Chapter 110: The Second Trial

A misty breath left Rainer’s mouth as he stared at his surroundings. Only sheer will kept him floating as he hastily flushed his body with [Arcane Invigoration]. He had pushed the spell a bit too far.

Rainer straightened out his overcoat as he was reminded at Tiamat’s lack of presence.

Given the chill he felt, even under the effects of [Arcane Invigoration], his resistances, and the general feeling of numbing, he made a proper decision in leaving her behind. He headed higher in the air; the Draconic Magic named [Eldritch Flight] was efficient to the point where he ventured he may as well never walk again. That, and practicing it in [Sleep Learning] while multitasking had left him with level 10 of the tier 3 spell.

It was certainly far harder than any normal tier 3 spell to level. The 60 skill points gained and that fact it was considered a first time once more, showed it as such.

At this point, he barely needed to pay attention to keep it running. Though, he did feel for Tiamat. Were it not for his recent leveling of [Eldritch Draconic Mage] and the three skills he bought; he wouldn’t have learned it before her. Even now she still struggled a bit, only maintaining a hover for a few seconds before she’d run out of Mana.

He knew her wings somehow helped the Magic from his [Arcane Sight], but beyond that knew little else of how the spell was supposed to work for her. The prospect of this being a part of some sort of racial memory interested him beyond anything else. He couldn’t wait until she grew up enough to speak.

Unlike the skills of [Voidwalker], which seemed not to be meant for an ordinary person, the [Eldritch Draconic Mage] class clearly existed for a Mage. Though, not necessarily for a human one.

[Blood Sensing lvl 3/10: A means to closer sense the magical power in one’s blood.]

[Eldritch Flow lvl 7/10: The ability to alter the type of magic flowing in one’s blood into that of Eldritch energies.]

He’d have to see about either creating or taking a source of Miasma with him, the skill itself required only a small touch of Miasma. It was also part of his reasoning that this wasn’t a class meant for a human mage. While nowhere near as bad as [Miasmic Conversion] this skill left him needing to use [Arcane Invigoration] as well.

Perhaps an enchanted item capable of producing Miasma, though he guessed one too powerful or that didn’t have a recharge time would not be possible even with his huge budget. Rainer had many new ideas and restrictions. Most were thought of when Amer not only helped him with it but shared his vast knowledge of all the items he had known people to receive.

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[Eldritch Flow] made it far too easy to cast Draconic Magic he learned from Tiamat compared to how he did it originally.

[Draconic Vibrations: lvl 1/10: Allows the user to magically mimic the sounds of a Dragon’s Roar.]

The final advantage being the unlocked attribute. One that promised far stronger body enchanting in the future as well. Kara would like that.

[Blood Capacity: Increases the amount of power one’s blood can hold and absorb.]

Draconic Runes were expressed through intent and the flowing Magic in one’s blood, even if Mana powered the spells. But with greater power in his blood, it responded far easier to this intent.

Sitting cross-legged, far above the clouds that were just now being affected by a growing [Absolute Frost], Rainer did his best to keep his mind off just what was happening with Luna. The combined time dilation already present in a Trial with the Abyssal Plane left the Familiar Bond at practically a standstill.

So, he did what would benefit him most right now; getting the final level for [Void Seer] and [Void Grasp]. The prospect of advancing to the 2nd Tier and still not being able to make it home honestly frightened him.

Both had paused at level 9 with no significant progress for nearly two weeks. [Void Mastery] had reached level 2 along with them, though Rainer still found himself quickly overloaded by the sensory information if used for more than a second or two.

Rainer didn’t have a clue where to take [Void Seer]. The view was clearer, the sound was as if he was there, the cost, all but nonexistent, even more so than it originally was. He lacked any idea of what do to next. In the past, he never used [Void Seer] long enough to notice it taxing his mind.

[Void Grasp] existed in a similar position. He had used [Void Call] on certain body parts and tried to resist himself and was successful when he didn’t put his all into [Void Call]. He could even resist his own [Void-walking] causing a simple 10-foot walk to take more Mana than he had to push through.

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But in the end, he lacked any idea of what that final level could represent. Pushing both [Void Seer] and [Void Grasp] in different ways eventually led to the stress in his head killing him too many times to count. But Rainer still reached no closer to the elusive level 10.

Waiting several more minutes for the Miasma to leave his body, Rainer then activated [Arcane Awakening] and stretched out [Void Detection]. He lowered himself as much as he could without being overwhelmed by the cold. Just barely, the tip of his detection could reach the temple. He activated [Void Seer] but still couldn’t see past the outer walls.

As he tried to push his range further, he found himself slightly regretful. His choice was by far the safest option, and yet not only the possible Runic Language within may be unreachable but he could have lost a life-long ally like Jor shaped up to be.

It’s true the current Magic Beast would be an all but mindless construction of the Trial like Jor used to be. Its thoughts solely centered on how to kill Trial takers. But Jor had a Soul. Whether or not that truly symbolized life, Rainer couldn’t say, but he liked to think so. If anything, it made Luna feel better. Not that he’d care either way about how others would view her as being truly alive or not. So long as they kept their opinions to themselves, that is.

