Sacrifice Mage-Chapter 15: The Gem-scaled Master

Threads of power built within me, ready to emerge. I could let them go now. I could allow the purple strands of my Aspect come out and wrap around the little cube, to suffuse it with the power of Gravity and wow the crowd around me.
But
would
such a crowd be amazed at something so simple as a cube that could float on its own?
These were mages. People who toyed with magic as part of their daily lives, people who had Aspects I probably couldn’t even think of. How unique could Gravity even be to them?
Plus, with my current Affixes, I couldn’t even do that much. Just weigh this cube of glass down or make it much lighter than it already was. My options were limited. All I had was Infusion and Siphon as Affixes, after all. Unless…
Iconized, Kostis had said. I had to wonder if this was the same sort of Icon that Hamsik had mentioned that day, like the ones in the sky and the seas.
Hmm.
I poured my threads into it and channelled my Siphon Affix. The connection formed, and with a push of my will, I could drain away the cube’s weight. I could let go and it would just float, assuming I had used enough mana.
But instead, I just Sacrificed it.
“Not yet,” I murmured as the activation.
I had been curious for a while what would happen if I Sacrificed the effects of using my Aspects. They were undeniably, irrevocably mine. Sure, they weren’t tangible objects of the kind I had Sacrificed so far, but they
did
produce tangible effects. Weight I could feel. Lightness I could play around with. These were present in the real world, things I could interact with.
And the Weave considered that sufficient too.
[ Sacrifice
You have Sacrificed 1 [Minor] Cast of 1 Iron-ranked Aspect. Windfall bonus activated.
Reward
: Effect of next cast is raised by 2x
]
Huh. So that was my reward. A straight up boost to my next cast. And it hadn’t even taken that much mana. Neither the mana in my core, nor the regular mana I used when channelling Gravity.
I grinned. Then repeated the process. I poured more of my threads into the glass cube, only to Sacrifice them just as the effect took place. More of the same notifications popped up in front of me.
Some people in the crowd were growing a bit restless. Through the corners of my eyes, I could see a Rakshasa whispering to a bird-person. I caught two other Ogres shuffling their feet. There was even another human, a person standing farther back who was starting to frown harder and harder. Even the leather-armour-clad guy from earlier was calling at me to hurry up.
But Kostis hadn’t moved a muscle, only staring at me intently. His patience affected most people too, and they all looked on, more and more intent as the threads of power appeared, only to disappear, time and time again.
Eventually, I decided it was enough. I had lost count after twelve, or was it thirteen? Regardless, the effect had to have compounded. So this time, I
only
channelled Gravity.
Threads of power, each one as thick as my forearm, sank into the cube. They glowed a deep, void-purple, the air crackling with the intensity of the magical energy. People murmured around me. The connection formed, a rod of power between me and the glass. Siphon drained away my target’s weight until I could barely feel it in my palms.
“Here goes,” I said.
I threw the glass box up. It shot off almost like a rocket. I wasn’t that strong. My Power was only at Iron IV. But the force didn’t matter when the target’s weight was almost non-existent.
With natural gravity having almost no effect on it, the cube just kept climbing and climbing until it began to disappear from view.
“You know you’ll have to pay for that, right?” Kostis said, laughing with the slightest hiss to it. “It’s indestructible, not un-losable.”
Quite a few people were murmuring now, some looking at me while others stared at the sky. Leather-Rakshasa whistled softly.
Well, here was the opportunity to test the second thing I had been aiming for. I had been wondering if the effect of Gravity was final once I let go of an object, or if the mana still working within it could be modified to change the effect. Essentially, after Siphoning away all its weight, could I give it all back? I had pushed a
lot
of threads into it…
So, I focused on Infusion. On changing the way Gravity was working even as it continued its original intent, turning it topsy-turvy as I concentrated on making it heavier and heavier. With the glass cube lost from sight, I couldn’t tell if it was working or not.
That was, until it reappeared.
“Might need some space here,” I said as I hastily stepped back.
Kostis and the Ogre, Kliezeg, both followed my lead and were quick to retreat too. We all moved back just in time. The cube reappeared with blistering speed, the air whooshing at its sudden rush like it had been fired from a cannon straight down.
I started a bit when it cracked down onto the ground, sending up a small spurt of earth in all directions and splattering me with dirt. The whole area shook for a second and even my heart thumped for a few moments. Then I laughed.
“I really hope it
is
indestructible,” I said.
A lot more people were murmuring now, staring from me to the crater in the ground and back to me again.
The dust cleared and Kliezeg stepped forward. He didn’t get down into the crater. Instead, brownish black threads of mana emerged, sinking into the earth like heavy chains falling to the floor. I stared a bit as the dirt shifted, the little field quickly returning to its original condition, refilling the trampoline-wide crater and pushing the glass cube back up.
Kliezeg hummed as he picked up the cube, the glass now glowing a yellow so bright that it looked almost white. “Gold-ranked.”
