The Arcane Emperor-Chapter 88 Neutral City
Chapter 88 Neutral City
With [Void Descent] taking longer than he assumed, Rainer decided to spend the rest of his short time in [Sleep Learning] on another task.
Kara didn't seem to have any success in storing Aura. A few foods still had some Aura remaining, but it quickly dissipated. That poked a large hole in Rainer's theory. Or, the method to inject or merge Aura with food or liquids was beyond just simple manipulation. He himself grabbed a half-eaten glazed doughnut with a bit of Aura remaining.
He shrugged, devouring it and sensing it's progress. Unsurprisingly, he breathed out the loose Aura before it even entered his stomach.
Kara sat over to the side, the fluctuations in her Aura telling him she likely worked on unlocking her bloodline's Aura. Not wanting to interrupt the seated Wolfkin with her eyes closed, Rainer headed over to Sarah and Luna to see what they accomplished.
Luna was surprisingly focused as the two exchanged the bare minimum of words. Sitting right on Sarah's head, the Fairy had an easy angle to Appraise anything Sarah needed.
"And this one?" Sarah asked, holding up a ruined copy of Rainer's [Overcoat of Arcane Constitution].
"No good."
"This one?"
"It is not of acceptable merit."
"This one?"
"Luna thinks it doesn't good."
Bare minimum of words, for Luna that was.
"That wasn't even a proper sentence this time," Sarah complained, "Just repeat a phrase if you can't think of an actual new one."
"Boob-Rainer complains too much."
"I think that's the worst one yet…and they are only Bs, not D-cups or larger so the nickname doesn't work, or rather be more creative, stop using Rainer as a suffix. That's just lazy."
"What's a D-cups?"
"Never mind you."
Rainer had to agree. On it being the worst one yet that is. Even if he did enjoy how much it bothered his sister, he wouldn't be endorsing that nickname. Not that he minded how embarrassed Sarah became once she realized he heard everything.
"Here," Sarah said, throwing Rainer a black ring, "It barely holds even a thimble, I checked, but it does work."
"A spatial ring?" Rainer asked. Even if he could mimic a spatial ring in a relatively short amount of time, he certainly wouldn't be casually selling it.
"I didn't know what to start with so I just hopped around. It was oddly easy making the enchantment smaller and simpler, subsequently decreasing the size of the space offered. The end result is still pretty freakin' complicated but I'm sure you can figure it out."
"Anything else?"
"No, why? Have you finished your Constitution enchant?" Sarah said while smirking, knowing he had not.
"Get back to work Boob-Rainer," he replied, having nothing to say to that, "But also, what's with the whole 'Aunt Sarah'."
Sarah shrugged, "I was helping your little apprentice out during the sensor training since she was struggling to understand some of the concepts. I guess it gave me a promotion. I also got any book she wanted from the higher shelves...I'm not sure which she was more happy about."
"She talked to you yet about what I'm having her doing?" Rainer said, not wanting to admit it was probably the latter.
"I'd be happy to help for a 5% fee," Sarah smiled 'innocently,' "Which would include all future related miscellaneous tasks of your dealings with Body Enchantments. Quite the deal, hmm?"
Rainer shrugged. Having Sarah motivated on that would free up his time without making him feel guilty about it. On that note, maybe he should start putting away some money for when Lilia eventually graduated from being his apprentice. Not that he'd be kicking her out of the 'house', but it would be a nice thing on top of a gift to celebrate her eventual success with magic.
"Deal. Make sure to include Magicite and Magic Crystals on the list. Research the amount that would be appropriate."
"I'll get started on it during the day tomorrow. But figuring out how much would be appropriate may be a little difficult."
"Why?"
"The past war with the North."
Rainer wondered why that would matter before he understood. Any mages killed could be carrying their magicite doses with them, and if any guildmasters were killed, there went their ring and all its contents. He was actually a bit surprised at the lack of magicite in Yazir's ring but said mage was never a guildmaster after all.
"Do your best, and stick to the higher side. I can always pretend that I'm providing my own if they don't have enough."
