《Void Mana》Magic staff
Advertisement
I woke up early the next morning, freshly bathed and ready to build a staff worthy of a god… or an orphan with an inflated ego. The other kids seemed to all be asleep. Which was understandable considering all of them were younger and it was only around 6 am. I stood up and stretched. I felt refreshed and ready to go. Opening the hatch, I slipped myself in.
I found scrap on my desk. Along with a pile of discarded debris, mostly metal and occasional plastic. “You've been busy,” I said to Scrap. He nodded and pointed at a sphere to his left. Looking at the sphere, I couldn't tell what was up with it. I looked back at Scrap while projecting a feeling of confusion. He seemed to understand but didn't send anything back.
I was about to ask what was up. When the biggest pulse of information I had ever felt rushed through me. I stumbled a little bit, before righting myself. It was incredible, Scrap had outdone himself this time.
The sphere, it turns out, was a mana generator for lack of a better word. It pulled mana from the void and then stored it. Using the mana only to pull more mana. It was basically an infinite source of mana. There was a drawback though. By pulling so much mana, any void runes in the area would not be able to function. Scrap had linked himself and the others to the sphere in order for them to remain conscious.
With this, I could make a mech without having to worry about mana consumption or I could use it to power an army of constructs. There were so many options the sphere opened up. But for now, I had to set it aside, I had promised myself I was going to build a magical staff and I would stand by my promise.
I stood up from my hunched position. “Alright time to get to work,” I said. Scrap began to pull items out of his storage rune. It was quite cool to see the items come out, they seemed to warp almost. Looking away, I started to sort out what I wanted to use and what I wanted to save.
Advertisement
After sorting, I had two piles, one with screws, magnets, gears, and stuff like that. The other pile was full of rods, metal plates, small tungsten rod, and anything else I thought might be useful for a staff.
I first picked up the tungsten rod. This guy was going to be a pain to engrave with runes. I had done some research just before I went to bed. According to my computer, there were four traditional ways to cut or scratch the surface of tungsten: wheel grinding, machining by superhard material, electrolytic machining, and electric discharge machining. Only one of which I had any experience in. I decided that I would be attempting wheel grinding. But to do so I would need a grinding wheel.
I was about to see what I could find when Scrap grabbed my finger and started to pull. I let him drag my hand over to his pile where he dived in and pulled out a little Dremel wheel. It was the right start but to even mar the surface of tungsten we would need something much harder. That being said I did have a Dremel we could use it with.
Thinking about my Dremel. I bet I could increase the speed and torque with the right combination of runes. “Tap, Tap, Tap” I tapped my finger on my desk in thought. Maybe I could make a stronger Dremel wheel.
I looked over at my pile of things. “Maybe” I muttered. Reaching over I grabbed a sheet of steel. Only about an inch in width and length. I flipped it between my fingers.
“Scrap, do you think you could cut this into a circle?” Scrap looked up at me. He gestured for me to hand it over. I gave it to him. He began to flip it around just as I had. It took a few seconds until he nodded and laid it down flat. He began to cut into it with his welding arm. He must have modified it to be able to change between welder and plasma cutter. I sent him an approving thought.
I watched him complete the circle cut. I was about to grab it with tongs before dunking it in water but Scrap shooed me away before running to his pile, grabbing a file, and running back to the circle cut. He bent down and began to file the edge. He did this at extreme speed because, as a golem, he didn't have any exhaustion. He filed it down to a sharp edge, and once it was filed fully, He started to add notches.
Advertisement
Once again Scrap surprised me with his flexible mind, and knack for creating. He had grown exponentially over the last few days. To a point that baffled me, How did he know to add notches? He must have seen it somewhere, “Maybe from my computer or Dremel bits?
It didn't matter. What did was the fact that the Dremel wheel in front of me looked like it was machined by professionals. It was exactly what I was looking for. “Thank you Scrap one more thing, please engrave the rune for defense into the middle” Scrap nodded and switched his enhance rune back on. “O I see that must be how he switches modes.”
While the defense rune strengthened the cohesion of the item's atoms. It could in this case be used as a semi-working ‘strength’ rune of which there was none. But it should make it harder to destroy hopefully enough to cut into the tungsten rod.
