Chương 49: Chapter 48: A System-Recognized Construct

Knowing it was getting pretty damn late, Ben had wisely decided to find a place to rest before messing around with the construct. Because yeah, there was apparently a proper day and night cycle in this rift. He definitely did not want to get caught outside and messed up by the elements or whatever monsters hunted in the dark. And so he wandered around until he stumbled into a small cavern good enough for resting for now. Quickly barricading the front with what he could find, he settled down inside.

Once he was sitting comfortably, he took a deep breath in relative safety and decided it was time. He immediately started working on observing the construct with more intention. Ramping up [Focus], he easily isolated the little patch of his hand from the rest of the noisy world. Inside his hand. It looked less formed, now that he looked more closely, and more like… Is this just a guide? It looked like one. As if he were supposed to etch into his body with something using it as a guide. Etch with mana, perhaps?

It was honestly kind of mesmerizing. Probing the three-dimensional structure with [Mana Sonar], he started picking apart the tiny glowing lines. It wasn't just a hollow shell holding energy like his usual brute-force methods, looking closer, he realized the whole thing was basically a tiny internal system that was supposed to be etched right into his body after he went ahead with it. The runes were rudimentary and just seemed to be placeholders.

Made him wonder if this was where he was supposed to etch his skill inscriptions, or at least parts of them. Constructs could be an expression of skills, that way, with skills acting like a weird magical backend to make things work. And the glowing pathways connecting them were just routing the mana to function in different ways. It was essentially a magic circuit board.

He completely understood how it worked with that cursory inspection he'd done earlier before he set out to find this cavern, and now that he'd observed with more detail, he knew with certainty he could copy this one. Raising his left hand, he immediately pushed his mana out of his core and started working on the construct. Using [Mana Manipulation], he started copying the exact same runic blueprint Ethan had left him.

For now he just wanted to see if copying the rudimentary placeholder inscription did anything, or if it was there just for show. He could change it up later. Honestly, it was ridiculously easy. Carving the pathways and etching the tiny runes, the mana just flowed exactly where he wanted it without any real resistance. It barely took any effort at all and he carved the construct into his body with mana, stabilized perfectly right on his left palm. Instantly, a notification popped into his vision.

Would you like to bind the [Learning Model] construct? Congratulations! [Learning Model] has been added as a construct! Accepting the prompt without much thought, he immediately opened his system interface to check if there were any changes.

Name: Benjamin Title: [Hunter] Tier: 1 Skills (7/10): Focus (Uncommon) - Lvl 17 Mana Sonar (Uncommon) - Lvl 11 Fire Burst (Uncommon) - Lvl 15 Warforged (Rare) - Lvl 6 Mana Cannon (Uncommon) - Lvl 3 Regeneration (Uncommon) - Lvl 6 Mana Manipulation (Uncommon) - Lvl 6 Constructs (1/10): Learning Model Titles: - [Hunter] - Equipped - [Lurker] (13/100) Navigating to the new construct window, he stared at the little text sitting at the bottom of the screen. Oh no, maybe I shouldn't have bound [Learning Model] construct.

Thankfully, a new prompt immediately appeared just as he thought that. Would you like to remove: [Learning Model]? Sighing in relief, he just dismissed the window. It was nice that they could be removed anytime, but the system wasn't done with him yet as a brand new notification eagerly took its place. Would you like to learn the skill: [Mana Construct]? Blinking in surprise, he smiled, thinking it was only natural he gained a skill for it. Hell yeah I want it! Congratulations!

You have learned the skill: [Mana Construct]! Checking his status once more, he confirmed it was a common skill, much to his surprise. He thought it would at least be uncommon, but then he remembered that skill rarities, or ranks, didn't actually mean they were weak, just that there was a structure for skills to climb. So there could be amazing skills that were common, skills that would be even crazier once they were evolved to higher ranks.

Going all in on the mana path was totally the best decision he'd ever made, because now that he was gaining more mana skills, it was bound to start paying off. Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings. Since he had the [Mana Construct] skill now, he wanted to try and create an actually helpful construct. First, he wanted to replace the [Learning Model] construct's placeholder inscription with one of his own.

So he started prodding the new construct on his palm with [Mana Manipulation] and his shiny new [Mana Construct] skill, trying to understand what made it tick and what it did. Because honestly, it'd probably be pretty nice to actually understand what the thing did before he started messing with its internal plumbing. From his understanding so far, there were two types of constructs.

Constructs he manually made outside of his body to manipulate mana, the ones system did not recognize, like his gun barrel, or just free weaving mana to make anything. He decided to call them external constructs for simplicity's sake. External constructs were shaped directly from mana, while what the system recognized constructs did was a bit different. They were inscribed constructs that relied on etching inscriptions and mana pathways into your body to perform their functions automatically.

And their functionality seemed kind of unlimited, so long as he could come up with a functioning form for the construct. Which was probably the difficult part, he realized. He never really thought the system would ever bother providing any actual details or helpful descriptions to him, but he sure hoped it would give him something for the [Learning Model] construct. So that he could know what it did before he started messing with it. Suddenly, a text box popped into his vision. Wait, what?