Rainer felt a slight tug on his mind as he suddenly realized Void Will expended rapidly. A frown marred his face just before he pushed even harder, his vision in [Void Seer] still tottering the edge of just not being able to see inside.

He desired to see. And he let that emotion surface as he pushed on the edge. A quick application of [Void Mastery] at that edge through [Void Seer] and all his Void Will left him. Just as a headache began, he found himself using [Void Seer] outside of the [Void Detection] range. With [Void Seer] outside its range, it was as if it tethered directly to his mind rather than [Void Detection].

Not even needing the [Void Mastery] that originally assisted in the act.

The euphoria lasted only for a moment as the cost for such a viewing, was most certainly not cheap.

He rubbed his temples as he futilely used [Arcane Invigoration]. It was good he had a recent message to distract him from the searing pain. [Void Seer] had leveled just as [Void Call] did.

[Void Seer has reached level 10]

[Experience Gained: XX]

[Void Seer has reached its maximum level. 5 skill points have been rewarded.]

[Void Seer has unlocked Void Sense lvl 1/10]

[Void Sense lvl 1/10: Reach out one’s consciousness through the Void. An ability for one’s mind to travel through the Void with naught but a thought.]

Having the first level of the skill Rainer understood what it did. To where [Void Mastery] granted him nearly complete ownership over a portion of the Void, [Void Sense] helped his mind navigate through the Void and make sense of it. Whereas [Void Detection] created a more interpretative understanding, [Void Sense] gave him a physical one.

He could tell that the skill shouldn’t be particularly taxing, and it may serve him well in reducing the cost of [Void-walking], but his pounding headache left testing for another time.

That, and he was far more interested in seeing what the temple contained after his little peek. [Draconic Runic Language] covered the walls once more. And a written version of [Draconic Runic Language] went against everything Rainer understood.

The walls of the temple agreed with him. Nonsensical gibberish covered them, likely designed to confuse and cause pain to any Mage who looked at their surface too closely. Certainly, not as a primer for learning it.

But it was written down. And more importantly, Rainer had done what most Mages considered impossible; he learned a Runic Language entirely from the written word.

He knew it might have only been a result of his [Arcanist] class at the time, but he still needed to see. To fully check if the temple writings contained the answer he sought, for the teaching of many generations the path of Magic. The nonsensical nature of it, however, gave him comfort in that he made the right choice not to risk his life to read it.

And that he may have never leveled [Void Seer] otherwise.

With no sign of [Absolute Frost] stopping its outward motion, Rainer headed back up higher in the sky to fully recover before making an attempt to get closer than last time. He looked straight up at the moon bathed in a light purple. A representation of the night that came to the Abyssal Plane only once a month.

The whole concept of it actually being a plane was hard to wrap his mind around. He guessed he needed to visit the so-called edge at least once to believe it. He laughed a bit at himself, wondering if that made him the same as a flat-earther, though in an opposite scenario. Amer’s expression when Rainer didn’t seem to believe it, certainly cemented that thought.

A testing over the Familiar Bond combined with [Void Detection] left him utterly blocked. Far stronger than the block the World Tree had erected after Yulia’s death.

But it left a smile on Rainer’s face. It was a truly powerful block, that was undeniable. But in the end, the simple fact that the block existed, rather than Rainer simply being cut off from the outside world, meant it was beatable.

Rainer’s worries over Kara’s and Luna’s Trials might just have a new solution.

--

Two bright flames of Arcane-Fire burned in Rainer’s hands. He soared downwards; his hands turned outwards to stave off the Frost. Getting as close as he was when he used [Void Seer] proved a challenge. But with a final burst of flame, he Void-walked into the temple.

Rainer grit his teeth as he immediately exploded outwards with Arcane-Fire, warming up the small temple room.

To his happiness, the enchanted walls bearing the [Draconic Runic Language] remained untouched. Having now the chance to read them, while also having the skill to do so, he carefully burned them into his memory.

[Arcane Sight] as well served to try and understand the enchantment that Rainer believed the key to display a Runic Language for a person to learn the skill.

He carefully observed the inner workings of the Magic, finding it the most complicated enchantment he’d ever seen. And perhaps even worse for his attempt at memorizing it, the entire building was like a singular enchantment, something he would have never noticed before he started working on the subject himself.

It’s creator likely used an unbelievable amount of Mana to enchant such a thing. Assuming the Trial creator even used Mana.

And so he walked throughout the temple looking at as much of the enchantment as he could. Part of him searched for the now frozen Magic Beast.

The timer ticked down as Rainer finally found the frozen body of the Magic Beast. It was an entirely clear blue magical Serpent like the past Jor, but different from the snake-like familiar, several fins covered its side and with a face more akin to an eel.

[Soul Detection] revealed nothing there.

He paused at the dead body. Information from Earth reminded him of drowning cases where even long after they should have been permanently dead, the water was cold enough to delay that until rescue. Having nothing to lose, he put the aquatic looking serpent into his Spatial Ring.

His thoughts of the serpent still being alive were gone now, with how it entered his ring, but at least he had a chance to improve his [Magic Beast Anatomy]. The possibilities to help Jor in the future were welcome.

[00:00:02]

[00:00:01]

And with a fluctuation of Space, Rainer vanished from a world of water made solid.