression of manipulation rather than a specific skill. Towards the end of the day, his random [Void-walking] appearances were starting to be met with rapt attention rather than shock or surprise.

The night passed as Rainer occasionally went back to the Inn room to practice weaving. As it was based on Arcane Power, even if he couldn't go on endlessly, he still had a decent enough pool of power to draw from.

Gunthar's ping came and with it, Rainer's party returned after defeating the Dungeon multiple times. Though they had no item rewards to show for it, at Sarah's suggestion, Kara and Gunthar took some of the more valuable monster parts to sell.

"At this pace I wonder if I'll even be needed to enchant," Rainer grumbled. The boss of the first stage's blood could be sold for two Silver, and it's body for another two. A large part of the cost with monster meat involved curing and preparing it for months so it would be safe to eat, as such the raw cost wasn't as high as the final product. Considering a usual need to split it between fifteen party members and the lack of a clearing speed due to not having someone as strong as a certain half-demon, profit was only so-so. But it wasn't a bad way to train as one waited in the later parts of their lifespan to take their 2nd Tier Trial. Not everyone could be lucky or connected enough to end up in a comfy position of power at level 25.

"If we sell too much, we'd draw attention to ourselves. So don't worry Rainer, you can work hard," Sarah added.

Oddly, Rainer found that comforting. He himself had gotten a bit excited at selling his enchanted items, especially while hiding his identity. If he no longer needed to he'd be quite disappointed.

"Oh, and I got you these," He said, handing the bowl of fruits from his Spatial Ring to Sarah.

"Thank you, Thank you!" She squealed in delight.

He guessed with the food they often ate, it was a welcome change for the recently Earth-living girl.

"Anytime."

With everyone else sent off to Auto-pilot, Rainer brought [Arcane Awakening] to its maximum with Surge added on. He started on his [Arcane Weaving] once more, shrinking and thinning it further and further. With his new level and his practices involving not only the guitar but other sessions of [Arcane Weaving], Rainer finally got it to a size where it could fit on someone's forehead and properly activate.

Taking several minutes to draw the small version, Rainer manipulated it onto his forehead and sent his magic towards it. He smiled as he felt something attempting to make him drowsy. It wasn't as strong as the one made with his blood, but it was strong enough. More importantly, it had more room to progress unlike his blood or the blood of others as it was limited by the material itself.

[General Ritual Mastery has reached level 4]

Rainer improved a skill he had gained over his month with Amer in the Abyssal Planes studying rituals. A more welcome skill and following title followed soon after.

[Skill Gained: Arcane Ritual Mastery lvl 1/10]

[Title Gained: Arcane Ritualist]

[Experience Gained: 0.1%, 45%]

[Harbinger has leveled up to lvl 11/25. Standard Attributes have been distributed. 2 Attribute and skill points have been rewarded]

Now came the true part to the spell he wanted to create: drawing the sacrificial ritual to create a faux Mana Pool. Though, he'd be altering it so it wouldn't create the spectre of death the original ritual did. Not that it would in the first place as that part of the ritual relied on the resentment and emotions from the death of its sacrifices. Doing it on a place of death or suffering, like on top of a bloody event like a battlefield, improved the ritual significantly.

Rainer first drew it in his own blood to get a sense of the magic and started editing parts in and out of the ritual. His own experience of the Mana control runes in his spells as well as the other one used for Body Enchantment helped him optimize the ritual solely for creating the faux Mana pool. With his talk with Amer earlier, Rainer had plenty of methods to test. The final addition related to the knowledge of the Avatar ritual shown to him by Amer that took into account a connected Mana pool with one's second body.

The first attempt was a strange failure, sending a pulse of Mana outwards. But Rainer was undaunted, changing the ritual circle just slightly and trying again. The ritual circle itself was the usual circle but with two interlaced equilateral triangles in the center. The base shape made him wonder about the connection between religion and magic in his old world. With the concept of Divinity existing it was certainly a different perspective than before, but he returned his attention back to progressing the ritual. Various runes and lines denoting pathways for magic covered the rest.

[Blood Ritual Mastery has reached level 5]

A more specific skill Rainer gained over his time with Amer now leveled as well. While none of the Rituals he drew did what he wanted, they still technically worked and his own ability to alter them improved.

Hours passed as Rainer gritted through the pain of every refresh having to draw his blood once more, having to draw far more than usual for this huge ritual. But over time it even seemed irrelevant as he felt himself draw closer to what he desired.

