81 Void-Step (1/2)

”How come you get to design the boat?” Rainer asked.

”Because I have both the money and the common sense.”

”But it's my money in the first place…”

”Um, Master Nvos,” Lilia quietly interrupted from the side.

”Hmm?”

”When Master Talmestues in the White Mage's Tale was thinking of designing his mage tower, he made sure to avoid designing other things to not pollute his mindset. He left the more mundane tasks to his servants, even though he knew he could do it so much better than them.”

Sarah was just about to glare at Lilia before she stopped and saw Rainer thinking over the idea.

”Alright, off you go then,” Rainer said, taking a seat on a bench a bit outside of the Craftsman Guild.

Sarah went, before Rainer could change his mind, with Gunthar following. As usual in public, he wore magically-made leather armor, a cloak, and a mask to hide his undead features. The party had long since decided that any time they split up to have someone with [Soul Detection] with each group.

Both Luna and Tiamat occupied Rainer's overcoat as Kara sat by his right on the wooden bench. Lilia sat a bit away to the left, now looking over yet another book he made for her, this one less from memory and more written by him.

Absentmindedly scratching Kara's ears, Rainer wondered why Lilia didn't want him to design the boat. While only Sarah showed it, he found it hard to believe Lilia was as okay with the previous week and a half trip over the sea as she seemed. He certainly wouldn't have been at her age, even when considering her above average maturity.

Perhaps she believed in the only other person who suffered during the trip to properly design the boat?

Rainer found himself agreeing with that judgment. He didn't mind the duration since he'd be spending most of his time on the boat either sleeping or controlling the flight spell. And even then, he wouldn't be paying much attention to the boat, instead going over runes and ideas as well as the numerous books memorized in [Sleep Learning].

And right now, Lilia went over a book on basic arithmetic he had written with Mana for her, in the process gaining himself the skill when he did several calculations beyond simple ones in his head thus far.

[Skill Gained: Arithmetic level 7/10]

He wasn't a human calculator by any means, but he could figure out just about anything with paper when it came to simpler things like addition or division. As most who entered college could. At least, he hoped they could. Though, he supposed it didn't matter with modern inventions. What was life without obscene advantages, especially his own.

Some basic calculus work along with trigonometry had gotten him more skills.

[Skill Gained: Trigonometry lvl 6/10]

[Skill Gained: Algebra lvl 5/10]

Lilia held a quill with ink by her side that they bought on their way here. Sarah's complaints about the price reminded Rainer just how a large benefit it was to have Luna making paper and books for him. It was easy to forget, given where he came from, but books in this time period were beyond just being considered a luxury.

Rainer himself held his own stack of paper, ink, and quill by his right, bound with a cover made from the leather of a snake-type Monster. This time none of it magically made. He could not enchant items that Luna created, and those were therefore useless in his endeavors to create a book that would magically aid in learning runes. He had soon realized that, even if he wanted to, he might not be capable of fully teaching Lilia runes the standard way. At the very least, he expected the process to take far too long, even by usual standards.

So now his thoughts went towards his original idea. The very idea that his academy depended on. A book that could teach the skill, [Faraan Runic Language], without the help of any teacher. An enchanted book - perhaps one that even utilized the Aura inscriptions of his unique Arcane Aura to accomplish what the City of Enchantments, Nalmar, could not.

A Grimoire…

Rainer mused. More than a collection of spells, but a book that could teach magic itself. Even more so, his thoughts went a degree further. Creating a book that would unlock one's Affinity. Or one that was enchanted in such a way that it could take in Mana and use spells in a reusable way, different from the weak and single use Magic Scrolls he's come across early on in this world.

That would be a true Grimoire.

Then to even drop copies of said Grimoire across worlds, and across civilizations in different times in different places. Spreading magic in a way a single Academy couldn't do. A light laugh floated across the air at that prospect.

Somehow during his ruminations, Kara ended up laying her head on his lap, rather than just sitting by his side. His hand, of course, still scratching her ear. The sun had just risen a few hours ago over the horizon and now faced them. The light peeked out past the clouds that covered it just moments ago.

With reality shining down on him, Rainer went back to the 'normal' idea of just creating a book to teach Runes in full.

Sarah had returned close to 30 minutes later and the group waited a few hours as a team of high-leveled [Carpenter]s worked on their boat.

