Part Eighty

::Normal Skill: Grudge Magic has become Rank E.::

Well it’s about goddamn time. Though I’m not actually sure what the Rank going up does. I just really like seeing numbers and stuff go up. It’s why I like RPGs so much. But I don’t actually know if there’s any benefit to the increases in a Skill’s Rank. Hm, yet another thing to look into.

“Gah! I can’t find it!”

Special Skills have obvious bonuses to Rank ups, but Normal Skills don’t. Maybe it just means my proficiency with the Skill goes up. Haah, I hate not knowing about these things.

“Hey! You’re the one who wanted me to do this, so listen to me!”

I have so many questions that I just can’t find answers to, and I’m finding more every day. I’d like to solve at least one mystery.

“Michael! Hey, I’m talking to you! Why aren’t you answering me?”

“Because I’m trying to focus. Haah, so what’s up?”

“I told you. I can’t find it. I’ve checked all of my mana pathways, but there’s nothing like what you described.”

“Really? I found it pretty quickly once he described what to look for. Maybe you’re doing it wrong?”

“I’m not! I’m doing exactly what he said to do. There’s nothing there.”

I’d returned to the infirmary to recruit Alicia and Kalia for another experiment. Now that things had kind of settled down for the moment, I thought it was time to try and solve one of the mysteries I’d uncovered.

I’d told them about the strange ball of energy I’d found within myself, and asked them to try and find it themselves. Kalia had found it in only a few minutes, but Alicia had yet to do so.

“Hm, well I believe her. If she says it’s not there, then it’s not there.”

That sphere was pretty obvious once you looked for it, so I doubted that she was just missing it. Which meant that for whatever reason, Kalia and I had it, but she didn’t.

Hm, what could be the cause? What do Kalia and I have that Alicia doesn’t? Well, we’re both Awakened and can use magic, so maybe that’s it? Hm, it doesn’t feel quite right. I’d think if magic had something to do with it, Kalia would have an inkling of what the sphere’s about. Isn’t there a better answer?

“I have to say, I don’t know what this ball is, but Michael was right. It is soothing to look at. I’m actually surprised I never noticed it before. Though I guess I was just more focused on my mana.”

“Once I noticed it earlier, I found it difficult to take my attention from it. It’s like when you become aware of your breathing. It just takes a bit of time until it becomes normal again.”

“Mn, it is a little distracting. I’m alright now, but getting to sleep like this might be difficult.”

“Can we please talk about something different? Like whatever the heck Michael’s doing?”

“Uh, I’m just practicing Grudge Magic? I thought that was pretty obvious.”

“Not when your sword is cloaked in that odd black aura! Seriously, what are you doing?”

That was unfair of her to say. I wasn’t doing anything odd, I was just practicing maintaining [Seize] for longer than a few seconds. It turned out that I could use the spell in a way similar to Aura, so that its effects would apply whenever I cut an enemy. The drain on my mana reserves was more intensive than Sword Aura, but combining it with Cursed Blade would make for a pretty nasty combo.

As for the black aura Alicia noted, it was actually Miasma. I was getting better at handling the stuff, though maybe that wasn’t so great. But at this point, I’d just sort of given up on caring about that. Is this how people who smoke two packs a day feel?

“Like I said, it’s just magic. Dark, scary, probably dangerous magic, but magic nonetheless. I’m just glad this is the Dark Magic I Awakened to. The others are so difficult to use.”

“Really? How hard?”

I pulled my Grimoire out in response to that, and flipped it open to the pages on Necromancy.

0th Grade Necromancy Spell [Create Wisp] – Conjures a Soul Wisp to act as the carter’s familiar. Soul Wisps are fragments of departed souls saturated with Miasma and given false life. Wisps created with this Spell cannot exceed E-Rank.

1st Grade Necromancy Spell [Raise Dead] – Saturates organic remains with Miasma, transforming them into an Undead. Corpses will be turned into Zombies, and bones will turn into Skeletons. Undead created with this Spell can not exceed C-Rank.

For whatever reason, I could only view two or three spells per magic school, aside from Grudge Magic, of course. I think it’s probably linked to my proficiency with each branch of magic, as I could now see that branch's next spell. Though I obviously wasn’t ready to begin practicing it.

“See what I mean? These spells are stupidly hard to use.”

“Wha!? What’s with these spells!? Eight and seventeen glyphs for the first two spells!?”

“Heh, told ya. And this isn’t counting the Miasma you need, nor the materials to transform. Though I should say that Necromancy is the worst of them all, but the others aren’t much better.” I flipped through the pages of the Grimoire to prove my point.

0Th Grade Abyss Magic Spell [Soul Resonance] – A Spell designed to detect the presence of souls, no matter how warped or twisted they may be.

0th Grade Curse Magic Spell [Curse Brand] – Affixes a Curse Brand onto a target, allowing for a multitude of further effects to be applied.

0th Grade Chaos Magic Spell [Draw Chaos] – Pulls upon power from the Realm of Chaos, imbuing the caster with it and allowing them to cast further Chaos Magic Spells.

0th Grade Void Magic Spell [Dissonance] – Separates scrambled energies into their base parts, like Miasma, Grudge, and mana. Can also be used to remove impurities as well.

All four spells required between four and nine glyphs to use them. This was actually more than I needed for [Rot] or [Seize], which only required seven and five glyphs respectively. Though these were still far better than the Grudge Magic Ritual I knew of. That thing was an abomination.

“Wow, this is crazy. Kalia, is Life Magic like this?”