"Looking like a saint while being a crook? I like it. Looks like I'll be getting a proper 5% from everything you steal."
"And don't forget it's a secret that Body Enchantments don't actually need any materials," he mentioned, ignoring that last comment. He'd also have to tell that to Kara when they woke up.
"Obviously. I, unfortunately, can't forget how my own enchantments were done."
"An everlasting memory? I see you haven't gotten over your case of love-at-first-sight. What a sister I have…" Rainer said, sighing in exasperation as he walked away, narrowly dodging a copy of his Arcane hilt thrown at his head. It wouldn't have actually hurt more than just a tickle, something Sarah knew too especially since he always kept [Arcane Awakening] at maximum in [Sleep Learning] on top of his resistances, but he wouldn't give her the satisfaction of hitting him.
Jumping away from his party again, Rainer wanted to check something before it came time to wake up. Sinking into his thoughts he felt around his [Sleep Learning] space. There was the white space they were all in, and then the Void he added on himself so that he originally could Void-walk in here without waking up.
And yet, all this time he had zero issue practicing with [Arcane Energy Manipulation] and drawing Arcane from the previously named 'Beyond'. Did that mean the space was inherently related to the Arcanium? Or that the space filled in the gap and just produced arcane energy when normally it'd be drawn from somewhere else.
Rainer found that the former surprisingly fit. Especially since [Sleep Learning] seemed to be Arcanist exclusive, the Earth-named Arcanist in any case rather than the specific [Arcanist] class. Neither Sarah nor any other magically oriented family member could learn his grandpa's spell, skill, or whatever it truly was, other than Rainer.
The problem was, Rainer had no idea what his grandfather did beyond just using the runic formula to access it for the first time. Rainer knew Frederick did something to him prior to using the spell for the first time. But not what that was.
Rainer briefly tried to attach a fake Arcanium to [Sleep Learning] as he did with the Void. Much of his success with [Void Descent] depended on having full control of a fake Void.
It was equivalent to needing to reach a 200-pound bench press. Common sense dictated you start with a lower weight and slowly work up. But what if you didn't have a lower weight? Then you'd need a spotter to take some of the weight off as you work upwards or use some other method. The spotter could be a teacher; your own experience and constant training with other methods, which may never be enough; or some sort of mechanism to lessen it, like Rainer's control over his own fake Void until he could descend it with just [Void Presence].
Something he lacked in making the Arcane version even if he did have far higher bonuses in relation to the Arcane.
Rainer glanced around the white void as he soon realized only he and Kara remained here. Or rather, remained asleep. Mass amounts of Aura swirled around Kara as sweat beaded on her forehead.
Rainer watched quietly from afar, guessing she may be at a turning point in unleashing the Golden Aura of her bloodline. The mass of Aura died down just as it reached the peak of its power. He saw just a faint light of gold prior to this.
"So close..." he heard Kara say to herself.
"We can stay in here a bit longer if you'd like."
"No, I could use some advice from Alaya or Ymir," she said, shaking her head and refreshing her body with [Sleep Learning], no longer feeling as if she just spent hours training, "Though… we could stay in here for another reason."
Kara didn't give Rainer the chance to react as she rushed over with a Void-step and knocked him flat on his back. The outpour of Mana that followed said Rainer wasn't willing to lose this 'fight'.
"Good morning," Rainer said with a smile to Kara, sharing a kiss. As much as he didn't want to think of Luna as convenient, having her flame to get rid of morning breath before they were even awake was always a plus.
"Ugh, enough…" Sarah complained from a table where Luna and Lilia sat with her. Said apprentice looking just as much of a tomato as his sister did.
Rainer raised an eyebrow wondering what that was about. Had their actual bodies displayed some sign of what they were doing while they were asleep?
"Then you shouldn't be in my room," Rainer pointed out quite reasonably.
A drawn out 'Ugh' was all he received in response from Sarah.
"I finished a basic list, Master Nvos, and Aunt Sarah checked it over," Lilia said.
He supposed that explained them waiting for him to wake up. Especially since they usually woke up at the same time when they used [Sleep Learning] together, so it would be quite strange for him and Kara to be asleep. Even more so if Luna left them inside, the Fairy oddly awake before them.