Did the system actually just give him a description? [Learning Model] A rudimentary construct designed to demonstrate the fundamental principles of mana storage and release. It helps hold a predetermined amount of mana within an externally made construct and releases it after a set duration or when specified conditions are met. Though simple in function, mana storage and conditional release are fundamental components of countless more advanced constructs.

Mastering this principle provides a foundation for understanding how constructs can store, preserve, and expend mana without continuous input from their creator. Author: Edwin Solstice Reading that last little line at the bottom, Ben instantly realized exactly why he'd gotten a neat description. There was no way it was because the system had suddenly grown a conscience and decided to be helpful for once.

It was simply because Edwin Solstice, whoever that was, had actually made this specific construct and decided to attach a description to it for the sake of making his students learn. What did I even expect? The system definitely wasn't about to start holding his hand and explaining magic to him now when it had never given any descriptions to begin with. Right? Realizing he was insulting the omnipotent magical spell that literally gave him superpowers, Ben closed his eyes. I was just joking, don't mind me.

Please don't take away your blessings, almighty system. We're cool, right? He shook his head and forced himself to [Focus] back on the inscriptions in his hand. Since the construct consisted of a central piece, which was the inscription, and an outer ring full of pathways, which defined what it could and would do once executed, Ben realized he actually understood what they all did. Especially now that he had the context of the description in mind.

Filing that little revelation away for later, he turned his full attention to the main inscription itself. Time to see what he could make. Mentally scrolling through his options, he stopped on [Focus] first. It was entirely a mental skill, meaning turning it into a useful construct was probably way above his paygrade right now. But he couldn't help the intrusive thought from slipping in. What if I made a sub-mind?

Imagine making a little external construct that just handled all the heavy lifting for his mana control. Hell, why stop at one? He could totally make an entire network of sub-minds to do a lot of stuff for him. That would be absurdly strong, but it was way more than what he could do right now, so he was hesitant. Because that functionality didn't really fit in the mold [Learning Model] gave him. Moving on, he considered [Mana Sonar].

Since it was mostly just a sensory skill used to scan his surroundings, the applications were pretty obvious. If he shoved it into a construct, he could leave little invisible radar dishes lying around to act as proximity alarms. Then there were the offensive ones, like [Fire Burst] and [Mana Cannon]. Functionally, they were simple and a lot similar in many ways, since he learned [Mana Missile] after he tried to learn something in [Fire Burst]'s image. He just pushed mana out and made things go boom.

If he used the [Learning Model] to hold the mana, he could totally make a timed explosive. Fire or mana didn't matter. Things going boom was nice in and of itself. Or better yet, he could combine it with [Mana Sonar] and literally mine the entire perimeter of his little cave. Just picturing some dumb monster stepping too close to his resting spot, and boom, instant fried chimera was enough to make him want to do this one. And it fit perfectly into [Learning Model]'s mold, too! Wait, actually…

Could he even put two different skill inscriptions into the exact same construct? No, think simple, Ben. Think simple. He shook his head firmly and crushed that train of thought before he got carried away. For now, at least, he would rather keep things simple and learn the basics first. He didn't want to blow himself up by accident, after all. Trying to combine skills on his very first attempt was just asking for trouble.

Though he did notice a connector in the [Learning Model] construct he could probably change around and shift to work with two inscriptions-slash-skills. Looking at [Warforged], though, he honestly drew a complete blank. He had absolutely no clue how to even begin turning that into a magic spell of some kind. Because at the end of the day that's what these constructs seemed to be: spells. [Regeneration], however, was a very spicy option.

Since the skill took a massive amount of his active concentration to stitch his flesh back together, automating it sounded amazing. He could just spend his downtime packing mana into little disposable healing bombs. Then, when he inevitably got his ribs caved in again, he could just pop one and instantly heal up without stopping his attacks. And finally, there was [Mana Manipulation]. He didn't even want to touch that one.

The sheer number of things he could theoretically do with raw manipulation was enough to give him an instant headache. He couldn't even manipulate mana outside his body that well yet, so no way in hell was he messing with an inscribed construct using that skill! Could he make an automated floating hand that just slapped people for him? Probably. Could he build a fully functioning mana-maid to do his laundry while he slept? Also probably.

But it was way too damn complex for a beginner project, so he aggressively tossed that idea out the window. … What if he just made a glowing, floating middle finger out of pure mana to hover directly over his head as a warning to anyone who bothered him? Actually, that would be hilarious. Or maybe a tiny, invisible mana-spider that only existed to crawl up that stuck-up noble Thomas's nose and aggressively vibrate? Wait, no, get your head out of the gutter, Ben! He really needed to focus here.

But his brain was already off to the races, completely discarding common sense and throwing out entirely deranged ideas. Could he make a construct that automatically scratched that one spot on his shoulder blade he could never reach? Honestly, it would be a god-tier invention. Or a magical bidet that used [Mana Manipulation] and just a tiny bit of water to— Stop! He violently crushed that incredibly cursed thought before it could fully form. He was a serious [Hunter] in a deadly rift, not a magical plumber!

Plus, figuring out the "how to actually make" for any of that was way too damn complex for a beginner project, so he aggressively tossed all those stupid ideas out the window. So, what exactly was he going to make? He tapped his chin. Which of his skills was the absolute simplest to use as a learning experience? And more importantly, which one was going to be the most useful right now?