“Heck no! If it was anywhere near this, I would never have gotten so far with it. Most spells only need half of the glyphs these require. Why are these so strenuous to cast? They’re Grade-0 spells, but their requirements are closer to those of Grade-2 or higher.”

She was rapidly flipping through the Grimoire, grimacing at each new revelation. Honestly, these are bad enough, so I really don’t want to know what the advanced spells are like. Though their utility should be multiple levels higher than these.

“Have you tried to-?”

“AAAAAHHHHHH!”

Kalia was trying to ask me something, but was cut off when one of the patients sat up in bed screaming. She hurried over to administer aid, and Alicia went with her to help, effectively cutting off the conversation. Several other burn victims had woke up as well, so I knew they’d be busy for a bit.

Shame. I wasn’t quite done here, but whatever. I know next to nothing about first-aid, and I doubt I’ll be of any help, so I should head out and leave this to them. Besides, it’s not like I want to help. Kalia’s spell seems to be doing most of the work anyway, they just need to keep these idiots calm while it does its thing.

I grabbed my Grimoire and went to put it away, only to pause at the page it was on.

5th Grade Grudge Magic Spell [Dreadful Birth] – Consumes a single Gem of Hatred to produce a Spirit-type familiar. Depending on the size and quality of the Gem consumed, the familiar may be anywhere from an F-Rank Dread Apparition to a B-Rank Dread Tyrant.

A familiar? Hm…..

***

[Sampson's POV]

“Huh, color me surprised. Didn’t think I’d be seeing you here.”

“And I didn’t think I’d be here. Sometimes things don’t go the way we want. Not even a little.”

Sampson and a number of his henchmen had been lounging around, when they received an unexpected visitor. An unexpected visitor, who came with an unexpected proposal.

“Now, why would you want to join up with us? Aren’t you Braddock’s loyal little pawn?”

“He’s finished. Not only has half our group died, but those that remain are plotting to abscond with all the gear we’ve gotten from the Dungeon. If that happens, we’ll be vastly underprepared for the fights ahead. I don’t intend to die so easily, not here, not yet.”

Hm, intriguing. His eyes are as dead as they could be, and yet, a spark still lies deep within. This is almost too convenient for me. He’s exactly what I want in a lieutenant, and one of my biggest competitors will end up stranded. Heheheh, it wouldn’t have gone this well if I’d planned it!

Sampson knew better than to let his emotions show, especially during negotiations like this. Just because it seemed like everything he’d wanted, didn’t mean that it was. There was still the question of his motives.

“Then why not go with them? Surely you could wrangle them in and gain control of those pests. I’d imagine that controlling your own faction would be more ideal than joining another.”

“Hahaha, maybe if what I wanted was something as simple as wealth or fame. No, what I need to accomplish my objectives is simple. I just need resources, not the glory that comes with leadership.”

“Resources, eh? And what would they be for? I can’t just bring you in without knowing that. Depending on what you’re after, you could be a huge obstacle to what I want.”

This was the one thing he’d never compromise on. Recruiting someone who would ultimately backstab him would be foolish, especially if signs of that were apparent from this early point. He had to make sure Jansen wasn’t planning something that could lead to that, and so he brought forth all the hostility he could muster to Intimidate him.

But strangely, the only reaction he had to this overwhelming malice was to smile. A smile eerily reminiscent of the Devil.

“What else could I want? I can’t rest anymore, not after knowing there’s more of those bastards out there. They must all pay. Every. Last. One.”

Eyes once dead, were now filled with an unquenchable hatred, and an unfathomable madness.

***

[Cortis's POV]

“Craaaap! No, no, no! Crap!”

*POP!! Crack!*

The delicate piece of machinery he’d been working on just burst, completely running his attempts to fix it. And considering the importance of that one piece in his most powerful weapon, this was a deadly blow to him.

“Noooooo. Now I have to go home! I’ll lose so much time doing that though! Aahhh, why! Stupid, stupid, stupid!”

Out of all the weapons his father created, the Blitzkrieg Launcher was by far the most powerful. Any C-Rank monster caught by its salvo would be killed in an instant, but that extraordinary firepower was also the weapon’s weakness.

Unlike the other weapons he used, the Blitzkrieg could only store a single round at any given time, and would need to be reloaded each time it was fired. It was while he’d been doing this that he’d accidentally damaged one of the weapon's key components. Thankfully, he did have backups of these pieces, but not with him. He’d been more focused on bringing replacement parts and ammunition for the guns he used more often, like the revolver he favored.

It’s all cause I don’t have the Skills dad did. He didn’t even need to take it apart to reload it. I knew I wasn’t good enough to use the weapons of an S-Rank, even if they were his backups. But, I can’t stop now, not after all I’ve done to get here. If there’s one thing dad taught me, it was to never give up!

***

Cameron sat alone in his room, deep in thought. He’d been of practically no help during the previous incident, and had been preoccupied by a group of Kovis for the majority of the fight. Now granted, the group had been comprised solely of Kovis Dark-Claws, making it a long and difficult battle, but he knew that Michael and Alicia could handle them on their own.

Haah, there’s no way around it, is there? Keeping it hidden like this isn’t doing anything for me or them, it’s only prolonging the issue. Fine, I’ll tell them. Tonight. No matter how hard i-.

*Knock knock knock*

A sudden knocking stopped his thoughts. Whoever that was, it wasn’t Michael or Alicia. Neither of them knocked like that. He opened the door to see a unexpected face.

“Cameron, I’d like to talk with you. Now, if it’s okay.”