Rainer noted both he and Kara were already dressed, while he lacked only his overcoat.
"Good job," He said, walking over. Rainer looked over Lilia's shoulder while patting her head. He wondered how they figured out the specific amounts of the crystals and magicite.
Luna shrunk and fluttered over to his other palm he stretched out for her.
"You worked pretty hard last night too."
"The hardest. The Greedy Mana Goblin never let me rest," Luna complained as Rainer stroked her head with a finger. In the background Sarah muttered out how that was 'better than usual'.
"Next time in [Sleep Learning] we can play together."
"I can make Rainer breathe fire?"
"How about we think of something when we're there?" Rainer said, remembering that little request aimed at Gunthar from a while ago.
"Okay. We can figure out how much Mana Luna can eat."
"I don't get a pat on the head?" Sarah joked though she hadn't done that much other than altering some of the amounts in terms of the list.
Rainer ignored the joking tone and did just that, messing up her carefully brushed hair.
"How could I have forgotten my sister," he 'chastised' himself, "Perhaps I should make sure to treat her more like a little sister when I can. Her crush on me isn't healthy," he said quietly, though clearly made it loud enough for said little sister to hear.
"Go away with you," Sarah said, but didn't bother trying to remove his hand.
"Go away from my room?"
"Yes."
"Well, so long as you know what you were asking. Until Gunthar calls me back I'll work on the list with you, unless you have other plans?"
"Not for a few hours."
"Then we have a lot of work to do."
Rainer glanced out over the water as he floated above the ship, easily keeping pace with the vessel. Three weeks had passed since they originally set sail, with Rainer dividing his time between the ship and the palace. Tomorrow morning he'd be enchanting Alaya Fenrar as the Wolf King watched, the list having since been completed. Kara had given it to her father during one of their training sessions.
He couldn't very well ask to perform a foreign magic unsupervised on a member of royalty. But with the number of Mana Crystals they ended up asking for, he could easily perform ten enchantments let alone just one. The girls had done well in creating the list. And with his Arcane-laden Mana, his blood looked and felt anything but normal, so there shouldn't be a question where all the materials were used.
But, for now, he had another problem to deal with. Far in the distance, a ship gained on their position. The smaller and faster vessel would catch them sooner or later. Rainer could use some magic to speed up his ship but, the next time they met, the problem could have grown to be more than one ship.
Reaching the range of his [Void Detection], Rainer scanned across the ship. They were all armed to the teeth, and there wasn't anyone on their ship unwillingly from what he could see. Even those sailing themselves seem to prepare for battle amidst their other duties.
There were several figures with a touch of Divinity within them, so there was no question where they came from even if their appearances matched the rest. He appraised the strongest presence of Aura and Divinity. The rest were some degree below his level and lacked classes that didn't have grand in front of them.
[Human, Male, Striker lvl 21(2nd), Priest lvl 9(2nd)]
[Title: Priest of Tarai]
The ship steered their way; it wasn't hard to guess at their intentions. Having finished his scouting, he flew back down to the deck while making a small note to ask about the various Divinities of the Tarainien Empire.
"They have 6 [Priest]s from the Tarainien Empire on board, and they seem to be preparing for battle."
"Then they are here for us. The Tarainien Empire has grown more and more aggressive in privateering and supporting raiding parties on the Neutral City's ships and trading route. It is why I sought Princess Alaya Fenrar on my ship. To think they would send so many [Priest]s…" She briefly questioned how he identified them so quickly and easily but brushed it away for now, "Perhaps you have magic that could assist our speed? We are close to the Rat King's Capital. They would not dare to attack us there," Ele said. Dragon's End was the closest major trade hub to the Neutral City on the Southern Continent.
Rainer noted she was the perfect example of composed, as she often was, if one ignored her hand scratching the side of her robe as if there were the winning lottery numbers beneath that spot. He couldn't fathom why she was unnerved. There were some tier 2 Aura users on the ship, but there was nothing he couldn't handle. In fact, he bet Gunthar could kill all but their strongest.