I was probably quite lucky there hadn’t been much of a wind to move the cube off course.
The mood in the area shifted. Most of the murmurs quieted down, and nearly everyone was staring at me now. Even without looking I could tell most of the looks weren’t friendly.
Kostis stepped forward, clapping his hands. Unlike Gutran’s, his were more similar to the receptionist’s—soft and thin. A puff of smoke blew out of his fancy pipe, and I was a bit enthralled at how the smoke twisted and reshaped, etched with tiny silver threads of mana, until it looked like a copy of the glass cube. “Well, that takes care of the testing, right Kliezeg?”
“Y… yes, master.” The Ogre slowly nodded, pocketing the glowing cube. He turned to me. “Your testing is now complete, Mage Moreland. Welcome to the Mage Guild.”
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelFire; any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
[ Rank Up!
Your Gravity Aspect has risen by one Rank.
Your Sacrifice Aspect has risen by one Rank.
Gravity
: Iron V
Sacrifice
: Iron III
]
I received the notification as I was being led away by Kostis from the field. Breakthroughs really were powerful in ranking up. Although, I supposed having my whole body affected by Gravity all day had helped too.
“You’re not really at Gold yet, are you, Mage Moreland?” Kostis asked.
“Just Ross is fine, sir,” I said. “Or should I say
master?
”
“Yes,
sirs
are normally reserved for the Vaunted around here. I imagine you picked up your predilection to call others
sir
from… wherever you’re from.”
“That’s correct. I’ll stick to master, then.” Respectful forms of address were good, because someone who could identify I
wasn’t
an actual Gold—despite what the glass cube had said—was probably a Gold himself. At least. “Are you… going to tell the receptionist?”
Kostis laughed in that sibilant way I was starting to associate with Scalekin. “Your showing was impressive. But it’s best we do not lie to the Guild. They have their ways of figuring that out, sooner rather than later. Don’t worry, the Guild isn’t interested in telling everyone what your actual rank is. That little display you did should be good enough for me to commend you, when necessary.”
“Commend me, huh?”
We paused our conversation when we reached the receptionist. She already had the cube glowing gold on the desk, and there was the faintest hint of surprise about her. A newbie human mage starting off at Gold-rank wasn’t probably something they saw that often.
What she seemed even more surprised about was Kostis accompanying me. Unfortunately, he soon corrected her that my actual rank was Iron, not Gold, and she quietly amended it on the forms she had apparently already filled up. She echoed the welcome from Kliezeg afterwards, and then I was finally done.
Ross Moreland, official member of the Mage Guild. An Iron-ranked member, not Gold-ranked. I even received a storm-grey badge of two staves crossed behind a book. A grimoire.
Kostis and I had a frank little chat afterwards. We sat in a spot lit up by large sprites with complicated shapes I hadn’t noticed before. Unlike the simple orbs in the temple, these ones had the forms of animals like lions and owls.
He mentioned that Escinca was indeed an old friend, and knowing the cult well, he had immediately identified me as someone of interest. Actually, Escinca had already mentioned me in a missive he had sent to Kostis, although he apparently hadn’t mentioned anything very specific, deciding to leave what to reveal up to me.
Which was something that interested Kostis a great deal, especially after he learned what my Path was called.
“There’s a lot I don’t know,” I said. “So forgive me for my ignorance, but do you know anything about my Path specifically?”
Kostis shook his head. The gems in his scales gleamed in the light of the sprite “Sadly no. Yours may be Unique. I
have
heard of similar Paths related to stars. Anything astral is rare, but not unheard of. The Guild’s annals will probably shed some light, and the Adventurer’s Guild might have some idea as well. However, we
do
know that you possess the Aspect of Gravity. That’s something we can work with.”
I nodded. “I appreciate the help, Master Kostis. Uh, I don’t know if you’re only helping because of Elder Escinca, but I’m grateful all the same.”
He hesitated for a bit. “Well, I wouldn’t be helping just anyone. Escinca praised your drive and willingness to keep at it. He said you were using your Aspect nearly all day every day. And now that I’ve learned you have an intriguing Path and a strong Aspect, I’m even more inclined to be of some assistance. Just as I’m sure you’ll be of assistance to me, one day, yes?”
I didn’t hesitate to nod. It was almost funny how some societal concepts were almost universal no matter if it was Earth or Ephemeroth. Quid pro quo. Forming connections. Mutual assistance and partnerships.
Kostis wasn’t just helping a brand-new cultist who happened to possess a Unique Path. He was assisting me to become a person important enough to benefit him in turn.
It was kind of flattering to see someone having that kind of faith in me. I decided not to let it get to my head.
We talked some more about what I had done so far. I explained about training with Gutran, about how he had mentioned getting Affixes like Manifestation and Field Manipulation. I recounted how I had been using my Affixes to train by changing the weights of everything, including myself, every day.