Staring at his current rendition, Rainer felt this was the one. With fluctuation of magic the circle lit with power...and then stopped. He frowned for a moment before his eyes flashed with [Arcane Revelation]. In the center of the circle, a Rune modified from his Mana input and output ones as the base, was a tiny pool of Mana.

Immediately, Rainer sought to recreate it with a weave. He cared nothing for the resulting size as he covered dozens of feet all around him with the ritual circle. With his earlier practice, and a massive size only possible with the power of [Sleep Learning], it took only a few attempts and some fine tunning.

His eyes now turned to the [Arcane Weaving]-created Mana pool in the center of the circle.

The Arcane-laden Mana within seemed to drain ever-so-slowly as he watched it. Something he might not even be able to notice with only [Mana Detection]. It was then that Rainer noticed a part of the weave drawing on that instead of just him. Realizing this may be the final way forward, not for the Ritual but [Arcane Weaving], Rainer stared at that Mana pool, and more importantly, it's connection to the weave that also created and held it.

He formed a simple cube in his hands and tried to redo that connection. Not by recreating the ritual but by shoving more magic into the weave itself and sending it on a loop. Rainer didn't pay attention to the time that went by as he repeated the procedure, even ignoring the shards of weave that stabbed into him after a few failed attempts.

And with a final effort, he took the last step and disconnected the self-sustaining weave from himself.

[Skill gained: Arcane Weaving: Permanence lvl 1/10]

Or so he thought. It seemed this wasn't the final step when it came to weaving, but he appreciated it all the same. And just as well, he didn't consider his current level and speed of weaving to be worth reaching level 10.

The self-sufficient cube in front of him would degrade just the same as his previous ones, but it would last for a couple of days or longer depending on the amount of magic he could put in. It put [Arcane Weaving] at the same level as any magically created element, if a bit more expensive.

He finally had his Mana pool ritual that would serve as the base for an external [Arcane Awakening: Final Arcanum]. And he had a way to extend the lifespan of Arcane Weaves without having a constant drain on himself. Now, Rainer needed to find a way to draw it far quicker. The likely half-hour it would take to draw such a ritual at an appropriate size for his own power capacity would be next to useless in regular combat. And as well, or perhaps more importantly, figure out a way to arm it as he can with [Arcane Bolt]s and [Arcane Lance]s.

Taking only a moment to enjoy his accomplishments, he pushed forward once more. All this wouldn't matter if he couldn't get the Arcane Weave ritual itself to use Final Arcanum, or a version of the attack. But he felt all the more sure this was leading to a spell he needed to survive in this world.

Just as he was about to continue, he winced in a pain. Looking down, he saw a few cuts and just now recalled they were likely the exploded weaves from earlier. A quick refresh and Rainer soon realized he had at most two hours left in [Sleep Learning].

Deciding to prepare for the days ahead, Rainer created a copy of the spell formula Laneth gave him. He brought forth the same sword the Fae Prince used into his hand. He figured his careful observation of the magic in the sword as Laneth used it with [Arcane Revelation] should help in learning the spell.

Rainer first spent some time fixing the formula to work chantlessly with his Mana output and input runes. Laneth may have mastered it without one, but it still required one. Given that it's only a tier 2 spell with all its drawbacks, modifying it proved a short task.

Moments later he stood with the sword in hand. Mana flowed just the same as before and then he casted the spell with the new formula in mind. The sword shook for a brief moment before the magic harmlessly dissipated. Rainer repeated it over and over again. The shaking grew larger, before that force eventually turned into slightly thinning and then lengthening the blade. And yet the final result was most certainly not what Rainer was after. The end drooped.

Another failure.

Tier 2 spell or not, it's ability to lengthen the sword without affecting its structural integrity was truly a feat of magic. It remained tier 2 in this way precisely because it only worked on swords of around a certain length and width. He instantly recreated the sword and worked quicker and quicker. Every attempt slightly better than the last, before his use of the formula finally clicked.

[Spell Gained: Sword Lengthening lvl 1/10]

Just like with Ice spells being under the Water spellbook, this metal spell was under the Tera one.

Rainer smiled, knowing it was just a matter time before he achieved [Metal Manipulation], now quite confident a skill existed for it. Unlike before, Mana poured out of the [Archon] in droves as [Arcane Awakening] surged to full power once more. It forcefully went into the blade as he used the spell and pushed it to lengthen the sword further. Every cast of the spell pushed the weapon further and often resulted in breakage, causing Rainer to recreate it with every attempt

With all his ability, he monitored every change. And in concert with his third spell level up, Rainer gained the skill he desired from pushing the limits of the metal.