There was one other premise that let Rainer feel confident. Divinities of the Tarainien Empire couldn't descend outside of it. Apparently, this was something of a common knowledge and the explanation given in any history book as to why few ever invaded the Tarainien Empire and why none have had any modicum of success. Once they took land and consecrated it, there was no single instance of that land being taken back.
"I'll take care of them, stay on course,"
Ele didn't seem to relax with that. Perhaps she sensed something about them and assumed he couldn't match for whatever reason? He didn't know if she had a class outside of [Magic Bard], or even what said class entailed. He'd have to see if he had any new music-related classes when he had time.
"Is there an issue?"
"There is no need to push yourself, perhaps you are unaware but the Priests of Tarainien Empire are trained in killing magic wielders. Even here...but with so many of them…"
"I've killed them on consecrated ground. Here in the sea, they may as well be ordinary men," Rainer replied to her shock and decided to make a show of it. And, recalling their Aura flight ability, trying to run with the ship would only waste his Mana.
These were people who'd happily slaughter everyone on this ship, so he had little sympathy since they were coming after them and not the other way around. That, and he now had a group of people deserving of his frustration over Gunthar and soon Kara being forced to leave solely for what they were.
He soared in the sky, floating a couple thousand feet in front of the enemy ship's path. [Arcane Awakening] flared to its maximum as he slammed his hands together, magic reverberating as a dense packet of Mana flared to life.
Arcane power flowed as fast it was converted, a constant hurricane of energy condensed to its limits between Rainer's palms. Space itself distorted as the magic grew larger and larger. Battle cries entered his ears as the ship in front of him prepared. A spear covered in Aura and influenced by a touch of Divinity soared toward him.
Three ritual circles of Arcane blocked its path. The spear shattered the first two but broke in half as it shattered on the final [Arcanum Shield]. Six strong Aura users took to the sky. Their Aura soared in power alongside them as they rushed forth.
But they were too late. A frigid air blew in all directions as Rainer slowly opened his hands, a crescent of condensed violet mana following, promising an everlasting sleep to all in its wake.
"Absolute Frost."
And the Priests of Tarai found their world marred with ice.
Elelaria stared blankly at the scene before her. What were once turbulent waters now showed a scene of serenity, a violet ice still spreading in every direction but theirs. Her peace was interrupted by the crashing and shattering of falling ice, reminding her of just what purpose such a thing served.
Five of the six Aura users that had assaulted the Magus had fallen from the sky. The last ran in a panic, the lower half of his body entirely frozen, his Aura still fighting against the creeping cold that sought his final hour.
He did not head to the ship that was already a sculpture of violet and ice, but almost aimlessly fled in whatever direction he thought had the least amount of cold.
Words, still charged with the strange power of the Magus, rang out.
"Jormungandr, Devour."
Ele's eyes somehow managed to open even wider as a Serpent, far larger than the man it came out of, flew towards the last surviving member of the assault ship. Not even a scream came out as the man vanished into the consuming maw of this so-called Your-moon-gone-there.
The Magus himself gave one final look at his work, before floating back down to the ship. The expression on his face spoke more of him taking a leisurely walk than slaying numerous tier 2 Aura users and a force meant to be stronger than her original planned guard. A leak from their side floated through her mind before she found her thoughts drawn again to more current matters.
Had he just wielded the might of a group spell on his own, and, more importantly, so quickly? He can't have cast for more than 10 seconds, she thought. Had she underestimated the status of this mage and that of his supposed homeland?
"Hmm, should I have maybe spared the runner? Now they might just bother us again not knowing what happened to the others."
"That would have been unnecessary, Lord Magus, I do not believe they will send another, they shall not know of their group's failure until we have already arrived in Neutral City."
"Lord Magus? Who would've thought you would be more affected by my Magic instead of my music? I'm hurt Ele, deeply hurt."
"I meant no off-" Ele started before she realized what she was saying, or rather, what he was saying.
"I'm sorry, Rainer, your display was a bit surprising. I think I might retire to my room for a bit?"
"Go ahead."
