85 Grimoire (1/2)
Torix stepped towards the tree, “So you gained another mythical skill then?”
I nodded, “Yeah, it worked out pretty well. I take the gravitational warps then spin them around. It creates a vortex that pulls my hand into the material and the material into my hand.”
Torix nodded, “Interesting. I’ve never even thought of using gravity that way. Here I thought you’d use the magic for mobility and the like. I should have known. You use it to punch harder. Classic Daniel.”
I frowned, “Cut me some slack. It isn’t like I’ve had gravity magic forever. It takes some time to gain mastery over something like this.”
Torix walked back towards his lair, “Indeed it does. My gift may help you progress further and faster in that regard.”
I followed him inside his home before we walked into the basement. I followed him into his lair before we walked down the tunnel system he developed with the beetles. After pacing for a bit, we reached the center of a large tunnel system. It reminded me of how the runes were set up in BloodHollow, a circle room surrounded by tunnels.
Within the circular room and tunnels, runes covered the walls. Beetles crawled along them, carving the inscriptions into the hardened earth. They weren't eldritch runes, but the complexity of the inscriptions were similar. Torches lit those inscriptions, bathing the scene in an orange light.
At the center of it all, there was a marble well full of a shining blue liquid. As we reached the well full of mana, I glanced around,
“Looks like you took a few cues from Baldag-Ruhl.”
Torix shrugged, “I know genius when I see it. There is no reason in avoiding the advantages of Baldag-Ruhl’s implementations. In this case, I am tweaking his own methods for creating grimoires.”
I raised an eyebrow at him, “Grimoires?”
Torix nodded, “They are textbooks of magic. Every mage should own a grimoire, as they allow an easy usage of runes and complex magic. Up till this point, I’ve neglected giving you one. Do you know why?”
I scratched my cheek, “Maybe because I’d destroy it?”
Torix pulled the tome I’d seen him use time and time again,
“I can’t deny that entirely, but that isn’t the primary reason. You see, a grimoire is often given to disciples too early on in their development. You only need to write a magic once before you may use it without referencing it ever again. While this may sound absurd, it stunts the growth of a young mage.”
I shook my head, “It makes perfect sense. Practice makes perfect, and it’s hard to get practice when you only have to do something one time.”
Torix walked up to the marble well full of mana. He tossed his dusty tome into the well of magic. The runes surrounding us shined a bright blue, spreading throughout the entire construct. The air shivered as the humming of magic energies electrified the air. As the buildup of energy reached its apex, the blue aura inside the runes imploded into the well.
No longer full of the blue liquid, Torix took out his old tome. Except, it wasn’t old any more. The new leather binding complimented the pages marked with glossy ink. Torix turned through the pages, a mad grin on his face before he turned to me,
“I just created a new grimoire from the copy of my old one. I charged mana into this grimoire over the last few hours. In total, I used over 1,000,000 mana on this single book, a feat few mages can match. From what I gained of your old health regeneration, you could match that output in only twenty minutes. That is absurd.”
I weighed my hands back and forth, “Yeah, but it isn’t like I know what to do with all my mana yet. I’m not using it very well. At least I don’t think I am.”
Torix grinned, “That is what I am here for, disciple. For your own grimoire, you need to channel your mana into this well for however long you can. Most can handle the suffering and debilitating stress for about four or five minutes. I expect more out of you then that.”
Torix placed his palm over the well, “To do so is simple. Place your palm over the well and flow your mana into it. The booklet will take a suitable form thereafter using the charged mana.”
He turned to me, his grin growing evil, “Are you ready for the trial?”
I rolled my eyes, “I have level one hundred in Pain Tolerance. It isn’t like this is going to be painful.”
Torix frowned, “Bah, why ruin an old necromancer’s fun? Regardless of what you might believe, the pain won’t be the difficult part. Controlling the flow of your mana will be, especially considering it’s more of a flood at this point.”
Torix pocketed his new grimoire into his robe, “Before you begin something like this, we need you as strong as you can possibly be. As such, I’ll be giving you the dungeon cores you need.”
He opened a black portal to his side, he reached his hand into it, “How many do you need?”
I glanced at my status. Since turning level 1000, the status screen changed. At the upper right corner of it, there was a number indicating how many dungeon cores I absorbed. Below it was a number showing how many cores I could still absorb. I fiddled with my status,
“I need about eighteen of them.”
Torix sighed, “There is one thing correct about what Kessiah said earlier. I am almost out of dungeon cores for you and Althea. I still have enough for this at least.”
He handed me the eighteen red cores and two smaller yellow cores. I assimilated the cores before checking out my status. With a single thought, all the attributes poured into endurance. I selected finalize.
I didn’t expect much from 182 attribute points. At that point, it wasn’t an enormous increase in my total stats. It wasn’t even enough to move my endurance up by a tenth. That made the rush of vitality and the restructuring of the arcane chains shocking. It was a solid increase in my vitality, something I hadn’t seen coming.
With that in mind, I opened my status screens,
Level 1360
Strength – 1274 | Constitution – 1556.6 | Endurance – 3059.2
Dexterity – 406.2 | Willpower – 1892.6 | Intelligence – 719.2
Charisma – 96.3 | Luck – 239.8 | Perception – 191.9
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Health 193,733/193,733 66,107/min or 1102/sec Phys Dam Reduction - 98%
Stamina 86,800/86,800 1012sec Elemental Res - 98%
Harbinger of Cataclysm 12.98 Billion/56.6 Billion 74.3/per min(conduit) Plasma Res - 98%
Oppression Damage- 15,000 + 80% hp/min Rad Res - 98%
Phys Dam Bonus - 13,530% | Total Damage Bonus 20% Mental Res - 98%
The first notable difference was that my health and health regen shifted quite a bit. All the other stats increased at a steady rate except those two stats. I almost had 200K health now, and my health regen was insane. I went back over my perks and stats totals, sifting for an answer. I found it after a minute of searching.
The level 1000 perks gave huge bonuses that scaled with every 1000 points I gained in an attribute. The reason for the steep increase in health and its regeneration was I passed 3000 total endurance. Since I amassed another 1000 in the attribute, my scaling in health and health regeneration increased. This resulted in a solid boost in stats.
It was a nice boon for my stats, kind of like a surprise gift. With that gift in tow, I walked up beside Torix. We stood in front of the marble well, the blue liquid gone now that the mana was drained. Torix turned to me, “Just channel the flow of your mana into the ritual. It should do the rest for you.”
I nodded before reaching out both my hands, “Any other tips?”
Torix pointed at the runes, “You may have to adjust the runic configuration using your own mana. I made the incantation as generalized as possible, but your mana is unique. Creating a ritual specifically for it proved difficult.”
“Alright, thanks. I’ll give it a shot.” I closed my eyes, sensing for my mana. It returned in a torrent, like a raging river of energy. I poured it into the well, the mana coursing like a vibrant cascade. The red mana infested the marble well, making a demonic red, the same color as my ascendant mana.
Not long after, my mana poured out of the well. The infestation spread throughout the runes, replacing the blue with the crimson color. I tried pulling mana in, but it was damn hard. It was like trying to aim a fire hose at a fly.