Chapter 298: Applying Input (1/2)

The tome reflected the same cutthroat, ruthless mindset of its owner. A foreign but elegant leather sheened navy blue, gold trimming the edges. Black gemstones lustered on the surface, and it carried Torix's patented flair. Peering closer, these polished onyxes cast back any light like eyes in the dark. Those reflections followed me as I turned the booklet, following my every move.

It made these bound pages come to life in a bizarre brio. It was as if the book saw the truth of this world and was dying to share it. In that regard, it mimicked its owner. That insight personified in the tome's heft as well; it commanded over twice the size of my own grimoire. Torix would fill out every nook and cranny of every page, no doubt, so it was good he had the extra space.

Inspecting closer, that wasn't the only cool part of it. Tapping the grimoire, a hollow pong emitted from the back of the textbook. Attached along the rear cover, a hollow casing revealed several canisters and cubbyholes. A few chains and metal knobs held them in place, giving it an aged but refined appearance. Beyond those brass pieces, dark, heavy pages filled the back of the tome.

They were made of the same singed metal that made up my own grimoire. Torix would be able to etch out his finished ciphering here and charge them as I did. Standard runes likely carried the same sort of utility, as the text carried the same silver metal running through its spine as mine did. Chrona shared in my wonder, so I gave her a nudge, ”Thanks for the help. Torix is going to love this.”

She tilted her head, ”It does seem suited for him, from the overlong pages to the weighty demeanor.” She turned to the entrance of this underground sanctuary, ”I am glad to help you how I can, but I must return to my post. My brethren need me above.”

”That's all. Good luck.”

”You as well.”

She flew off before I took the grimoire up past a revolving staircase I made earlier. Walking into Torix's lair, I held the book high. Torix basked in the light of his newfound battery. He already charged his fancy obelisk with the power source and seeing him use it so soon was gratifying. Tapping him on the shoulder, I handed him the tome.

”Finished it.”

Torix turned, grumpy from today's frequent disruptions. That cantankerous demeanor turned to stunning surprise as he held up his hands with the grimoire in hand. His fiery eyes flared bright white with surprise,

”Daniel, this...this is incredible. It's eerily beautiful, almost haunting. Ah, the eyes of the gemstones follow. Hah. A nice touch, if I say so myself.”

I put my hands on my hips, ”Thanks. You're the one who made it look like that, though. For me, I think the metal pages spawned from how my own grimoire was made. Those pages let you etch the cipher and charge them up. They'll float down like glowing lyrics, singeing onto whatever surface they land on.”

”I've often wondered how you gained that ability. It's a rather impressive utility to have, undeniably so on more robust materials.” Torix turned the volume around, operating the nooks and latches with intrinsic ease, ”These will help contain any physical needs for alchemy and the like. Crystallized mana, poisons, hmm, I'll dwell on what to do with these when I have the time.”

He pulled it up to give it one last lookover, ”It's remarkable, really. Thank you. Thank you so much.”

A smile came out of me as I turned a palm to it, ”What exactly do you plan on doing with it? Considering your reaction, you must have plans?”

”Hmm, well, there are quite a few uses for grimoires. After all, you can precode spells that would otherwise be overly complex for practical use. I believe that is how the Emperor used so many advanced magics during his time here on Blegara. He had a grimoire stashed out of sight where he kept using spell after spell from it.”

”Could he have hired someone to write out the spells in his grimoire then used them without actually understanding the magic?”

”Hmm, it's possible but unlikely. I doubt he managed such a thing. Obolis used those spells without thought, and that shows a deep level of understanding, not only for the runes but also for how the magic works. Considering his age, he's had more than enough time to accrue many of the skills required and whatnot.”

”It makes me wonder if he's hiding his potential from us. Either way, I don't think I'll ever get that much use out of a grimoire.”

”Perhaps you could explain your reasoning?”

I crossed my arms, ”I'm a 'feel' based magician. I use magic like muscle memory, which means I can't manage complex, multilayered spells without practice. By the time I could use sorcery like that, I wouldn't need the grimoire. I could just mold the magic as if it were a part of my body.”

”Ah, yes, I do remember discussing it. We exist on opposing ends of that spectrum, then. I'm very much a thought driven caster. I find my premade spells invaluable for keeping my combat effectiveness high. Otherwise, I am overwhelmed by my contrasting thoughts.”

Torix swung a hand, ”You know what, I believe your health-oriented magic might explain the more physical aspects of your own casting.”

”I think so too, but it's just a guess.”

The necromancer cupped his chin in curiosity, ”Your guess is as good as mine. It would require research, which is notoriously difficult on your fabric. Few tools can so much as scratch the substance, along with most forces.”

He stared down, ”And despite acid, heat, elemental forces, anything honestly, I've yet to uncover its composition, atom wise.” He looked up and waved his hands, ”Ahem, though this debacle is no doubt interesting, I must return my full faculties to work. We are on a war front, after all.”

”Eh, it's easy to forget. Cya Torix. Good luck researching.”

”And you as well doing whatever it is you do in your free time.”

