Chapter 21

A few days after scaring himself witless, Keith carefully tested how much he could divide his mind with Mind Enhancement active while still keeping enough cognitive ability to fight. The number wasn’t outside his expectations, with it turning out to be ten until he reached his usual cognitive level.

For now, it would suffice, as he only wanted to learn how to fight with the orbs and wouldn’t target any monsters around his level until he felt sufficiently prepared.

After discovering how much he could divide his mind, Keith continued to pass the time by experimenting with Sensory Link or theorizing how to utilize his hundreds of skill gems. There were really way too many possible combinations for him to find the best answer, so he just tried the best he could.

Like this, the days passed until finally, Keith received a message from his Aunt over a week later. She wrote that Zeidrick finished producing the first batch of orbs, but he was too anxious for another face-to-face, so she would deliver them herself.

Keith had long grown impatient, so he immediately stopped what he was doing when he read the message. As it was still early in the morning, he quickly did his hair and brushed his teeth before his Aunt arrived. When he finished and rushed down the stairs, he found his Aunt sitting in the living room with a wide crate placed on the table nearby.

“Is that it?!” Keith exclaimed with glee as he approached the crate and prepared to open it.

“Wait.” Serilla placed a hand on the lid. “Zeidrick said this was only the first batch and is more of a test version rather than the completed product, so keep your expectations low. He wants you to give him your feedback after you use them in the field.”

Standing up, Serilla pushed the lid off, revealing two rows of black balls twice the size of a fist. Picking one up, she handed it to Keith, who remarked, “It’s so light.”

“It’s made from veranium,” Serilla explained languidly, too lazy to explain its rarity to her nephew.

Turning it over in his hands, Keith saw that the orb was completely round except for five notches that matched the shape of skill gems. After holding it up to the light, he discovered thin lines engraved on the orb’s surface, their purpose unknown. Finally, Keith used Inspect.

[Mythic] Orb of Casting

Description: A device made by a skilled craftsman. Formed from veranium, it possesses little weight, immense durability and is an excellent conductor for energy. The arrays imbued grant flight, increased defense, increased speed, decreased weight, mind link, and blood signature. At its center lay a sigil containing a spatial node that leads to a specified location, with corresponding pathways running throughout the orb. Another sigil rests below the five skill slots, which grants the Orb of Casting the ability to use skill gems.

“Wow, how could Zeidrick pack so much into this little thing? And what’s a sigil?” Keith looked up at his Aunt in surprise and awe. Of all the orb’s abilities, he understood the ones granted by arrays, but he had no clue what sigils were.

“It seems like a more advanced version of arrays,” Serilla shrugged. “Probably due to his ‘transcendent’ skillset.”

Although Keith was unaware, any other craftsman would’ve rejected his weapon idea on the spot because they couldn’t create an autonomous object that cast skills on its own. Unless there was an innate gift allowing it, there was no craftsman with that ability. Only Zeidrick, with his allegedly transcendent skillset, could.

Serilla handed Keith a knife. “Let it absorb a drop of your blood.”

“Ugh.” Keith groaned as he carefully pricked his finger, allowing some of his blood to fall onto the orb. As if it was a living creature, the orb absorbed his blood as a connection between the two formed.

Growing excited, Keith willed the orb in his hand to rise. Upon receiving his command, the orb silently rose until it reached eye level. Keith smiled brightly. “So cool!”

The window was halfway open on the other side of the room, giving Keith an idea. With a thought, the orb zipped away, shooting so fast it caught Keith by surprise. In the next moment, it shot a hole through the glass as it flew outside.

“Opps.” Keith stuck out his tongue as he willed the orb to come back inside, only to create another hole as it did.

Holding the orb in his hand, Keith awkwardly turned to his Aunt, who gave him a look. “Maybe find somewhere else to practice?”

“I’ll use my warehouse.”

Now that Keith’s warehouse was empty, it turned into an excellent spot for him to get used to controlling his orbs.

Anxious to get started, Keith shamelessly ignored the broken window and placed the orb he used back into the crate. Before he could pick it up, his Aunt stopped him. “Aren’t you forgetting something?”

Serilla extended her hand, revealing an inconspicuous ring on her palm. Keith’s eyes widened when he realized what it was, but as he went to grab the ring, his Aunt pulled her hand away and said, “Before I hand this to you, you must promise never to touch the mana reactor or cast any skills inside. Do you understand?”

“Is it that dangerous?” Keith asked after seeing her expression.

Serilla scoffed. “If this thing explodes outside, it could destroy an entire city. What do you think?”

“Uh.” Keith backed away. “I don’t want it. You can keep it.”

“Hmph.” Serilla stepped forward and forcefully placed the ring in Keith’s palm. “A pocket dimension is incredibly sturdy. If it explodes, you’ll be fine. At most, the ring will shatter.”