Ele slightly paused her steps realizing she had asked for his permission rather than stated her plans. She sighed, excusing herself with the fact that the Tarainien Empire never brought up pleasant memories for herself.
Rainer watched from the pulpit of the ship as they approached Dragon's End, the capital of the Rat King's Territory. Unlike the more uniform Fenrar City, Dragon's End looked like a mismatch of various building styles from wood shacks on the shoreline and beyond to strangely formed stone buildings by their side, to towers somewhere mixed in.
The city itself had no clear division as well, where as in Fenrar main streets lead to the palace, there was no similar thing here, the city merely existing in a hodgepodge of various structures, the varied building styles following all the way through.
"Everyone has the same look of surprise when they first see this place," Ele said, "Neutral City is quite an expensive place to permanently live even if the trade is quite free, many who leave the South for whatever reasons often settle down here. Whether it be for the Dungeon or the plentiful Monster hunting available deep inland, or the jobs in the port with this being such a major hub."
"And the three generations past Rat King never set a standard for any sort of building, so personal tastes often come out in their dwellings," Ele continued, "We'll be leaving this place with another Ambassador's ship tomorrow, so I wondered if I might receive the Body Enchantments in a few hours after we are settled in?"
That would be shortly after he was done Enchanting Alaya. "That should be fine. Though I'll only have time to do one, we can do more during the trip since I won't be the only guard on duty." He thought over which and picked one he knew would be popular, if only for the status of having some sort of spatial storage.
Popular within reason, of course, given the final list the girls had settled on managed to draw a momentary cringe on the Wolf King according to Kara.
As they went through procedures to enter the port and Rainer found himself momentarily alone, he thought about his recent fight and the first test of [Arcanum Shield]. Over the past three weeks, he had focused his [Sleep Learning] efforts on five primary things; [Void Domain], [Arcane-Spatial Domain], [Arcane Presence], [Arcanum] rituals, and [Void Descent], though he saved the second level of [Void Descent] to be gained in reality.
The first two had reached level 8 and 9, respectively, soon enough, both their range and efficiency improving greatly. [Arcane Presence] made no progress even as he managed to improve his [Arcanium Detection] by a single level through all that effort. With [Arcanum] Rituals he had his greatest success. Adding the runes of his shield mode to the ritual in place of Final Arcanum had been easy enough. Getting it to actually function as a shield took some tweaking, but the end result was well worth it. The shields were roughly half as strong as his own shield mode, but his ability to use them without any real effort apart from the preparation, on top of the ability to stack them, was the true benefit.
He now kept eight of the [Arcanum] Rituals and eight of the [Arcanum Shield] rituals in his storage. His next goal, apart from his still uncompleted ones, involved expanding that storage to hold more.
Soon after they made port at Dragon's End, Rainer headed off to 'rest' after his fight. Ele had, of course, had someone arrange for their rooms in the same Inn as hers. Moments later, Rainer vanished through the Void and to the Wolf King's palace.
After preparing his blood and putting a bowl of it in his ring, along with every other supposedly needed material, he mentally went over the process and hoped his target being an Aural Existence wouldn't have any negative effects. With the appointed time coming, Rainer went off to meet with the Wolf King and Alaya in a private bedroom.
"Was everything in order?" Ymir asked upon seeing Rainer enter the room, Alaya already lay on the bed slightly blushing as she wore the minimal covering as to not get in the way of the enchanting.
"Perfectly. Everything is prepared in my ring."
That was another factor in the Magus' identity in front of Ymir that confused him. There was no magic of his style among any Mage Guilds, and yet the group of Rainer, oddly his Undead, and Kara had a total of 3 spatial rings between them. One he guessed was looted off of Yazir, but he was clueless as to the others. Rather, it made the supposedly fake story of him being a Magus from beyond The Forbidden North more plausible than any other alternative.
"There shouldn't be any pain, though…"
"Though?" his daughter asked.
"There may be a bit of…" Ymir listened curiously as he wondered what had the Magus suddenly a bit embarrassed about. He was otherwise unaffected by his daughter when he walked in earlier.
"Enjoyment." The magus finished his sentence.