I grabbed my Dremel and attached my new bit. “Ok here goes nothing,” I said. I mentally sent scrap the runes I wanted to add. He nodded and prepared his torch though I don't think it would do me or him any good. The runes I mentally sent were ones that I had found in the book in the portion of the book labeled “Medium Application” this section described rune formations and their uses.
As the book was functionally infinite I was barely on the tip of what runes and magic could do. Of course just because the book was infinite did not mean the knowledge inside it was, but even so who knew how many millenniums it had been around and written in. I even planned to be one of those people wants I gained enough knowledge.
I lowered the Dremel to the tungsten and began to cut into it. Seconds later, I lifted it only to see it was barely scratched. Then I realized, I hadn't put the enhance rune on the Dremel. The rune should work on the Dremel because it would be enhancing the motor in it. I had Scrap quickly put on the enhance rune, before lowering the Dremel once again.
This time it cut through smoothly. It took a while before it was done, but with Scrap adjusting my every move, It came out perfectly. I backed off and took in my handiwork. The rune formation I used was called amplify It increased Any magic including runes that were used near or on it. I also included the runes for defense, storage, and void though the void rune would be useless when near the sphere.
I hoped that I could use the Amplify formation to make my runes stronger and any magic that I might learn in the future. The rest of the Staff was easy enough to build. I briefly thought of attaching the sphere to it. But in the end, decided that it would be wasted on a mere staff. “Much better in a mech” I muttered.
Finally, It was finished. It looked like a wood walking staff with a sphere on top. I had embedded the Tungston rod inside the wood so I could hold it better. The sphere was a steel ball with runes carved on top of it. The hope was I could carve new runes and spells on top of the sphere and then activate them when I wanted them to be used.
Now I just needed to test it. The only problem was that the room I was in was too small and I couldn't be blasting fire in the middle of the city. I would need to go outside the wall.
Advertisement
- In Serial36 Chapters
The Laptop Hero (Portal/Isekai LitRPG)
[participant in the Royal Road Writathon challenge] - April 2022 Silas got summoned to another world—by a group of kids attending magic school who seemed rather unhappy with the results of their ritual. After a brief glimpse of his summoners Silas woke in the town dump. Unable to speak the local language, a misunderstanding escalated and before long Silas wound up in a jail cell, the locals having confiscated all his worldly possessions aside from his laptop, which had formed some strange bond with him. Now he can summon his laptop at will, and he can view his Status, level up, and gain powerful skills and magic as if he were some character in a video game, which is great and everything, but all Silas really wants to do is sit in a dark room and play games on his laptop. Only, life isn't a game, and Silas needs to get his act together because everyone else is playing for keeps. Or does he? Maybe for Silas life is just one big game now, with everyone else stuck playing by his rules. Assorted Disclaimers, in no particular order: I am only posting this on RoyalRoad.com, so if you find my story elsewhere it was not posted by me. Please do let me know! While I do consider this a progression fantasy, and have tagged it as such, Silas's Status improvements will not necessarily proceed in a linear fashion. His RPG stats will have ups and downs, exploits and nerfs, periods of growth and stagnation. Such is the life of a gamer, to be held under the thumb of the all powerful devs, or in this case a certain goddess devoted to the idea of Balance. SIlas himself should learn and grow, improving and progressing in areas where he struggles, or rather, to show such is my goal. The story is told from multiple points of view. While other PoVs will come and go, Silas shall remain the only lead character. The world Silas finds himself on is not a nice place. Expect him to encounter gore and traumatizing content and bad people who do bad things for selfish (or possibly noble) reasons from time to time. Some characters will use profanity, however due to cultural differences the curse words used will differ from those used in our corner of reality, so I'm not including the profanity content warning. Silas himself isn't one for foul language. No explicit sexual content here. This novel is intended for mature readers, however, and will include mature topics, including, but not limited to, sex, violence, death, and taxes. No harem. Might be an eventual romantic interest, possibly even some competitive jealousy, yet as his story begins Silas is too overwhelmed with other concerns to consider long term plans. Musophobics might want to steer clear of this story. Same goes for turophobics. You have been warned. Keep in mind, however, if my other disclaimers didn't make this clear, I only have the faintest of outlines at the moment. This story will take me where it will. My goal with this story is to write it to the end, something of a long-term writing exercise, with the hope others might take an interest in my work and encourage me to keep at it. I've started a number of works before, even finished a few, but this is the first time I've shared any work in a public forum. My temporary cover was made by me, in GIMP using public domain images. If you can do better I'll happily accept your submission and give credit for your work here!
