Sacrifice Mage-Chapter 49: New Affix Considerations

I had slumped onto the dungeon floor, expecting to see nothing but solid rock in front of my droopy eyes. Instead, I got a stack of blue screens demanding my attention.
[ Rank Up!
Your Power, Vitality, Agility, and Spirit Attributes have risen by one Rank.
Your Gravity Aspect has risen by two Ranks.
Your Sacrifice Aspect has risen by one Rank.
Your Paths of the Acolyte and the Newborn Star have risen by one Rank.
Power
: Silver II
Vitality
: Iron IX
Agility
: Iron VII
Spirit
: Iron VI
Sacrifice
: Iron IX
Gravity
: Silver I
Path of the Acolyte
: Iron VIII
Path of the Newborn Star
: Iron VII
]
I wanted to be exhilarated at the achievements—I had crossed Silver in my first Aspect now too!—but my brain really wasn’t having it. My body was sore and agonized. It felt like I was being cooked alive. Could I even talk? I tried, but my mouth wasn’t working.
There was that same sensation of new, different energy coursing its way through me, leaving behind a very different kind of hollowness compared to mana exhaustion.
I was starting to associate the feeling with growing significantly stronger.
“Up you go now,” Ugnash muttered as he bodily hauled me back to my feet, his arms supporting my weight.
He said more, but I didn’t hear him. My brain was flirting with darkness. My vision turned woozy too. There were more words from the others, and then I heard a distinct uncorking sound. Cool glass pressed against my lips and something like warm honey but runnier dribbled down my food pipe.
I coughed. Awareness hurtled back in like it I owed it a huge debt.
“There you go!” Cerea said. She was the one holding the health potion against my mouth. “Back in the world of the living.”
Khagnio’s ever familiar hissing scoff was almost a relief to hear. “Stop talking like you brought him back to life. You’re not a necromancer.”
I laughed. It kind of hurt to do so, but it felt good too. Especially since the potion was taking effect and healing me up, the pain slowly fading with time.
“We did it?” I asked.
“
You
did it,” Ugnash said in a strangely fierce but somehow proud growl. “You Pits-cursed crazy lunatic. You’re the one who killed a Greater Brillwyrm.”
I breathed in deep. Lungfuls of fresh, un-poisoned air made me feel alive. Made me feel whole. He was right.
I
was the one who had killed the Greater Brillwyrm. “I couldn’t have done it without the Blessed knife.” Some of the credit obviously lay with Escinca. “But… you’re right.
I
was the one who used it.”
“Pits-cursed idiot,” Khagnio muttered. “Why are all mages
insane?
”
They let me rest while the rest of them planned what to do next. The Greater Brillwyrm, now dead, would be a great source of meat for Zairgon. I remembered Khagnio proclaiming free meat earlier. It being a Scarthrall and something the Weave deemed “unholy” didn’t bother them in the slightest. Food could be purified.
I supposed, in a world without a sun, scoffing at free food was an unaffordable luxury.
The problem was transportation. There was no easy way to cut the meat and take it with them. Cerea’s Dimensional Storage would be full with the Brillwyrms they already had and the other dungeon treasure.
We would need to let the Adventurer’s Guild handle the matter. It would mean less profits overall, but it wasn’t like we would get
nothing
. The guild rewarded discoveries too.
“Is Greater Brillwyrm meat different from Lesser Brillwyrm meat?” I asked.
Khagnio stared at me like I was speaking a foreign language. Technically, I was. “I see no head injuries.”
Cerea swatted the Scalekin. “The Greater variant is a lot tougher and more difficult to tenderize and cook. But it also tends to last much longer and has naturally stronger preservative properties.”
“There’s meat that can naturally preserve itself?” If that was the case, no one was ever going to invent the refrigerator in this world.
“Greater Brillwyrms tend to swallow portions of themselves when food is scarce. Tails are often their chosen meal. As such, their bodies naturally evolved to preserve their flesh once any part of them is severed off the main body. This occurs after death too.”
I shook my head. Greater Brillwyrm meat did sound like a bit of a jackpot. I would be a bit miffed if the Adventurer’s Guild didn’t remunerate us for it.
Although, the fact that we were coming out alive after facing a monster that was at least high-Gold, if not low-Opal, was a good reward in and of itself. And then there was the fact that I had gained a bunch of ranks for defeating the Greater Brillwyrm.
Speaking of, Silver meant I now had access to more stuff. One or more brand new Augmentations for my Power Attribute, and at least a couple more Affixes for my Gravity Aspect.