When Rainer rounded the corner of the guild and headed inside to see the completed boat, he was a bit stunned at the 'boat' that had been made.

”A raft?”

”I just told him the general requirements,” Sarah responded, ”I left the interpretation up to experienced hands.”

Rainer nodded as he glanced at the 'raft' that was to be their transportation. A rectangular floor board lay across the logs that made up its base. Small and thin wooden walls rose around it. In one of the corners was a blocked off rectangle for more private matters. Everywhere else was a wide-open space with the exception of a thin pole in the center leading up to the square platform. Likely, where Rainer was to be seated whenever he wrapped the thing in his flight spell.

”I assumed you'd be enchanting it, so I told them to make the wood lighter and thinner than usual,” Sarah added, ”and I have several cushions I bought with Gunthar and bed spreads in my ring. They are more comfortable than the ones Luna makes.”

Rainer had already taken out everything from Yazir's spatial ring last night. Apart from a journal, all else was just various Mana potions. To anyone needing to practice magic, it was a treasure trove of a hundred life times. For Rainer, it merely provided for the occasional extended magic casting.

”I already paid them a tip for a job well done,” Sarah mentioned, stopping Rainer who looked like he was about to take something out of his Spatial Ring.

Despite having already known what the purpose of the 'boat' was, the craftsmen appeared shocked as the party departed into the sky.

Rainer first took them to a place in the jungle while he prepared to enchant the raft away from prying eyes. While they waited, Luna helped to see if Lilia had any classes available. Given the level difference, the shared experience from partying and killing anything would be next to nothing, but Rainer thought it was a waste, just in case she gained any title or leveled any skills outside of [Sleep Learning], not to have even an average class.

Either from her [Strong Soul Affinity], her recent unlocking of Affinity with Fairy Dust, or from her learning of Gunthar's skill, Lilia had the [Soul Mage] class available. Given his plans to teach Lilia, and likely Gunthar for that matter, [Devil's Soul Language], it was only a temporary class.

And after an hour of [Sleep Learning] and another hour performing a basic strengthening enchantment on the entire raft, the party set off to the South-South-west, and the Wolf King's capital. The planned route was direct. Rainer used both a compass and a [Soul Trace] on someone in the most recently visited port town to navigate.

He guessed his original estimate of 2-3 days was a bit high, at most, it would take 1-2 simply because he didn't want to arrive out of Mana or exhausted, otherwise he could fly straight there in half a day of exhausting flying.

After nearly half a day of flying, Rainer set down the raft in calm waters, and with the exception of an undead, the group drifted off to sleep.

With Luna's sleeping spell, the entire party already headed to sleep before Rainer entered the White Void.

Moments later, he brought them all in. Lilia opted to use the unlimited resources of [Sleep Learning] to train the Soul Strengthening skill, something she couldn't do for prolonged periods of time during the day because of a lack of Mana, and Luna went about as usual with her fire.

”Kara, I was thinking we could spar today, at least for a bit,” Rainer wanted to work on his [Arcane Blade] and get her opinion on the skill as well.

”Sure.”

The two walked off a bit so they wouldn't bother the rest. A ”So you're ignoring my request for Body Enchantments again?” resounded out from Sarah and was summarily ignored.

Rainer opted to raise stone walls around Kara and himself in case any spells went flying. An actual fight between them had an obvious conclusion: Rainer's victory. Having no defense or counter against [Void-walking], there was little Kara could do against him. Her heightened werewolf senses would at least protect her against a sneak attack with [Arcane Blade], but he needed to only wear her down with [Arcane Lance]s, or a Final Arcanum combined at the end of Void-walk.

To those who lacked the means to stop or counter his [Void-walking], Rainer held an almost absolute advantage.

It was exactly why he asked Talvara to eventually give Void Will to Kara instead of him. Having no defense against teleportation was too large of a disadvantage.

Even more so, the premise of someone simply grabbing Kara and teleporting away scared the hell out of him.

But for now, he only wished to train with his [Arcane Blade], and perhaps Kara might learn something from trying to block the Divinity-cutting magic.

”Hmm, I can't recreate the enchanted blades,” Kara mentioned, so Rainer did it for her, throwing them over with her easily catching them.