"I see…"
Ymir got the feeling his daughter didn't see. Nor did he see how that was a downside.
"Well nothing for it, just don't be alarmed," the Magus said as he dipped his hand a bowl of what looked like a mix of blood and some violet substance. He drew from a Mana Crystal in his hand as he went right to it, a stack of others beside it. Alaya was silent as he drew a strange rune formation on her stomach in said blood. With each pulse of magic, the blood changed to a darker blue before eventually fading to a nearly invisible violet silver on her skin.
Close to an hour later, and a few moans that made Ymir feel quite awkward, the Magus finished. The Wolf King's ears twitched as he felt a strange combination of Aura and Magic do what apparently was the finishing touch.
"Alright, there's the central control Rune, any enchantments will go through there. Try putting a bit of your Aura into it."
Ymir suddenly realized that even though the Fae sometimes had Aura, their Body Enchantments had always been skills of magic and mana.
The enchantment glowed a dark blue before fading and, by the Magus' reaction, it seemed that was the expected result.
"Perfect. I'll be doing just a single enchantment, would you prefer Speed, Strength, or a Shield one?"
"How well do they work in tandem with other Aura skills?" His daughter asked.
"The Speed and Strength are basically like flipping a switch on or off."
"A switch...like the one in the center of the Dungeon in town?"
"Oh...ah yeah."
Ymir nodded to his daughter, glad he wasn't going to have to ask what the Magus was talking about.
"The shield is similar once you form it. You can easily multitask with other Aura abilities for all them," Rainer said.
Ymir raised an eyebrow. That made it quite a bit more useful than just cladding, as that took far more focus, especially at larger amounts. He himself chose to take on a few of those earlier beams of magic in exchange for maintaining control over some of his strings during their fight. If he put too much into cladding not only would he run out of Aura faster, he would, more importantly, lose quite a bit of control. It was a downside to their ability. One normally filled in by their Aural Existence ability to heal.
Though, he had dumped as much Aura as he could to try and resist the Magus' final assault. Had he been at the level of Aura-merging of his daughter, he was quite sure he would have died.
"Can I have them all?" Alaya asked.
Ymir frowned at his daughter. Just one enchantment had already been quite expensive. And it was no easy task on its enchanter. With him secretly forcing Kara to leave in just a few more weeks, he wasn't going to put himself in further debt to the Magus. And Magicite was an important trading tool with Enchanters. His payment to the man doing Kara' enchanted blades had been partially in Magicite. They accepted no less for both a rushed and exquisite job.
"That's the plan. But I can only do so much in a day."
Or it seemed there was no problem.
"Then the shield."
"Let's get right to it then."
After a quick goodbye to Kara, Rainer Void-walked back to his Inn room, heading to do Ele's enchantments next.
Her guards moved away from her door as she clearly expected him. After a knock and quick exchanges of words, he heard a 'come in' soon after.
Elelaria sat covered in a blanket, one that clearly implied she wore nothing underneath.
Rainer held in a hidden sigh. He had told her what she could wear to keep her modesty and not get in the way of the enchantments but it seemed she wasn't interested in his suggestion. The Moon Elf had been dropping subtle, and increasingly less subtle, hints that she wouldn't mind him kissing her and likely more. It was nothing he could call her out on and firmly reject, as he wasn't even sure if they were actual hints.
Though, he supposed her current lack of clothing cemented this.
"I decided not to wear any clothes. My sense of modesty is not worth disrupting the magic."
Or looks like it didn't cement anything, as that was not only perfectly reasonable but it was partially true. He had nearly stumbled in his enchantment when he had to brush away a bit of the clothing Alaya wore.
"No clothes does make the enchanting easier," he answered reluctantly.
Well, nothing for it. Sooner or later she'd lose interest in him, if she had any, or she'd make the first move and he could finally let her down easy. He had mentioned Kara's existence a few times as well, but it seemed of no issue that he was attached.