I took a deep breath as I recalled what Gutran had said about finding what worked for me and my Paths and Aspects. They were all related. Or at least, in an ideal case, they would all complement one another without treading the same ground overmuch. If I made sure not to take unthinking decisions.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from NovelFire; any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
The good thing about the Weave was that it didn’t bother offering me a list of choices or anything. I wasn’t forced to pick from a set few options and find what was best.
No, I had actual freedom to come up with what I truly believed was the best for me and my goals.
Of course, there were problems associated with that too. Set options made things easy. Convenient. I wouldn’t have needed to blindly grope in the dark, second guessing if I was making a mistake or not. I wouldn’t have needed to constantly ask other people for opinions to actually understand what was even possible.
Still, if given a choice in the matter, I would have gone with the current system any day. It felt a lot more… limitless. Yes, yes, there obviously had to be limits, but still.
It was sad that we hadn’t found the cave-sheep again. Well,
I
was sad it was missing. Only reason Khagnio was sad was because he wasn’t carrying off chunks of the cave-sheep the same way we had decided to take parts of the Greater Brillwyrm with us. Cerea and Ugnash didn’t particularly care.
Soon, we were almost at the dungeon exit. Finally. I couldn’t wait to actually see the sky again. To think a dungeon delve was all I needed to make me actually grateful to see a permanently dark sky without a proper sun.
Ugnash and the party had decided to leave the monstrous carcass for now, besides the oversized chopped-off chunks of the massive Brillwyrm we carried as undeniable evidence for the Adventurer’s Guild. It wasn’t that the guild was unlikely to believe them that there was a huge repository of free food they could take advantage of.
They were actually doing it for me. The fact that the meat came from a monster that had been converted into a Scarthrall was a much harder sell without proof.
I appreciated the gesture.
Plus, there was a certain aura about carrying gigantic hunks of fresh, bloodied meat right out in the open across the entire city. Also, probably not very hygienic, but it was going to get purified anyway.
We had collected the treasure left behind, including the Scarthrall head I had chopped off as evidence too. When I picked it back up, I was even more thankful for Ugnash’s decision to bring along massive chunks of the Greater Brillwyrm. My vampire head was drying and decomposing, already desiccated. I doubted it would even be recognizable as a head by the time I showed it to the people who needed to see it.
“Not much of proof of anything, is it?” Khagnio said. His tone was a lot less scathing now. The change was almost funny.
“Not really.” I shot him a grin. “You can take it if you want. Might make a nice stew.”
He scowled at me, then cursed me to boot. I smiled. Now there was the Khagnio we all knew and loved.
Since the others were leading the way, I thought about my two new Silvers again. I still wasn’t sure about what my Augmentation for Power was supposed to be. But I did have an idea for the first new Affix I could potentially get for Gravity.
Field Manipulation. I was a little surprised I even remembered its name, considering it had been a good while since I had heard it. I couldn’t even recall correctly whether it was Gutran who had mentioned it, or if it had been Kostis. One of those two, for sure. I was certain that such an Affix not only existed but was learnable for something like Gravity.
Point being that I was already learning it. I had already made progress. When I focused on what I felt like it had to be, all I had to do was remember what I had tried inside the Greater Brillwyrm.
The way I had focused Gravity to try and control everything on me at once. The way I had directed the strands of violet mana over a wide area, acting on a wide set of targets. The way I had I actually managed to achieve that in just that desperate first try…
I was pretty sure my success in that endeavour was what had granted me two whole ranks in Gravity instead of the one I had received for Sacrifice.
“Do you have any area of effect Affixes for any of your Aspects?” I asked Cerea as we continued walking.
“Area of effect?” Cerea mused, thinking. “Hmm, no I don’t think so.”
“Wait, really?” I asked. “The way you used your Lightning and Dimensions a couple of times, I was sure they’d have some sort of area of effect manipulation Affix or something.”
“Oh! You mean Field Manipulation. Yes, I have that, but it’s as an Augmentation for my Arcane Attribute.”
Sometimes, I felt like the more I learned about the Weave and everything it had, the more I just felt ignorant. “Arcane? Guessing that’s a magic-related Attribute. How is it different from something like Spirit?”
“Well, Spirit gives you control over mana and the magical power you can summon through it. Arcane is a bit different. It’s more of a complementary Attribute compared to something like Spirit.”
“Complementary… so you’ve got Spirit too? And complementary how?”
“Yes. That one has Manifestation as an Augmentation. Spirit, like I said, controls your capacity and intensity of mana. Meanwhile, Arcane helps boost your ability to interact with anything magical, or rather, with any sort of mana around you given any sort of tangible shape or effect around you.”