When Keith initially heard of a mana reactor and what it was, he was very curious to see how it looked. Now, however, he’d rather keep it a mystery.

Looking down at the ring, Keith reluctantly freed one of his fingers to put it on before asking a question, “So how much mana does it generate?”

Serilla shrugged. “No matter the method, it never ran out of mana, so as far as we know, it’s unlimited.”

“That doesn’t seem right,” Keith remarked, knowing the System wouldn’t allow such a balance-breaking item to exist.

“What do you know?” Serilla scowled at her nephew. “You don’t realize how many resources went into creating this thing. All the various materials humanity stocked up over the past centuries went into these ten mana reactors. Building any more is impossible for the time being.”

After understanding the weight of hoarding such an item for himself, Keith broke into a cold sweat. It made him so uncomfortable he was just about to open his mouth until his Aunt spoke first. “Don’t think of backing out now, brat. You finally decided to commit to something, so you better give it your all before calling it quits.”

Keith felt like a defenseless rabbit standing before a lion under his Aunt’s glare. Sighing heavily, he picked up the crate and made his way over to the warehouse, but not before he thanked his Aunt for her help.

After entering the warehouse, Keith put the matter of the mana reactor aside and regained his enthusiasm for playing with the orbs. Binding each one with his blood, he divided his mind ten times, with each portion focusing on an orb. At his command, they flew into the air and began moving around.

It was surprisingly easy to control, though mainly due to having a fantastic skill like Mind Division. Keith curiously deactivated the skill and found it impossible to control all ten orbs at once without it becoming chaotic. He even had one orb smash into his head, giving him a brief concussion. After that happened, he quickly divided his mind again to regain control.

When Keith grew comfortable controlling the orbs, he expanded his range of influence, allowing the orbs to fly some distance away from him. That was when things got messy. Not being able to gauge the distance hampered his ability to control the orbs accurately. Thankfully, he already familiarized himself with Sensory Link.

Once Keith cast the skill on each orb, he no longer had any problems with depth perception. It was like the orbs became an extension of his body, giving him perfect control when paired with Mind Division.

As time passed, Keith gradually increased the speed at which the orbs moved, quickly finding out they maxed out after a certain point. While it was much faster than Keith could travel, it would eventually become a major weakness when facing higher-level monsters. For now, though, it wasn’t a concern.

Keith continued to experiment with the orbs, and thanks to the training, his new skills gained a bunch of levels.

Mind Enhancement (Mythic) Level 1 -> 25

Mind Division (Mythic) Level 1 -> 24

Sensory Link (Legendary) Level 1 -> 49

Unlike when he sparred with his Aunt, he rather enjoyed the feeling of manipulating the orbs. It would be even funner once Keith socketed some skills into them, but that would have to wait until tomorrow. Practicing all day made him tired, so he returned to his room and prepared for bed after eating a late dinner.

Just as he put on some pajamas, someone knocked on his door. Wondering who it was, he said, “Come in.”

The maid, Cami, entered his room, carrying a tray with some desserts. Although Keith just ate, he wouldn’t mind some sugary sweets. “Thanks, Cami. Just leave it on the nightstand.”

As Keith pulled his sheet aside and prepared to leap into bed, he felt a presence behind him. Turning around, he found Cami standing a few inches away, an eerie green light in her eyes. He felt something was wrong, yet he couldn’t tell what it was. “Are you okay?”

Cami smiled as a dagger covered in sickly green mana appeared in her hand. Keith had no time to react as it plunged into his chest, stabbing straight through his heart as a piercing coldness spread through his being. Keith collapsed to the ground from the pain, his expression one of confusion.

Cami walked over to stand above Keith, the green glow in her eyes growing brighter as she smiled sinisterly. “Just die for me.”

A few seconds passed as Keith felt his life drain from his body, consuming his total Health several times over. Even then, he didn’t die, bewildering his assailant.

Just as Cami was about to make another attack, the nearby wall blasted apart, a towering figure barreling through it while releasing a beastly growl. Uncle Doven appeared next to Cami before she could react, her pupils shrinking to the size of a needle as a massive fist smashed her skull into the ground.

Keith watched in horror as Cami’s head exploded into pieces from the force behind Doven’s punch, her lower body rising into the air before hitting the ground. Some of her brain matter landed on Keith’s face, but he was too stunned to be disgusted.

The dagger in his chest disappeared when Cami died, while at the same time, a green glow shot out from her body and vanished through the walls at such speeds Keith didn’t even notice. Mariane appeared from the hole in the wall made from Doven’s entrance in the next moment. It only took her a second to understand what happened as she rushed to Keith and embraced him. “Are you okay?”

Keith’s eyes were blank, not realizing his mother was holding him. In his mind, the scene of Cami’s head exploding kept repeating. The realization that the young woman he hired a few months ago and got to know was dead. Killed in such a brutal manner right before his eyes.