Rakna traced the metal gate in front of him with his fingers. He had quickly reached the end of the tunnel and this was what blocked his path. Obviously, he tried to open it but it didn’t even budge.

Even when transforming into a werewolf and using Reinforcement to the best of its capabilities was not enough. He ultimately stepped back to take a better look.

The gate itself was made out of very dark but glossy metal. An eerie depiction of a horned beast was engraved on it and had red outlines in all accents of its shape. Rakna inspected it with his Fabled Sight before falling back to the natural decision, Appraisal.

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A gate made out of low-grade mithril. It is imprinted with a mana signature and cannot be opened by anyone other than its owner.

Blunt Resistance: 1000

Slashing Resistance: 800

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“…brute force is out of the question, I see,” he commented dully. He scowled at the gate in front of him and grunted. His skillset didn’t have a viable solution to get through this. He might be able to reach an attack value higher than 800 if he used Dáinsleif to its full potential but he wasn’t even sure that it would be enough to actually open the path.

“I guess I’ll expand on my little discovery from earlier,” he muttered and pulled out two potions to drink. Before he could down them though, Alexa spoke.

[Rakna, I have to warn you about your consumption of mana potions.] Rakna raised an eyebrow and she continued. [The lower tier potions are not too dangerous if only a few are taken but there is still a risk of overdose if you abuse it.]

“How bad would that be?”

[There are three stages of overdose; overflow, overstrain, mana suicide.]

“…that last one sounds too straightforward for my liking,” he uttered. “What are the symptoms of these three stages?”

[For overflow, it’s lower regeneration; which includes stamina, health, and mana potions. You may also experience mild headaches, nausea, and vertigo. Overstrain and your body and soul will begin to hurt you from the inside because of the extravagant intake. Mana suicide… means death by an internal explosion.]

“Am I close to any of those?”

[Not yet.]

“I see,” Rakna said and drank the two potions in his hand without hesitation before throwing away the empty vials. “I don’t really have a choice at the moment. If this takes as much mana as the trident, I definitely need the mana. It’s not like I have hearts lying around… for… the taking…”

He blinked as he came to a realization. If he could carry hearts around with him, he could use them to recover whenever he wanted. “Hey, Alexa, I know this ring I have doesn’t stop time. The Item Box says so, but what about temperature?”

[Technically, there is none. The space within the ring is neither cold nor hot. Anything that is put inside will have a stagnant temperature. You can see if it as if every object is sealed inside a void that simply does not allow conduction.]

Rakna groaned. “I could have frozen hearts to take with me then. It’s not like it necessarily matters to absorb the attributes right away. But I will always need to have some that are close to my level if I want them to be combat effective. Otherwise, I’d need tens if not hundreds of them to recover fully at any point in time.”

He sighed and kept in mind to make stock a few later on. “All right. Let’s do this,” he looked at the gate and breathed in. He closed his eyes and carefully extended his hand forward. He channeled both his soul and mana as a miniature sphere of cold energy formed at the tip of his finger.

He slowly touched the gate with that sphere which then stayed glued to it as he pulled his arm back. He then conjured another sphere and placed it a few centimeters lower, ten degrees to the left. The third one was placed twice as far. The fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh formed an arc, and then he finished everything by forming a straight line with three spheres before ending it with a right angle.

Once they were all placed, the eleven spheres began to shine and slightly rearranged themselves optimally before a decent chunk of mana left Rakna’s pool as the spheres of cold energy were connected together by strings of light.

Rakna stepped back and watched with a curious eye as the ‘drawing’ he made expanded before detaching itself from the gate. The spheres then started orbiting around him and the next thing he knew, the gate before him was opening and the cold energy had disappeared.

He blinked and took a look at his mana pool. “It wasn’t too bad,” he muttered to himself as the System windows he expected popped up.

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You have developed a new spell; Star Monarch!

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Star Monarch (T.10 – T.1): The ability to control the authority and powers of constellations. By artificially recreating constellations with star energy, the caster can employ the immense authority and power that they epitomize.

Currently Learned Constellations: Gemini (T.9)

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Gemini (T.9): The constellation of the Great Twins, Castor and Pollux. This spell was fashioned with a specific goal in mind; imitation. With this spell, it is possible to invoke auras, soul signatures, and imprints of other beings and apply them to the user.

The target does not need to be known by the caster but it nonetheless has a limit on what kind of presence can or cannot be faked.

Eleven Star Variation Cost: 30 MP

Duration: 5 min

Note: The constellation of Gemini possesses 85 focal stars. Changing the number used in the casting process will affect the cost, duration, and effectiveness of the spell.