I wasn’t sure if that was a good explanation or not because I still had questions about the practicality of Arcane compared to Spirit. Interact with anything magical… so runes? Potions? Other magic items? Wasn’t I already able to interact with them normally without Arcane?
Maybe Arcane was necessary to
create
them. Though, Cerea wasn’t any sort of Artificer or Enchanter, so I still wasn’t sure why she of all people needed that Attribute.
But I was getting lost from my original query.
“You can transfer Affixes into Augmentations too, right?” I asked. At least, that’s what I remembered Gutran saying.
Cerea nodded. “Mhm. A lot of them, at least. Not all. Depends on what Aspect and what Attribute you’re transferring between. And you can’t do the reverse. General rule of thumb is that Affixes that you think will work with multiple different Aspects can be transfer-learned into Augmentations.”
“That makes sense,” I said.
“Are you thinking of taking Field Manipulation?” Ugnash asked from in front. “As a new Affix? Or did you get your Spirit to Silver?”
I winced. “Yeah, no, my Spirit is still far from Silver. It’s actually my hardest Attribute to raise, I’m pretty sure. But yes, I’m thinking of getting Field Manipulation for Gravity.”
Ugnash was so tall, I had no trouble seeing him nod his head despite being at the other end of the party moving in single file. “That’s a good pick. Especially for an Aspect like Gravity. Great for zoning your opponents and controlling the layout of the battlefield, mess with everyone’s ability to move and dodge. Put Khagnio in his place and all that.”
“Oi!” the Scalekin hissed.
Cerea and I laughed.
“Wait, you said zoning,” I said. “Are you saying I can control Field Manipulation at range?”
Cerea looked at me like I was asking if people needed water to live, before a realization clicked in her eyes. “Right, I forget you don’t have a typical mage education. But yes, it’s a Silver-ranked Affix. Ranged capabilities is one of its key offerings.”
“Huh. Cool!”
If that was true for my Aspect as well, then Field Manipulation would be the first ability I could control without needing to touch directly. That seemed like a significant advantage over the Affixes I had so far. I supposed that was the difference between Affixes learnable during Iron and ones only available after Silver.
All along the way to the dungeon’s exit, I tried practicing with the new Affix I was aiming for. I focused on channelling Gravity as finely as I could. I tried modifying its mana into those fine strands I had used on the Brillwyrm poison before spreading it out, and while difficult, I felt like I was doing it.
What I had actual difficulty in achieving was making it happen farther off my body. I couldn’t walk alongside one of the dungeon walls and try to train up a new Affix at the same time.
Making Gravity act in a field well outside my body was harder, but not necessarily impossible. Hair-thin strands of violet magical energy slithered out to attach themselves on a stretch of the tunnel wall, creating a field of faint Gravity about the size of a dinner plate. It wasn’t easy to maintain, especially since I was still walking, and the threads disappeared seconds after I summoned them.
The point was that I could do it, but I’d need a little better control or make it a real Affix. Then I wondered if I could control the intensity of gravity within the artificial zone of Field Manipulation. Like using Siphon to lower something’s weight, maybe even force it upwards instead of down. There was a lot I’d need to test.
I felt better by the time we exited the dungeon. Just the sight of the open sky and a breath of non-stagnant air was enough to lift my spirits so much, I felt like I got a physical buff.
“Are you guys heading to the guild straightaway?” I asked.
“Not me,” Khagnio said. “Bathhouse first.”
I blinked. Of all people, I wasn’t expecting Khagnio to be the first to suggest the Bathhouse. Not that I could blame him. We had cleaned up a bit, but I could really do with a cold hard shower. Me especially.
“You have other business?” Ugnash asked.
I nodded. “I want to get to the Guardhouse first.”
They understood, which was why everyone nodded back like it was natural.
“We’ll take care of guild matters,” Cerea said with a smile. “Don’t worry, I’ll make sure they know you’re the one who ended up killing the Greater Brillwyrm. You’ll get the lion’s share of rewards for that.”
I hadn’t exactly been seeking to ask about specific profit shares, but I appreciated it all the same.
We settled on meeting up again in a couple of days, just to celebrate our successful adventure. Ugnash insisted it would be his treat.
“Won’t mind adventuring with you again,” Khagnio said as a farewell. “Mageling,” he added like he had almost forgotten to do so.
I laughed. “Just learn to kill a Greater Brillwyrm by yourself before then.”
I headed off before the Scalekin could curse at me.