8 196 - In Serial19 Chapters
Devil of the Heavens
In a world of magic and a land where martial artists rule , a Devil from another world is reborn in this land unknown to him. Little did they know about this Devil, who in his time was called an Asura -a person with the power to slay the gods . What will this world make him? Will he once again rule over the lands rampaging and spreading chaos? Or will he just be forgotten? Only time will tell.
8 171 - In Serial17 Chapters
The Guild Chronicles
With an indifferent king and an imbalance of wealth, the lives of commoners are never easy. Especially now that abductions are on the rise, villages are being attacked, and monsters are on the loose. As a member of The Guild, a militant grassroots organization, Bronwyn's task is clear. Save the people and destroy the monsters. The only question is if she will rise to the occasion, or will the monsters in the countryside- and those of her past- cut her down? Postings will be on Tuesdays. Thank you for your interest and feedback. ~MLB Cover photo credit to: Sungryun Park
8 72 - In Serial248 Chapters
Dreamland
Dolores is a lucky girl with a high-level avatar in a very popular game. She did not level it up; she got it through some fortunate circumstances. She is not interested in fighting and levelling; all she wants is to have some fun and follow her own fantasies. If only there would not be all those idiots who intend to kill her, capture her, or simply use her. And those flaws in the game! Wait, what? Those pesky game characters now appear in the real world? And they can do magic? How did this happen? Adding to her troubles, her crush does not even look at her. As Dolores tries only to survive and hide between 'normal' people, she encounters stranger and stranger things that force her hand and, in the end, she has the answers to a lot of questions. It is a slow-developing story. I had a lot of fun writing it and hope to share it with you, dear reader if you also enjoy it. On the other hand, putting it in an acceptable form requires much work and energy. I intend to bring it to its end and not let it unfinished. I hate it when I encounter unfinished stories, so I understand the feeling. This is not a classical isekai story. There is travel between the two worlds, and the game world seems to be so very real... well, this is one plot of the story. This is not an MMORP game story. Part of the action happens inside a game world, but it is treated as a real world. Updates on a weekly basis, at least Monday and Friday, with additional bonus chapters as time and energy allow. Cover art: White Flower as A Dark Fairy by Darkrealmsmaiden Yolanda gracefully allowed me to use her dark fairy as cover. There are many more beautiful works of art to be discovered at her site: https://www.deviantart.com/darkrealmsmaiden Additional Grammar Trigger Warning: As a non-native speaker, I do my best. Unfortunately, this is not enough for people with a low tolerance for warped sentences and... they may want to skip the story :( Well, you have been warned :) I appreciate it when a reader points out a sentence that needs rework. That may spare a follow-up reader some pain and helps me understand where my English grammar problems are. * We thought we made the best game in Earth's history We thought we made the best interfaces ever seen We thought we made it - lifelike But it far exceeded our expectations. Dolores, I hope you're happy now. I hope you're alive now...
7.91 283 - In Serial8 Chapters
Gun Run
Humanity has turned against its greatest benefactor, to gain back their autonomous rulership of planet Earth. Pressed with false allegations, the Citadel administration gets forced to surrender to the new world order, or suffer consequences of a hostile takeover. While recovering from incidents prior to their current troubles, our heroes must find new resources to make one final effort for saving their people from harms way. Story contains heavy subjects, that may occur difficult for some people. © 2019-2021 Thomas Pine. Story, characters, cover art and illustrations. All rights reserved.
8 106 - In Serial22 Chapters
Princess Marinette
In this story, the class get's a chance to go to China for Princess Coronation. Princess is Marinette but no one knows when she reaches China, then she knows that she is the princess.Lila tells so many lies to everyone!!
8 152