Kostis admitted that getting to Silver as fast as possible ought to be my main priority. Not just for my Gravity Aspect, but for my Attributes and my Path as well. It would grant me more of, well, everything.
Silver in my Path meant more Aspects to work with. Silver in my Aspects meant more Affixes to learn. And Silver in my Attributes meant I could train up Augmentations, which were kind of like Affixes, but more generalized so that they were applicable to
all
Aspects, if compatible. I was definitely looking forward to that.
“Ah, so you were using your other Aspect to boost the effects of your Gravity Aspect,” Kostis said after I had explained the incident at the testing. “That’s quite ingenious. Escinca explained to me how Sacrifice works, although I don’t think even he knew that it was capable of attaining an Affix like Windfall. That has incredible potential.”
I nodded. “It only works because my mana core apparently keeps sucking in a
ton
of mana.” Even now, I could feel the fish-bone-like barbs in chest where my core was spiking out, although the sensation was a lot weaker than before. “It’s strange I can make Sacrifice use up all the core mana, but not something like Gravity.”
Kostis smoked out another twist of grey vapour that became a replica of a man standing in front of a board, beating at it with a stick. Oh. He had created a smoky hologram of a lecture. “Certainly a very peculiar property of Sacrifice, to bypass normal rates of mana usage by similarly ranked Aspects and just… gobble it all down. The more curious interaction, however, will likely occur once you
do
awaken your core.”
“What exactly is awakening?”
“It’s simply your core unspooling to connect to the greater tapestry that you have claimed through the Weave.”
“That explains it right up…”
Kostis laughed, then choked on a bit of smoke before coughing it out. I considered amicably thumping on his back to help him cough it out but decided against it. “Right now, you’re capable of channelling threads of mana through yourself, yes? But once you use that mana, the threads disappear, correct?”
I nodded.
“Well, that is because your core is unawakened and your body doesn’t possess the ability to maintain mana within itself. This is separate from your body’s capacity to channel magical energy that you use to power your Aspects, by the way. One of the primary functions of a mana core is the integration of your physical self with mana in a permanent fashion.”
“That’s… interesting,” I said, musing on how that could actually be of benefit. “If I had mana permanently within me physically, would I then be able to integrate my body with my Aspects? Wait, I guess I do that already, because I’ve been using Gravity on myself all this time…”
Kostis shook his head. “An awakened core allows a different level of integration and other capabilities. For instance, right now, I imagine you can use your Gravity to modify your weight as you see fit, just like you can do to any other target. With an awakened core, you can potentially
become
Gravity.”
My mind tried to process that.
Become
Gravity… Like what, a chunk of dense, pure mass that attracted anything towards it? I blinked, suddenly remembering a few of the mages I had seen. The one whose arms had been on fire, and—
Wait, that guy with a crystal for a head hadn’t been a different race, like I had initially assumed. That was an awakened core ability thing.
“That sounds… wild,” I said.
Kostis smiled. “It is. It allows for a vast array of expressions when you combine it with the capabilities of your different Aspects. Something to look forward to. Although, getting to that point will be difficult.”
“Will it? My core can kind of implode any time…”
“Which is a problem,” Kostis said seriously. “Even aside from the fallout of the magical explosion that you described—and it’s very rare for the Weave to warn you about anything like that—I suspect the implosion
is
the awakening process for your core.”
“I’m guessing other people’s cores don’t explode when they wake up.”
“Not nearly. Awakening processes can vary, but they all usually require a challenging breakthrough of some sort, though I can’t recall the last time I saw one that threatened to explode. I suppose I don’t recall the last time we had a cultist for a mage too.”
When I asked what I ought to do about it, he said there wasn’t much I could do for now. There was an Augmentation I could get for my Spirit after it ranked to Silver, which would allow me to suffuse mana into my body in preparation for awakening my core. Till then, I was shit out of luck.
But that gave me a goal. It gave me a direction to focus, to start figuring out how to gain control over my explosive mana core.
Kostis finally got up from where we were sitting. “It was nice meeting you, Ross. I do hope you don’t explode on me anytime soon. Check the job board before you go. You were right in assuming Mage Guild jobs are a lot more lucrative than regular ones. It will be hard to acquire the more lucrative ones right now, but keep at it.” He smiled. “You’re good at that.”
I nodded. I was still pretty new to the whole thing, so it made sense they’d want some proof of my capabilities beyond just silly tests.
Kostis smiled at me though. “But I might be able to put in a good word for you, once you’ve gained some experience. Oh, and you should attend one of the Guild classes too. It should help you identify your Path’s potential much more specifically.” He blew out a smoky version of a hand waving farewell. “Toodle-oo.”
I blinked. Toodle-oo? Had the Weave literally just translated Kostis’s farewell to
toodle-oo?
As I got up to check the job board, I suddenly remembered I hadn’t asked about the mage who had summoned me. But Kostis was already gone. Cursing a little, I decided to focus on getting a job for now.