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‘As expected,’ Rakna remarked as he read the notifications all while paying attention to whatever danger that might come out from behind the still-opening gate.

When he had constructed Neptunia earlier, he had expected it to produce an implosion that would both attract the clouds together and decrease their temperature. That would have caused a short disruption in the airflow but most importantly, it had a chance to provoke a hail fall. But what he got was something much better.

That had been because he had made a replica of Poseidon’s Trident. The God of the Sea was in fact a figure that appeared in the myth a certain constellation called Delphinus. But there was also the more known Orion that embodies his son.

‘Well, this is definitely a promising prospect to be able to make magic out of constellations. But there is probably more to discover about this star energy as a whole…’ Rakna thought as the gate was finally done grinding against the ground.

Immediately after, the entire tunnel was suddenly illuminated by countless spectral torches that had not been there barely a second before. The same phenomenon appeared on the other side of the mithril doors.

Rakna decided to stay out for the time being as he observed the room that was revealed to him. At first sight, it looked relatively small. The ceiling wasn’t high and the overall surface was nothing to be impressed of.

But, inside that very place, something was so omnipresent that it made it look grander than what it was. That something was gold. Immense piles of gold coins, mixed with a few precious objects and stones.

There was so much of it that a certain pile occupied an entire corner until it could even touch the ceiling. This sight even made Rakna a bit stunned but then, he focused on something much more worrying.

In the center of the room, surrounded by riches, was a rectangular pedestal on which laid a stone container of the same shape.

“Don’t tell me…” Rakna started but was interrupted by a System prompt.

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Congratulations, you have discovered an ancient hidden tomb! You have been awarded 3 Attribute Points and the title Treasure Hunter.

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Before Rakna could even try to inspect this new title or react at the free points he got, the whole underground tunnel started shaking and cracks appeared on every wall. His eyes narrowed in alarm and light flashed around his ring as he cast a magic, “[Spike]!”

In an instant, earth spikes were summoned from the ceiling and pierced the floors of the tunnel in order to maintain enough stability for it to not bury Rakna alive.

A few seconds later, the tremors weakened and both he and Pronos sighed in relief. But soon after, something else caught their attention. From under the piles of gold coins, two silhouettes emerged and directed their red eyes at them.

They were a pair of white and black golems with golden accents on them.

|| The Creator’s Presence has been Detected. ||

One of them said mechanically and analyzed Rakna from head to toe.

|| Analysis Complete. Overruled. Intruder Detected. Proceeding to Elimination. ||

Rakna’s whole body shuddered before his survival instinct forced him to jump back as one of the golem’s arms detached itself from its shoulder and flew at him with terrifying speed.

Rakna used Artzpul whilst deploying his wings right when the fist crashed on the ground in front of him and caused a shockingly deep hole before exploding with a detonation that scattered sharp shrapnel which Rakna barred with his wings.

He grunted at the pain and transformed into a werewolf as his hearing picked heavy footsteps getting closer. He used Fabled Sight to look through the lingering dust and crossed his arms to block a fist attached to the arm of the second golem.

Right after, the other caught up and swung its leg at him with uncanny agility. Rakna took a side glance at it and ignored it in favor of clawing the other fist of the golem he was entangled with. As for the other one, a cyan flash coiled around its leg and fissured it.

Pronos hissed and bit into it while releasing an acidic fog. The golem recognized the threat and consciously detached its leg as it melted and retreated. Its fellow magical puppet similarly stepped back when Rakna almost crushed its head with his claws.

The two pairs stared at each other in silence afterward and Rakna cursed internally when he saw the crushed limbs of the golems being reconstructed at a speed visible by a sort of grayish goo.

He quickly cast Appraisal and one identical status appeared for both of them.

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Liquid Stone Golem

Level: 25

Attributes:

Strength: 25 | Endurance: 25

Speed: 10 | Dexterity: 10

Intelligence: 0 | Luck: 0

Swiftness: 20 | Agility: 30

Senses: 270 + 5 | Atr Cap: 70

Attack: 132.5 | Defense: 100

Skills:

- Limb Detachment: Allows the user to eject their limbs at will.

- Self-Destruction Structure: Allows the user to detonate their body parts, even remotely. The damage of the explosion will correlate to the size of the body part as well as the user’s attack.

Traits:

Liquid Stone Regeneration: The holder of this trait has a body composed of synthesized-mana molded into stone. It will forever regenerate as long as its energy bank is not empty.

Current Value of the Bank: 94/86%

Note: A timeless puppet created to guard the tomb of its creator.

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Rakna snarled exasperatedly and summoned the Dreorin Greatsword. “This is going to be a pain,” he grumbled as he wielded the weapon with one hand.