[Sword Lengthening has reached level 4]

[Skill Gained: Metal Manipulation lvl 1/10]

Rainer held the sword across his hands. With a surge of Mana it lifted into the air as if attached to strings. Letting it fall back down, he tried to recreate the spell's effect. After all, if the jewelry he created would fall apart, it wouldn't be sellable. He lengthened the sword, only to find the casted metal struggling against him. And in a clash of will, one of man, one of steel, the sword shattered, unable to withstand the pressure.

"Well...at least I have something to do during the day," He mumbled to himself as he pointlessly brushed away a shard tangled in his hair before refreshing his body. Morning came soon after. And with it, a path for the future, whether in his Arcane Magic or his enchantment.

The next morning, Rainer headed towards the craftsmen sector of the city. Divided into numerous sectors, the city Fenrar contained diverse destinations. Nearest to the mountain sat the seat of the government, several stone buildings making up various public offices. Up above, on the carved out part of the mountain, stood the white stone palace of the Wolf King and the royal family, with a long staircase alongside the mountain leading to it. Within the sides of the mountain were various mines and underground growing facilities.

It seemed the Royal family were not accessible people.

Radiating out north, east, and west in front of the mountain, and down the slope that led all the way to the port, was the city itself. The closer one was to the mountain, generally, the more wealthy the districts were. It was considered both a safety measure and privilege to live closer to the Wolf King and all members of the royal family. Down past the upper level and in the west was the craftsmen sector Rainer now headed to. The sector itself was filled with a variety of Blacksmiths, carpenters, masons and even a single Aura Inscriptionist Rainer planned on visiting with Gunthar and Kara.

There were a few enchanters from the Southern non-human countries, but they were well-booked while handling far longer term items and often requiring their customers to provide Mana Crystals for certain jobs. They would never create something like a [Ring of the Nalmar Knighthood]. They'd have to charge far more than the item was worth.

It wasn't as if weaker enchanted goods were shunned, they were merely far too rare outside of Dungeon and Trial Rewards. Even in the North, Mage Guilds didn't really sell enchantments from what he remembered apart from minor things like the Hunter's Guild plate. They kept them in house or focused for years and years on a single item that would then be reserved for the Guild itself or anyone they sponsor in their 2nd Tier Trial. Such as the offer they made to Charles prior to Rainer gifting him a set of armor from Nalmar.

The idea of selling cheap enchanted items that increased an attribute by one or two simply didn't exist anywhere other than the fallen Nalmar in an entirely different world. The reason he came here wasn't to have any commissions, rather, he needed to buy metal. With the quality likely irrelevant, Rainer hoped to get his hands on some scraps.

Entering the street that housed several stone buildings and smithies, the temperature seemed almost hotter here by several degrees. Rainer walked to the first smithy he could find, but it seemed too busy, and with so many choices, he saw no reason to wait. Going around, he found all of them had their apprentices busy running around, perhaps relating to the war between the Sea King and the Serpent King and the anticipation of others joining in.

So he headed into the least crowded place he could find. A young lizardkin girl ran up to him, likely a blacksmith apprentice if one went by her attire.

"Can I help you noble sir?" The red-haired and slit-eyed girl responded.

"I was wondering if you had any scrap metal I could buy. Or perhaps some cheap daggers if you don't have that," His goal was, in the end, to make money. It wouldn't make sense to buy a more expensive sword.

"J-just a moment sir," the young lizardkin said before running off to the back.

Rainer hummed a song as he looked around, unintentionally mixing a bit of Arcane in his voice. A reflex he seemed to have gained from all his playing as a Bard recently. As of now, he wondered why the little lizardkin looked so flustered. He would have guessed it was his heightened Charisma, but she didn't seem to be that kind of nervous.

From the back, a young looking elf stepped out. Long earthy-brown hair tied in a bun sat on his head along with bright yellow eyes.

[Wood Elf, Male, Blacksmith of Tempered Magic lvl 25]

[Title: Blacksmith of Magic]

"How can I help you, Magus?"

Rainer smiled a bit, realizing whether he was treated poorly for being a mage seemed to be a case by case basis.

"I'm looking to buy some scrap metal. Or perhaps some defective products."

"Might I ask what for?"

"A magic experiment," Rainer said, glancing around the shop and noting apart from a single sword displayed above a counter, there was nothing else visible.

"What kind of magic experiment?"

Rainer glanced at him and saw genuine curiosity in the elf's eyes.

"I can't say, unfortunately."

"I have some swords I was not planning on selling, how about in exchange for one of your successful experiments you receive them?"

