The Lone Wanderer-Chapter 231: Ambitious projects
The last thing Percy wanted was to mislead Noland into ruining his life. Suffice to say, he’d made it abundantly clear that the Vault of Magic was a veritable dystopia, full of callous gods who treated their own children as trash. He emphasized that he didn’t even have a clue what Metatron did to the test subjects. For all he knew, they all ended up dissected on an operating table somewhere.
‘Well, not really. I’m confident he keeps them around, at least. But you might just spend the rest of your life in a cage, if you’re unlucky.’
Still, as much as Percy had harped on the Vault’s downsides, the advantages were also undeniable. For one, Noland would never have to dig another day in his life. He would likely never have to forage for food either. Sure, the Vault’s deities might subject him to all kinds of torture, but starvation was unlikely to be on the list.
‘And you said I’ll get a second core?’ Noland asked.
‘Technically, you already have that. You just need to find A LOT of life mana.’ Percy clarified.
‘Screw that. It’s been years since I last saw a vitality worm. Just sign me up for this place already.’
‘Are you absolutely sure?’ Percy asked. ‘Like I said, there’s no going back. Even if you hate it, you’ll be stuck there.’
Noland shrugged.
‘I’m sick of Subterra anyway. Every day is the same. Just digging through a mountain of dirt, hoping to find a morsel of food on the other side, trying not to suffocate in the process. Ah, but can you repeat the part about the challenges real quick?’
Percy raised an eyebrow, wondering why his host would be interested in that. Of all the things he’d shared about the Vault, the challenges were among the few that might not even concern Noland. Still, he ultimately recapped everything, talking about both the combat and the magiscript challenges. The latter were the ones he was hoping to target this time, as there were a few new runes he needed to learn. That said, he did want to give the others a chance too. Even if he failed to clear any waves, he could at least experience a gravity affinity first hand.
‘Sounds good. Then, do you mind delaying the trip by a few days?’ Noland asked. ‘I’ve got an idea to help you blitz through the early waves of those combat challenges you mentioned. Consider it a thanks for saving my life.’
***
‘Careful!’ Noland warned as Percy tried to pick the sacks off the metallic floor. ‘If you bump those things too hard, we’re goners.’
Before entering the portal, Noland had spent the last three days procuring a few things for the trip. The first was his food – just some tasteless grubs, really. He’d harvested those from the slimy walls of a cavern located a few hours away from where Percy had met him. According to Noland, that place was something like a secret stash he generally left untouched, to use in case his daily forages didn’t go that well. Obviously, he wouldn’t be needing that any longer. Suffice to say, Percy wasn’t particularly thrilled by the idea of eating live bugs for the next month or so, but they were supposedly rather nutritious.
In any case, the second bag Noland had brought along was a lot more interesting. It contained some glowing orange crystals he claimed would explode with quite a bit of force if they weren’t handled with care. If Noland hadn’t exaggerated their effect, they definitely sounded powerful enough to take a bunch of Orange golems out.
‘First things first.’ he shrugged, before pressing his palm against the floor.
“User ID: WANDERER.”
“Authorization granted. Welcome back to the Vault, Percy.” the cube replied as soon as he had worn the translation device back on.
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‘Whoaa!! That’s seriously cool! But why are all these people staring at us?!’ Noland asked.
Percy rolled his eyes.
‘I told you to get some clothes before coming here. It’s not my first time coming here naked, but most of my previous hosts were either beasts or demi-humans…’
Noland hadn’t thought it necessary at the time. Percy was still unsure if it was just his host being an eccentric, or if all his people were nudists. Maybe it was just a consequence of living underground? Either way, he wasn’t the one who’d be staying in the Vault with this body. If Noland didn’t care, why should he?
Shaking the pointless thoughts out of his head, Percy then dragged the two bags to the challenge cubes – this time employing a little more caution. It was only once they arrived there that he asked the system for his life mana. A process that didn’t take more than a few minutes.
‘There. All done.’
‘You mean I’ve got a second core now?’
