Chương 55: 51. Some time to breathe

It squirmed and pulsed with sickly, unnatural light. I looked in fascination upon the meteor traveling through the void of the universe, its surface remembering the strange eons before the age of gods or men. The strange, indescribable light once shone upon the world before the planes separated and gods walked the earth. It drew me in. The ethereal flame started to burn my skin as I clawed my way through the unending emptiness, just to burn in the cold radiance of the colors outside of space. The comet pulsed.

A wave of eldritch energy covered me like a tsunami as I woke up, taking a deep breath. I looked around the bare-bones room, half expecting it to be washed in those strange colors. But instead of the haunting beauty of the meteor, it was simply lit up by the sun, lazily climbing the horizon outside. I sighed and stretched a bit. I wasn't sure at what point in the dream I fell to the floor. It might have been during the travel through ether, it might have been the descent into the whispering city.

But whichever part it was, it must have been quite early in the night, as my whole body was stiff. A telltale sign of a couple of hours spent on the floor. I got up with a groan, trying to get rid of the stiffness. Looking toward the kitchen, I saw the safe lying on the floor, accompanied by pieces of the table after the tiger broke it, trying to put the heavy piece of metal on the fragile wooden surface. Yesterday, we got the doctor to realign my bones in the middle of the night and without asking many questions.

After dealing with the medical stuff, we left Ophelia at a hotel under the watch of a few cats, and Q'Shar dropped me off at my apartment. Before bed, I took another potion, allowing the bone to start the healing process. It was not perfect, and I still felt a dull ache, but at least I could use my left arm again. I went to the kitchen and opened the fridge. It was empty, aside from old milk, a piece of cheese, and a few bottles of sauces I never finished.

After a bit more searching, I managed to find instant noodles that somehow survived the last month of me spending my time preparing everything for the sacrifice, ascension, and, most of all, the mansion. A lot of the materials from the storage were sold to buy alchemical ingredients and building materials for the house.

We also got rid of some mana crystals, but the cat said it would be alarming if I suddenly started selling mana crystals, something no one sane did, so we mostly traded artifacts and components I would not have any use for. I sat in the kitchen, waiting for the water to boil. It was a strange sensation. The past month seemed like a dream.

After stagnating for so many years, things were moving at a breakneck speed, and now that most were finalized or pending for a bigger concentration of mana, the sudden break seemed unnatural. I went to check my private phone as I waited for the water to boil. There was an email notification.

"Regarding your absences," read the title. I almost chuckled. I practically forgot college existed. I went to a couple of lectures throughout the month, but it was mostly out of habit, more than anything. The point of going there was to have a normal job in the future. But soon, exorcist would be one of the best-paying professions, so it was pointless. Maybe the physics course for space magic, but it had too many useless subjects attached as part of the curriculum.

I should take my papers out and leave the university properly now that I had some time to catch my breath. And hopefully, Ophelia would get herself sorted soon so that we could start her training. It was hard to understand her issue. How did she live without magic, and what was there to hesitate about was beyond me. But I knew that magic was something you needed to invest your entire soul in. So she needed to make that decision on her own, more or less, at least.

I finished eating and went to my car, going to the spawn house. It changed a lot. The house was clearly cleaned. Some parts that were previously in poor condition were now repaired and repainted. But most of all, there was a 'sold' sticker slapped over the old 'for sale' sign. I needed to find a new vein. I looked around, but it didn't seem like the buyers had moved in yet, with the house being completely empty. I tried the spare key I got from the previous owner, and it still worked.

Walking in, I went towards the vein. I could sense it now from around a meter away. The mana concentration was growing steadily. I went through the ritual once again. Race: human? - Ask when possible.

Magic circle: 2 Attributes: Strength: 16 Dexterity: 17 Endurance: 16 Intelligence: 23 Wisdom: 14 -> 15 Willpower: 25 Mental Defense (non-fear): 24 Soul: 18 Skills: Multilingual, Authority Over Mana (apprentice), Authority Over Mind, Eldritch Madness, Eldritch Tongue, Servant to the Abyss, Spell Casting, Ritual Casting, Curse Weaving, Full Astral Projection (apprentice), Golem Creation (novice) Secrets: Fire, Space, Death, Mind Mysteries: Space, Death, Curse, Soul, Mind Enigmas?

: Eldritch A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The new skill was useful. I learned it after reading the book on creating the undead ents. The process was technically called golem creation. I knew the basics before, but now it was official. I only had one day to review the book while we waited to return to the USA from Norway, but with the basics that overlapped with necromancy, it was enough to be classified as a novice.

But other than that, and the small increase in wisdom, there was not much change. For a second, I considered checking my other social attributes out of curiosity, but decided against it. I didn't know if the new owners of the house would return soon. It didn't look like anyone had moved in yet, but I didn't want to push my luck. I was also sure that my understanding of the secrets of space grew considerably, but that wasn't something I could check with the eight ball. I then checked the lines on my palm.

And most of all, the lines describing the circles. The first two should be full, looking like rings, while the third should now go all the way through but stay dull until I allow the mana to solidify into an orbit. I made an imprint in the sand mixed with mana crystal powder and sure— Wait a second. I looked closer. There was a grayish-blue circle on my middle finger, but it didn't go all the way through. Or so I thought. It looked like it went around 98% through, like a picture misaligned by a few pixels.