Rainer raised his eyebrow, not expecting that. He would prefer to have something higher quality to work with. It wasn't a bad offer, and he could always secretly drop off an enchanted item as payment.

"Deal."

"Then we are agreed. Nayu, get the three swords. You should know which I speak of. You are always welcome to return for more material."

"A pleasure doing business with you. My name is Rainer Nvos."

"Elaris," The elf responded.

Rainer left soon after, a clothed bundle of swords that he couldn't figure out what was wrong with. However, one thing he quickly understood from a look with [Arcane Revelation], calling these defects was an insult to any other blacksmith's work.

Watching the departing Magus, Nayu looked up at her Master who was still in thought.

"Master. Why were you so polite?" Not even for the Wolf King did her master greet a customer so nicely. And this person came to the most renowned smith in town, one who had wait lists in the counting of years rather than months, asking for scrap metal.

"A feeling."

"From the earth?" Nayu asked, resisting the urge not to roll her eyes whenever he spoke about the voice of the world. She knew he was lying and was just teasing her by not telling the real reason.

"Of course."

"Do you think he'll actually make good on his promise…Those were expensive even if you consider them failed products," She grumbled.

"He did not lie."

Nayu just shrugged and went to the back, it seemed she wouldn't get a clear answer this time. Her master followed, humming the same strange tune the Magus was.

The following night, Rainer's party entered the White Void. With Kara mentioning a bit of fuzziness of the mind, he opted to send everyone into Auto-pilot. Sitting alone, Rainer pondered over his coming night. A part of him wished to start on his enchanting, but his mind could not get off the subject of his [Arcane Weaving]. It consumed him.

Without further hesitation, Rainer began weaving the ritual circle to create the Mana Pool. The moment it was done, he activated Final Arcanum on his own arm, and stopped it just short of firing. His mind went over the runes that twisted and distorted his Runic lines of [Arcane Awakening] from down his arm all the way to his forehead. These were the runes he needed. It was now a question of bringing them into the ritual.

He looked down at the massive Arcane woven ritual beneath his feet. He sought a starting point. An intuitive place to put the first rune and that answer was simple. The shining rune on his forehead that stood for the Arcane now overlaid with the Mana pool rune. From there, he connected it to each point of the six pointed star. And both at the points and along the way he used the runes of Final Arcanum and looped it all the way back to the source in the center.

When it came to converting actual spells to rituals, unless there was a great compatibility, it was almost impossible. And yet Rainer knew with his recently gained skill on Arcane rituals, that his [Arcane Awakening] variations lent themselves quite well to rituals. They weren't spells and yet used runes. He finally made the connection that Body Enchantment itself was a variation of ritual magic. The enchantments were composed of blood after all.

Backing away from the woven circle, Arcane power swarmed as he activated the massive ritual. The Mana pool was correctly created and yet nothing else seemed to occur. The added runes merely lit up and did nothing. Rainer frowned. While it was his first attempt, he already had a finished version to work off of, even if it wasn't strictly a ritual. At least something should have occurred.

He tried again and assumed he was wrong. He made countless variations and yet straying away from the first merely made it worse. His variations would often not even light up, or screw up the Mana Pool ritual itself. So he went back to his first attempt.

Staring at the massive ritual circle, Rainer couldn't figure out what was wrong. Instead of wallowing on this, he started working on a needed step, shrinking. He made the ritual smaller and smaller, drawing upon Arcane power en masse. All the while he never stopped considering what was missing.

Hours passed as he nearly found himself in a trance, wielding the full power of [Arcane Energy Manipulation] to assist in his efforts. It was then the information of the original ritual floated through his mind. A note, that the most effective place to do said ritual was exactly where the sacrifices are made. He then recalled Amer's comment on the weave circle he showed him. It seemed slightly off, and yet when he later tested it on his forehead it worked just fine.

A medium...I'm missing the needed medium.

His body provided the medium for Final Arcanum. So after another few hours of finally getting the ritual circle small enough to cover his chest, he tried again. Yet the failure was the same, both with [Arcane Awakening] turned off and then on.

At this point, he started to consider for the first time it wasn't possible...before immediately shaking away that thought. He needed to just find the right medium. He knew this to be true.

Final...Arcanum…

He thought in his head. Why was the spell so powerful? Was it purely because of it's efficiency and that it consumed his Arcane Power at once with great drawbacks afterwards? Or was it like [Arcane Energy Manipulation] in allowing him to draw Arcane from Beyond or as it was now listed, the Arcanium.