Percy nodded. Next, he briefed him in on the logistics, asking him to spend the next few days clearing his channels. This was one of the perks of coming to the Vault with a sapient host. At least, he wouldn’t have to do everything by himself this time.
‘So, what will you be doing in the meantime?’ Noland asked.
‘Studying.’
Admittedly, Percy’s goals for this trip were rather ambitious. To get through the second wave of the Orange magiscript challenge, he’d need to draw a total of ten runes. Currently, he could only use five: the concealment, preservation, control, hardness and absorption runes. Of course, he had also learned to draw the pocket and stability runes he’d relayed to Nesha, but he couldn’t activate either of those without space mana.
Learning five more runes was already a lot. Not to mention that he also intended to delve into the basics of magiscript proper this time – to finally start combining runes together into more interesting enchantments.
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Had this been a year ago, he wouldn’t have stood a chance at this, but learning new runes got easier the more you practiced. And Percy had practiced a lot, while maintaining his armour and scythes in preparation for the ambush. In addition to that, he was already a foot into magiscript, as he’d spent some time learning to attach the control runes to his other enchantments, familiarizing himself with the process.
‘I should still strive to get everything done in the next two months.’
Technically, he wasn’t that pressed for time. His destination on Remior was easily over three months away. Furthermore, he’d already discussed things with Nesha and Elaine. The group had decided to take their sweet time getting there, even if it meant running out of rainbow grass and having to downgrade to the regular elixirs for a few weeks. After all, the last thing they wanted was to rush, and leave a trail for the Divine Root to follow. Still, he’d rather not stay in the Vault longer than he had to. Every second he spent here was a second he could be investing into a different clone.
Entering the cube, he propped the two bags by a wall, before browsing through the system for the runes he wanted. Sadly, he still had to go about it via the tedious way. With over 200 credits, he could just about afford the rune index, but that would leave him broke.
‘This time, I need to make sure I earn enough credits to get the index before I leave. It’s going to save me more money in the long run…’ he sighed, listening to the cube recount the books he’d picked.
Without knowing exactly what each volume contained, he often had to buy a couple of them to ensure he ended up with a suitable variant.
“Evaluation complete. User has bookmarked a total of 14 items: ‘Memory rune, Vol. 4, 11’, ‘Growth rune, Vol. 1, 3, 16’, ‘Heat rune, Vol. 7, 8’, ‘Pressure rune, Vol. 17, 21’, ‘Rotation rune, Vol. 2, 16, 18’, ‘Cascading control enchantment’, ‘Self-repair enchantment’. Total cost: 180 credits. Current balance: 209.”
Percy felt his heart clench upon hearing the price. A wave of curiosity soon seeped through the cord, but he just brushed it aside. Poor Noland still had no idea how stingy his new compatriots were…
“Just do it already. I’ll have them as hard copies this time.” he sighed.
“Confirmed. Deducting credits. New balance: 29. Delivery in 12 rits.”
It didn’t take long for the cube to spit a towering stack of books out, each of them steaming hot. Percy didn’t waste a moment before picking the first one up. In any case, there was no reason why he couldn’t enjoy his time here. If he ignored the painful challenges, the steep costs when buying anything inside the Vault, and the strict schedule he was always under, studying runecrafting wasn’t that bad in and of itself.
Honestly, Percy liked delving into the topic, even from a purely academic perspective. Magiscript was, in many ways, superior to real-time spellcasting. Sure, it wasn’t easy to draw a functioning rune in the midst of battle – let alone a more complex enchantment. Still, with enough preparation, one could accomplish pretty much anything they set their minds to, as Dranold and Rambert had found out the hard way. Not to mention world-spanning marvels of magic like the Vault itself.
Of course, Percy wasn’t nearly ready for such a large-scale project just yet. He currently had two, slightly more modest goals in mind. One had to do with alchemy. The other with his Phantomscale Raiment.
The thought made him grin.
‘If this works, I’ll never have to worry about my armour’s maintenance again!’