It wasn't that he had no interest in her, he was still a man, a taken one however. He took that commitment seriously and wouldn't ruin it just for a bit of pleasure. Otherwise, he could just secretly pop back to the Fae Realm and have his choice of impossibly beautiful Fae whenever he pleased. No reason to do it with someone he actually knew and might have future diplomatic relations with. Rainer wanted to use the excuse of not "shitting where you eat", but he technically did that with both Luna and Kara and so had no ground to stand on even in his own mind.
Though, he also doubted normal sex could compare anymore to the Mana and Aura enhanced kind. So really, there was very little temptation in that regard even if using his Mana to break her almost ever-present mask would give a sense of satisfaction to him.
As he took out a bowl of blood, Rainer's mind switched gears. If he had perhaps done Elelaria before his sister, her nudity would have bothered him. But after putting his sister's body out of mind for numerous hours, doing the same in a far less embarrassing situation was easier.
He grimaced momentarily at the level he started with.
[Skill Gained: Moon Elf Body Enchantment lvl 5/10]
With the crossover he had from other Body Enchantment skills, it was easy enough to work on her with no practice. But it meant there would be some side effects on his Mana until he managed to level it once more. He sighed and began, knowing there was nothing he could do about that.
[Skill Gained: Moon Elf Anatomy lvl 2/10]
With a use of [Arcane Revelation] and some crossover from his other anatomy skills, the skill was easy enough to gain. He figured he may as well in this situation.
A few moans, that Rainer was positive Elelaria drew out, and a few hours later both the Mana control portion and the Spatial storage enchantment were completed.
"Wow…" Ele said, watching as she slid her stringed-instrument in and out of her Spatial Storage enchantment.
[Moon Elf Body Enchantment has reached level 6]
[Experience Gained: 0.1%]
Rainer briefly noted the message he gained during the process before turning his attention back to Ele. She didn't bother covering herself with the blanket. He handed the blanket to her as quick as he could.
"I can do a few more so that there's a combat portion," he said.
"That, would be appreciated. What are the ingredients for the enchantment? It would be good if I knew them before I demonstrated your gift," she asked as she covered herself, slowly.
Rainer handed her the list he chose for the Moon Elves.
"The Mana crystals are variable depending on the person and my own skill, but the rest is required."
"Thank you for choosing me as the demonstration," Ele responded, "I hope the view was at least a minor payment," she joked as she finally finished covering herself.
Once more, Rainer was unable to tell if she was just casually flirting or actually coming on to him, though he had to admit the thing with the blanket was a bit more direct than usual. Or, she was merely surprised with both the enchantment or expense of the list.
[Mana Reading] proved little help as much of what she said was a little murky. No outright lies, but not always the undeniable truth. Which made sense for normal conversation, after all, even if you are clearly being sarcastic [Mana Reading] would still give off a bad reading no matter how obvious the lie or hyperbole.
"It's of no issue. Just so you are aware, I can make the enchantments run on Mana or Aura."
"Very interesting. I cannot make any promises, but I believe the leadership of Neutral City would be glad to meet with you after I reveal to them the greeting gifts you have chosen."
Truth but shadowed in something else…
"Thank you."
Just before leaving, Elelaria came to speak with Rainer, delivering the news that Ambassador Melony, The owner of the ship they would be traveling alongside with, would not be meeting with him.
"She wouldn't meet with me?" Rainer asked, now turning on [Mana Reading].
"I'm afraid she is currently indisposed."
Rainer barely kept a frown off his face. A Lie...No tricks, no half-truths, but a pure lie.
"I could teleport us over during our journey together?"
"I'm afraid that wouldn't be wise to intrude in such a manner."
Another lie, Rainer noted. There was any number of reasons why someone wouldn't want this meeting to take place. Elelaria could be seeking the sole position in introducing him, Melony could be a mage-hater, a human-hater, or a man-hater. She could truly have an endless number of reasons she wouldn't want to meet with him that Elelaria couldn't or wouldn't say.
It could even be jealousy on the Moon Elf's part, romantic or unromantic. He did display a bit too much interest in meeting a Lamia when he spoke with her about it.
"That's a shame. All clan leadership is to be included when you display my enchantments, correct?"
"Of course."
Truth with a bit of uncertainty.