Rainer focused, drawing Arcane Power from beyond. The thought that he needed to create a Void to use [Void-walking] but nothing to draw Arcane power floated through his mind. But he left the mysteries of [Sleep Learning] for another time.

Every time he pulled out power, he tried to get a sense of its coming. To get just a glimpse at what this Arcanium was. He reached out with his mind, just as he did when trying to master [Void-walking] so long ago. Searching and searching for another existence beyond this one. He recalled his encounter with the Divinity that tried to prevent [Absolute Rebirth] and used his own armed [Arcane Presence] to try and near the beyond he sought.

[Skill Gained: Arcanium Detection lvl 1/10]

His mind reeled back. Whatever it was, he wasn't ready to peer into it. But his excitement remained the same. With the Arcanium and his new skill in mind, he drew the ritual once more. The circle thrummed with power. And he activated it.

A bright violet light encompassed the white void. And it took Rainer with it.

Refreshing his body moment later, he realized the issue. There was nothing aiming it. It was merely an explosion of Arcane. Final Arcanum was aimed by his arm and the lines of [Arcane Awakening], but the ritual had no such thing. Having not an idea how to change the ritual to aim it, he didn't try to.

Instead, he opted to a create a spell to do the same. Sitting down with a created paper in front of him, he feverently wrote as he borrowed from similar beam like spells such as the unlearned and yet always borrowed from [Deliverance], as well as one of the first light spells he ever learned, [Light Beam] and its arcane version.

He felt the sensation of waking coming for him, but fervently ignored it. So long as he sensed nothing of ill news from Luna, he had no plans of waking until his task was done.

Rainer stood still. The ritual placed in front of his outstretched palm. Arcane flowed from places unknown as he drew the very weave upon a world outside of this one, and yet connected all the same.

And so came the word he longed to speak.

"Arcanum."

A line of violet, brighter than the white of the space itself, signaled the desire he sought. The beam of Arcane tore through the air, the sheer energy radiating in all directions.

[Spell gained: Arcanum lvl 1/10]

He let out a deep breath. In terms of strength it fell behind an overcharged Spear spell, but it had an instant activation with no physical component. He added the word merely in the moment, but it was not needed. So long as the ritual was prepared ahead of time for use in battle, it was hard to compare to any of his current spells in usefulness.

Now, however, Rainer found himself at a standstill. How was he to create an Armament spell for this? It was one thing creating a spell for, say, [Arcane Presence], which was a set skill, but this ritual circle was the application of [Arcane Weaving] and [Arcane Ritual Mastery]. It wasn't a straightforward action.

Staring at his hands in thought, he went into a different direction. He thought back to the very first time he tried to arm Arcane Weaves, back in the Wyvern-filled Dungeon near Nalmar. He failed then too, but he remembered clearly his thoughts on how to succeed; he needed a magically created space to draw the weaves from.

So instead of arming them as originally planned, the success of how quickly he altered the ritual to include the runes for Final Arcanum was brought to mind.

First he drew the ritual with [Arcanium Detection] active, giving it a connection to that realm. And then, he drew on another set of runes, in the spaces between each pointed star. These ones resembling the recently created Void-Step. Taking care to keep the Void part of the ritual as a separate activation he finished drawing it while focusing on the Void.

[Arcane Awakening: Storage] activated as he put the woven ritual circle inside. It wouldn't exist once he awoke, of course, but he needed it for his current test. More importantly, the weave wouldn't degrade so long as it was in that space just like the Arcane weaved chains he kept in there.

Once more he prepared to write another spell formula, one to retrieve the circle from storage and place it in the spot he desired. There were numerous remote ritual activation spells in all the learning materials he had. So he picked out the ones most desired and added [Void-walking] elements so he could activate it while it was in storage.

Numerous strange attempts later, and a few where his body refreshed for seemingly no reason, Rainer had the spell for retrieving and activating the Void-step part of the Arcanum ritual. He merged it with the Arcanum spell, creating a situation similar to his [Arcane-Spatial Domain] and [Arcane-Spatial Domain: Spatial Shift].

[Spell Gained: Arcanum: Retrieval lvl 1/10]

With but a thought, the ritual activated and the circle appeared over Rainer's shoulder. Manipulating it back into storage, he did the same, this time merely using the base [Arcanum] in concert with the new spell so it activated the moment it appeared at the desired location.

[Arcanum]

The violet beam fired just as before. More difficult to aim, but powerful all the same. Watching the power of the violet light, Rainer found finally himself drifting awake, no longer having the sheer force of will to keep himself unconscious.