Walking out with a wave, I stepped out of his lair nestled in a cluster of corals. Beyond those renovations, I sent him one of the super golems as both an assistant and a guard. Despite Torix's menacing potential in combat, he could still be killed if someone like Lehesion got his hands on him. Even if it was a bit of overkill, keeping him protected offered us a lot of security. Some might say I was too safe, but if anything, this guardianship was long overdue.

What really drove that point home was having Alpha die in battle. He was a weaker super golem, but his tenacity far exceeded Kessiah's or even Torix's. It put how dangerous this mission was into perspective. Any of us could die at any moment, so preventing an untimely demise stood high on my list of priorities.

Also on my to-do list was giving Amara a suitable reward. She did the most for our guild of anyone over the last few weeks, even more than me...Arguably. Ok, probably. Either way, that kind of talent and loyalty deserved recognition, and I sent her a super golem guard as well. Even more so, I got to plan out a set of armor for her, one unique given her strange combat style.

That reminded me to make Kessiah a set of armor as well. I drafted up plans for both of them, keeping Kessiah's simple and mobile while orienting Amara's for combat. For our medical practitioner, I created mobile hand joints along with general cable mail. This interwoven, thick, and wire-based mesh was supported by struts that would absorb crushing forces.

Along those braces, I installed inserts for the tools I made earlier. Wire thin holsters also allowed her to carry an assortment of other devices if she needed them, like tourniquets or splints. Along the inner arms, crystallized quintessence acted as a power source for the armor. Complementing these fuel hubs, I molded reinforced cufflinks near the ends of joints. A few seconds of carving later and gravitational well generators popped up along the joints of the cable strata.

To personalize the armor a bit more, I placed mind magic links to the wearer along the armor's spine. This gave it a central hub for all the runic formations, and it gave Kessiah a rudimentary collection of my magics. She wasn't going to be making singularities anytime soon, but a weak gravity well or more regeneration was within her grasp. A tailor also handled the clothing and uniform aspects. Otherwise, it'd be a bit...ugly.

I mean, it was like a car frame connected by a lattice of cables. Effective for protection? Oh yeah. Aesthetic? Not in my lifetime, unless fashion really changed soon, which could be the case given how weird fashion could be at times. Anyways, the point is, it bothered me enough to have it tailored. That alone was telling.

Having that handled, I went on to fashioning Amara's armor next. She used her hair as a weapon, one that was tactile and sensory. It gave her a discerning precision that paired well with her natural eldritch brutality. Wanting to accentuate those traits, I got my hands on a tech specialist and engineer - John McSmitty answered my call. Our resident albony professional, he hooked me up with some camera tech for Amara's palm eyes.

I made this adjustment because fighting for her was an unnatural, arduous process. That might be why she was a more docile eldritch than most. I mean, she sliced people apart while having her eyelids touch the action. She compensated via spreading her hair out like little feelers during her forrays, but eyesight was always helpful.

Stopping that issue in the future, I made a suit that gave her several cameras to view from on her palms. She'd be used to switching viewpoints often since she moved her hands all the time in conversation, and it gave her a 360-degree perspective wherever she went.

Beyond the sight issues, I had the same tailor for Kessiah measure out Amara's proportions and settle on a flexible jumpsuit for her. It would act as the undershirt for the armor laced over her. Otherwise, the armor would rub her skin raw over time. The dimensional fabric was more durable than she was, so that was inevitable. It was better to fix it before it became a problem.

So handling that, John McSmitty interwove the camera's wiring into this jumpsuit with vantage points over her palms. Having an actual reference for the metalwork after, I began my own project of giving her more combat ability. The most important part of that involved her gauntlets, as they protected her eyes and gave her devastating weapons in the form of her claws.

Maximizing that potential, I ended the gauntlet's fingers with long, bladed points riding the top part of her fingertips. That let her handle detail work with the armor on. Thickened palm plates also kept her eyes safe, along with the nerves that traveled to her head from there. The arms and chest plate were simple enough after that, fitted for her using the previous measurements.

The legs followed before I filled in some of the more delicate joint work. While not perfect, I studied a few medieval armor suits to see how they interlocked various armor pieces. I did that because Amara moved strangely in combat. Creepy and menacing, her joints often bent in the wrong direction, meaning she needed tons of flexibility.

This made the resulting plate mail more delicate compared with some of my previous armors. It also enabled Amara to handle detailed work like typing even with it on. For her face, the opposite situation proved helpful; less was more. I gave her a closed helm with one central opening - a thorny maw.

It acted as my own armor did, generating a red haze over the face and biting without mercy. Amara would hopefully appreciate the sentiment because she was still an eldritch. Her body was a weapon, and given my armor's ravenous nature, it suited both her and the metal well.

Unlike the front, the back of the helm was left open, besides a net of tightly interwoven cables. I tied more strands of my fabric from these cords that stretched outwards from the armor like a mane of hair. At the ends of these strands, I implanted a series of tiny, hooked blades, giving each strand slicing potential. If pulled around skin or bone, they'd slice right through with ease. Pulling one back, they were essentially serrated piano wires.