I couldn't tell if it was my own imagination or simply an issue with the sand and how fine the mixed crystal dust was. I redid the ritual, making the imprint once again, this time lifting my hand from the surface slowly to make sure not a grain of sand was misplaced. Same thing again. It looked like it was not full. But why? I started meditating, not caring if the owners made a sudden return, and checked my mana. Two fully solid circles around my spark. And a circular nebula.

I took a magic crystal and slowly started to add mana to the unsolidified circle. But the moment any more energy touched it, it started to collapse into a solid state. I immediately took control of it, preventing the ascension. That was weird. I should have a complete orbit, so why was the ritual indicating it was almost complete? It could have simply been a matter of the spell.

But a circle could be built only once, and although possible to destroy an orbit if in a pinch, it would usually cripple the caster, making any advancement almost impossible. So I was not risking it with a circle. I sighed. My initial plan was to ascend and then go to the fortune teller. But now I was not sure. I needed to check the reason for the ritual acting strangely, even if it was simply due to the sand I used or some minor issue I hadn't noticed.

Hopefully, Ophelia would sort herself out soon, and I could take her with me to see the fortune teller soon. I cleaned up after myself and returned to my apartment. It was around midday when I entered the kitchen once again, this time stopping beside the safe sitting on my floor. I needed to take it to the storage unit to work on it properly. It took me another three hours to move it into my car.

By the end, I thought about calling the tiger, but finally managed to inscribe a working runic circle on the uneven safe, which lessened its weight enough for me to lift it. I entered the storage with the heavy thing on my back, wrapped in cloth so I didn't have to explain what I was doing. I dropped it in the middle and looked around. The previously cluttered storage area was now mostly clean. The cats had taken the materials, which occupied most of the space, and brought in things in crates and chests.

All nicely stacked on top of each other. Half of the storage area was now open space, with containers standing neatly stacked. The second part was where all my necessary items were. It was in the same disarray I left it in. There were a few chests with items I could use, six of which I couldn't open. Multiple bookshelves filled with tomes on magic, history, and gods, enough for a small library, but nowhere near a proper wizard's library. Those could be the size of a small house. But all in due time.

Aside from the books and the chests, there wasn't much else. A few containers of less important stuff I didn't want to get rid of, some materials that didn't sell, and the chest with mana crystals. Many of the lower-density ones were empty or gone, as some spells and rituals shattered them, destroying the crystal permanently, or they simply deteriorated with time and usage. I sat down and stared at the safe. I could probably attune a death spell to damage metal, causing it to rust.

But there was a good chance that it was stainless steel, and it was so thick that even if I got it to deteriorate, it would take ages and a lot of mana to do. So my idea was simple. Use force spells to bend the locking mechanism enough for it to open. My Abyssal attack bent the doors enough to see a small part of the mechanism inside. It took me another two hours of casting the same spell over and over again, trying to widen the gap enough for the latch to move out of the metal.

Finally, with a pounding headache, as I was slowly considering using eldritch spells again, I managed to bend the doors. It's hard to explain the feeling of happiness I felt when the plate finally opened. I went through two crystals casting only Force and Force Control just to open the goddamn thing. I took a blue magic potion to soothe my spirit, lessening the burden of casting. Finally, after a short while, with the headache now only a small pounding, I opened the doors. The first thing that I saw was documents.

I took a quick look. They didn't have any signatures or crests, sadly, at least they weren't that amateurish, but they were binding deals between a few people. They had bloody fingerprints in place of a signature. I should give those to the cats. They know their business. If there's some info in here, they should find it. And I was not going through a book's worth of boring documents. But I doubt the guy came back into the hideout just to retrieve the documents. I would assume he was there for the reward.

I looked deeper inside. There was one more thing. It was a small box, thankfully without a lock. It was wooden, with some decorative carvings depicting epic battles and mythical monsters. There were also runes carved into the box, probably some protection, maybe a lock of some sort, but they weren't activated. I opened the box. And my eyebrows immediately shot up. I picked up a small pouch from inside. I knew what it was. It was a bag of holding. A spatial artifact capable of storing quite a few items.

It was fashioned from black leather etched with arcane runes, none of which were active. I furrowed my eyebrows. Spatial artifacts were rare. That was because you couldn't hold them up with runes. To create a spatial artifact, you needed to bend space permanently, which was extremely tough to do. But thanks to that, using them didn't require any mana, as it was a permanent bend in space that you just entered and retrieved things from. They were useful, sure. But to risk your life just for some storage artifact?

If the mercenaries didn't know that magic was making a comeback and were just told to catch me, then why risk it? I tried opening it. And smiled as I immediately understood. The pouch didn't open. I did not sense any magic from it, so it was a seal. Unlike enchantments that usually converted mana into a given effect, seals were like arcane locks. Once applied, they would stay in place until opened or broken, not needing any additional mana to function.

I tried to attune myself to the lock, but I immediately sensed how complicated it was. But I was confident in my mana control, I should be able to open it after ascension. If I had to guess, it was cast by at least a fourth-circle mage. That's why the owners didn't open it. A powerful mage probably left it behind, and no one capable of opening it was left in the family. And that meant whatever was inside was the belongings of at least a fourth-circle mage. Probably untouched since magic was present in our world.