She held one in a reverse grip behind her and another out in front, her stance indicating she'd rush forward the moment they started.

A flash of Arcane on Rainer's hilt indicated the start of the duel.

Rainer stared at the [Aura Blade] that was leading to his neck.

One moment he had been slashing down to meet Kara's blade, that was not only blocked by her Body Enhancement but covered in an [Aura Blade] as well, and the next, the blade vanished and he felt a blunt instrument hit the back of his legs.

And before he knew it, he was lying here.

”I thought the new skill you learned was based on balance?” Kara asked.

”Yeah, and?”

”Why would you put your weight behind your swing? At that point, I may as well avoid it.”

”Because there was too much Aura covering it,” Rainer responded, only to realize she likely did that on purpose. He ventured it was the only way she could avoid it so fast; a plan, rather than a reaction.

”So? Instead of you pushing forward, let me cut my own blade on yours. Rainer, are you sure this is the best use of your time? Even if I could block your [Void-walking], it's better to use your efforts to back away in any case rather than try and push your blade forward. I can not see it ever to your advantage to actually fight with [Arcane Blade] as a true bladesman.”

Rainer laughed as he stood up and found himself agreeing. He had made his own declaration when he first learned [Weightless Blade Mastery] months ago that he would never actually try to use it against a close-combatant that could parry his [Arcane Blade]. His fight versus the [Priest] was a rare case. And if he had been of a different mind, he'd have tried to use Arcanum Step to retreat rather than push forward. Or perhaps even have used [Arcane-Spatial Domain: Spatial Shift] to move himself back.

”There is something else I wish to try out though,” Kara added. She dropped both blades and took a neutral stance with her hands in front of her, ”Fire some [Arcane Bolt]s at me. Start as weak as you can.”

Rainer complied, and Kara took on both bolts directly with her hands using small Body Enchantment made Aura shields. Looking at her curiously only resulted in her motioning him to continue.

She blocked bolt after bolt but didn't seem particularly happy with what she accomplished. Rainer covered his eyes with [Arcane Revelation] as he looked closer at what her shielding was doing.

Rather than just blocking, it almost looked as if the Aura undulated just before the [Arcane Bolt] hit. He understood what she was trying to achieve, and also that if it was possible it wouldn't be a quick thing.

Now arming his bolts absentmindedly and then firing at Kara, Rainer instead focused most of his attention on the Arcane Weave ritual from before but much much smaller. The small forehead ritual he often used to make people fall asleep, except he practiced it at a far larger size to accommodate his current lack of ability in [Arcane Weaving]. Now, he'd try to bring it down to its usual size.

He first drew the outline of it on his palm, before trying to manipulate the Arcane within the weave to match blood as he did last night. He decided to do it piece by piece, now focusing only on the circular outline - something most rituals circles shared.

Rainer lost track of time as [Arcane Bolt]s continued to fly at Kara. Every minute brought Rainer closer and closer to making the outer circle of the ritual as thin and resembling a blood drawn one as possible. He didn't even bother trying to create the rest yet until he could create a thin small circle that didn't cost more Arcane Power than he could ever have.

A flying bolt of Arcane whizzing past his face brought him out of his stupor.

Rainer stared at Kara dumbfoundedly as she grinned at him.

”How?” Was all he managed.

”After a few auto-pilot sessions, I started noticing something else in my enchantments. A touch of magic. And having reached level 8 with the shielding skill, I could partially control just that part. I got the idea from trying this after you told me about your fight with the [Priest].”

”Impressive. Truly. Let's show it to Gunthar when we get a chance, he might come up with more applications.”

”I hope so.”

”But,” Rainer said with a pause. He created a [Spear of Arcane] in his hands and then threw it straight up.

”Explode,” He said for effect, commanding the magic within to explode mid-air as he had in the past.

”I need to keep it hidden and avoid using except when most needed,” Kara responded immediately.

”Yep, but it's not a bad trump card. Let's keep practicing.”

While using a variety of armed spells to attack Kara, Rainer went back to focusing on his [Arcane Weaving].

He stopped after a few hours having gained a level in the skill and realizing that there was something he couldn't, or rather shouldn't, put off any longer. That, and even after using massive amounts of Arcane Energy in forming numerous weaves he had hit a bit of a standstill in his weaving.