Painful and effective.

All the threads took up the most time, but my Manifold Mind skill was a real lifesaver here. I made many of these wires at once while implanting blades at the same pace. It saved me days of labor, turning a day or two of work into a few hours. That included the cipheric runes, quintessence batteries for the cameras, and the other adjustments.

As I did all that, I made sure to keep one mind large enough to observe my surroundings. I wasn't about to have another meltdown occur under my watch like with the grimoire ritual. Finalizing one segment with a flash-freeze, I stepped back from my work with a grin on my face. Adding to that bit of joy, our tailor brought in Kessiah's armor using a team of omega strain users.

The armor weighed down with too much weight for an individual otherwise. Peering them both beside each other, they were damn fine pieces of smithing. Kessiah's was a fitted leather suit made from eldritch skin of some kind. It smelled like cedar and wine, and the tailor even embroidered it with the medical cross along the back of a jacket he threw in for free.

I'd pay him extra. As for Amara's, it contrasted the homier medical ensemble that Kessiah gained. Our eldritch's armor carried no gaps for eyes or ears, making the head a challenging point to damage. The gauntlets proved thick and durable, many enchantments covering their surface for making them more manageable weight wise.

The cables finished the effect, making her look outright ominous. Being pretty sure they were quality, I still inspected them both just to make sure they were up to snuff.

The Amaranthine Healer(lvl requirement: 10,000) - This unimposing outfit is actually a garb covering a wire lattice and several sets of cuffs underneath. These wires enable strutted durability, even carrying magical siphoning abilities. The cuffs are nigh-invulnerable, both assisting with preventing crushing forces or being useful apparatuses for smashing enemies.

This disguises the more advanced aspects of this garb. Along its surface, a forest of runes covers it along every etchable inch. This grants many surprising abilities to the wearer, serving the purpose of an exoskeleton more so than a wire mesh. This armor can move through telepathic signaling, it can generate gravity wells, and it can power magic for a time.

This culminates in an exceptionally advanced yet powerful suit of armor that many would be envious of. Be careful with who you give this to, else they might be attacked.

It was an excellent start to this analysis session, so I turned to the next notification, hoping for a description just as upbeat.

A Monster's Evolution(lvl requirement: 10,000) - This is a work made by the Harbinger of Cataclysm for an eldritch usurper. While usually an offense worthy of exilement, this eldritch usurper has proven useful on occasion, so the powers at be have decided to let this issue go.

For now.

Speaking solely of the armor, it sports smooth, gliding joints along with a maw of steel to reinforce a monster's jaws. It also contains an open-back helm for tentacled heads or some unknown yet equally disgusting attack method. The humanoid features also include claws and a network of cameras for the palms. Once again, this is a strange feature, but it exists, so we're noting it.

Despite these strange choices, the crafting work involved is excellent, so the level requirement is very high. Be careful who you give this armor to, as it may come back to bite you later.

Eh, not quite as positive, but it would do. I grabbed the armor's jaws, moving them up and down. This could actually come to bite me later. Hah. Terrible puns aside, the apparent warnings from Schema fell onto deaf ears. I wasn't scared of Amara anymore, and she'd already done more than enough to prove I could trust her. Though, eating a bunch of people during her escape from Gypsum didn't exactly help with that.

She had a good excuse - desperation. That being said, I didn't want her running rampant in this armor. To help monitor that a little, I took a super golem nearby and gave it the armor. I pointed at the titan,

”Make sure you keep Amara safe and comfortable. And uh, don't let her eat people in a demonic rampage.”

”If you will it, then it shall be so, creator.”

The golem floated off, light as air from its gravitation magic. I hoped Amara would enjoy the plate mail enough to wear it, but the eldritch were unpredictable with this kind of thing. My cipheric rune charging was one example of that since it seemed pretty benign to me while terrifying to them.

Either way, I finished up my second day here on Blegara with a more realized team of elites. Staring at our city's outer line, the blue core's barrier stretched out beyond our overtaken territory. We needed more ground for expansion since our subdued district already swelled from all the extras I added.

Setting up another quick goal, I empowered my runes and called in some super golems from our forces. Several of them walked beside me as I recruited Krog and a few gialgathens as a cleanup crew. The grizzled general landed beside us minutes later, and he spoke with confidence,

”Ah, guildleader. It's good to see you faring well. That's a mighty force you've amassed. I assume we'll be expanding outward then?”

I stood with twelve or so golems,

”We'll be tearing them down while you guys pick through what remains. After clearing the area out, you'll need to establish points we can use later for resource gathering and safety. Highpoints will be the most useful.”

”For the line of sight?”

”That, and I can create bunkers in them like we have with our home base.”

”We shall do as you ask. I anticipate we'll be the ones staying there then instead of the humans as well?”

I raised an eyebrow, ”Why?”

”We may escape fire and fury. Humans, all of their ingenuity aside, are slow and frail by comparison. We may survive the onslaughts of our enemy until we've secured this domain utterly, as we intend to.”

I shrugged, ”Hm, I didn't think about that, but it's a good point. Keep that in mind as we head out.”