Once more nothing definite. And he couldn't call her out on it, as it would be all but admitting he had some way to discern her lies. Given her earlier discovery of his translation 'magic', he didn't want to risk revealing what would be one of his greatest cards in political negotiations.
"Then nothing for it. Setting sail?"
"Soon."
They had arrived in sight of Neutral City about a week later. As Rainer witnessed the size of it, he had only a single thought in mind: tall. On top of a massive cliff, smoothed likely by magic or man, the bulk of the city resided up high. A massive castle loomed over the various black stone buildings with the rest of the city structures spread outwards, with a decent sized gated wall surrounding the city. Mountains extended from behind, leading into a mist and clouds.
Below it stone steps and moveable wooden bridges lead to a port that extended from the bottom of the cliff and out into the water, on what looked like wooden platform with columns beneath, though they most certainly didn't reach the ocean floor. Enchantment or something likely responsible for some sort of buoyancy. Perhaps even Merfolk magic; it was something to investigate. Dwellings and buildings lay across it, denoting its function apart from the obvious as a port.
Rainer even noticed what seemed like wooden elevators being operated, likely for anyone of paying or higher class.
"My home is always a welcome sight," Elelaria said, "Though, I suppose my safety with you might even be a little more assured."
A lie, Rainer noted again, but only because he had caught her earlier. There was nothing wrong with flattery being a lie, and Rainer himself wouldn't even be considering Neutral City as allies anymore if she as a high-ranking member of the Blood Moon Elves wasn't safer in there than with him.
They made port soon after, and without even a flashing of identification, they were streamlined past any guards and checks straight to a wooden elevator. It climbed quickly to the top as Rainer tried to discern its function, but left it for another time as he looked upon the people of the city down below.
Still haven't seen a Lamia…
He thought, as the ship that traveled along their side had only just made port.
"For now I think it best if you take accommodations at an Inn. It will take just a few moments to get you a room in the one my family owns."
"Appreciated."
"Take this, it will give you authority as an official guest of mine. It should make hunting in the mountains an expedited process as well," Rainer only briefly glanced at the token of a red moon, "I will bring news in 1 week about your proposal, which is the set meeting time for the returning Ambassadors."
Rainer guessed she either didn't have access to who he wanted to present the enhancements to, or was using the meeting as an opportunity to show off in an official setting. He didn't mind.
"Make sure you one-up Melony for me."
She froze for the briefest moment before laughing, "She is a good friend, but who is it more fun to win against than our friends?"
"True," Rainer said, and not true about her being Ele's friend, he added to himself.
After a few words about when to meet again and the location of the Inn he would be staying at, Rainer waved goodbye to Ele as he Void-walked with Gunthar in tow. It was time for the main reason they came here: to advance Gunthar to the next tier.
As he void-walked, Rainer noted the city itself. It was made of the same black stone, its insides looking all the more ready for battle than anything else. Some were decorated and varied in structure, but they all shared a similar building material.
Several Void-walks later they found themselves beyond a tall lookout tower on top of a massive black stone wall, blocking all but the tallest of the city's structures from view, though Rainer paid the black-stone structure little mind as he looked forward.
"With the dagger, it shouldn't matter which of us kills it, correct?" Rainer asked.
"I believe it's best for me to fight alone when I can. It's also possible the dagger would bypass my class's normal ability and therefore prevent leveling. After all, do you not think it strange if this was truly the way for me to advance that a soul of a [Devil King] didn't do it?"
"Then I'll be on scouting and gathering duty, ping me if you need help."
"And I've spoken with Little Wolf, according to her there are no differences between Demon classes' second tier of the same base class. So, there is no need to wait for my class skills."
"You may as well train them in any case." Rainer planned on practicing with his [Arcane-Spatial Domain] and [Void Domain], he wouldn't mind gaining the last level outside of [Sleep Learning], of course, the primary goal was to finish leveling it for Absolute Dominion. So long as he had enough Void Will to reach Gunthar and run, they should be safe in the dangerous hunting ground.
"Let us have a fine hunt, Sorcerer," Gunthar said, Rainer noting the excitement in his voice.
"It will be exciting, I have no doubt."