[Arcane Weaving has reached level 8]

”Alright Sarah,” Rainer said, interrupting her practice with [Enchanted Flesh], ”Time for your enchantments.”

”Ah...o-okay,” She responded a bit nervously. No matter how much she teased him on the subject, it wasn't as if she was actually in a rush for her brother to see her without clothes.

Sarah watched as with a wave of Rainer's hand as he constructed a wooden cabin.

”Let's get this over with.”

A few hours later the pair left the wooden cabin and saw Kara waiting outside. It wasn't hard to tell that she was struggling with every bone in her body to hold in her laughter.

”We never speak of this.”

”Unfortunately, we have to do it for real tomorrow.”

”We never speak of this, after tomorrow,” Sarah corrected.

”And then again for Void-walking.”

”We never speak of this, after that time.”

”And then-” Rainer stopped mid-sentence as he saw Sarah was most certainly not appreciating his corrections, ”-we never speak of this again,” Rainer corrected.

A creative use of clothing had kept more sensitive areas hidden and his laser-like focus to not cause pain or screw up removed a majority of any awkwardness. But as often when he used Mana, there was an unintended side-effect that thankfully wasn't as anywhere near as pronounced as it was in the past. Such as the first time he fed Luna mana after he exited the mine. But the occasional noise during the enchanting session, and his lack of skill to prevent it, was not entertaining in the least.

Leveling up the skill had given him more control, only at the end, however.

[Skill Gained: Magic-Human Body Enchantment lvl 4/10]

[Magic-Human Body Enchantment has reached level 5]

The cross-over from Fae was pretty high, Rainer had realized when he looked at Sarah with [Arcane Revelation].

Their [Sleep Learning] session came to a close as Kara chased a red-faced Sarah around asking how her 'first time' was.

On the next night, Talvara appeared after everyone else left. Rainer had already brought out the enchanted Gateway, studying the runes that made up the enchantment. Combined with [Void-walking], he finally felt he at least had a foundation to start messing around with [Arcane Awakening].

All that was left was to witness [Void-traveling] itself.

”I shall do my best to drop my skill level so that you may properly witness it,” Talvara spoke as Rainer stared at her with [Arcane Revelation].

Forcibly refraining from using [Void Detection], Rainer tried to simply sense the Void around him by sinking into his Void WIll. With the [Sleep Learning] space under his control, he received an assistance in that regard.

Rainer watched as she effortlessly disappeared and reappeared in various spots in front of him. It seemed to her, even as she put it, dropped skill level that it required no more focus or attention than when one moved their arm. Getting a general gist of how Void Will was used to accomplish this, he opted to try it out on his own.

With all the Void Will he could control, Rainer forced his body into the Void and hoped he came out properly on the other side. When he lost all sensation moments later, he found himself reformed in the White Void. Further attempts showed him reaching no closer to achieving [Void-traveling].

Oddly, this gave him a different understanding of the skill. Instead, he used what [Void-traveling] was not to start and work on creating a version of it with [Arcane Awakening].

In his mind, Rainer put the skill together as Runes lit up through his pants. Runes borrowed from [Void-walking] to connect him to the Void, runes borrowed from the enchanted Gateway to propel one through the Void came together with the final addition being runes borrowed from Mind Magic.

[Void-traveling] was not something to be forced. And so he borrowed runes from a common sleeping spell he received from Maya but had not yet learned.

And with an assistance from his [Archon] class, Rainer once more stepped through the Void.

[Skill Gained: Arcane Awakening: Void-Step lvl 1/10]

The distance was short. The knowledge that you even traveled through the Void at all, completely lost. But the cost to both his mental facilities and Arcane Power itself was cheap. Casting a spell at the same time he used Void-Step may even be possible, creating a deadly combination. In fact, focusing on another task as you stepped may even be an improvement on the skill.

”So, you have succeeded?” Talvara asked

”For the most part. Now it's a question if I can get it to work on Kara,” Rainer mumbled, mostly to himself. He took out the corpse of the demon he usually worked on and started the enchantment, leveraging the massive Mana of [Sleep Learning] to rush as many practice sessions as he could.

Even then, he'd prefer Kara, and Sarah for that matter, test out the enchantment in here, as he still wasn't sure it wouldn't end up just taking her legs through the Void rather than her.