Chapter 344: Pantry Problems

Mike sighed, struggling to hold himself upright as he was hit by a wave of mana fatigue. It passed quickly as his mana regeneration kicked in.

"Well, that should just about do it. Let's get you two somewhere safe for the time being, and then I'll see about dealing with the whole ghoul apocalypse situation." He announced to Dorn and Julia, who had started to stand up and dust themselves off.

"What...what did you do?" The woman asked, staring incredulously at a spike of crystal that had erupted from the street nearby, neatly impaling a meat vendor's cart and suspending it several meters in the air.

"Came up with a radical new business idea for the home improvement industry." He replied with a smile.

"...What?"

"Nevermind. Basically, I filled the damaged portions of the bedrock with liquid quartz and then hardened it until it crystallized. Now the city should no longer be in danger of falling into the ocean." He replied cheerfully before glancing at the spike she was staring at. "Of course there are a few side effects. Small price to pay, though."

"Sir Mage, though it may be improper, I feel it is my duty as a seeker of truth to ask, who are you, really?" Dorn suddenly broke in, a thoughtful look on his face.

For a moment, Mike considered simply telling him the truth. After all, he wasn't exactly in disguise, and his actions in this city had been anything but subtle. It wouldn't be long before his identity got out.

[Better play it safe anyways.]

"I would rather remain unnamed at this point. No doubt you'll discover who I am in time, but for now, I cannot answer your question."

[Alright, that should be sufficiently mysterious.]

Contrary to his expectations, the small man gave him a serious stare. "I understand, sir. We will carry the details of your actions here to the grave."

Mike felt that he might be getting the wrong idea, but decided that it shouldn't matter too much. He had every intention of leaving this city as soon as possible and never coming back. Just as soon as he finished what he was doing here...hmm.

[Shit.]

Thinking quickly, he said. "On that note, I really need to get back to my search. Clearly the person I was looking for was not with the ghouls. Not sure why I thought that in the first place."

"Ah, yes, we were planning on bringing that up-" Dorn started, but Mike didn't have time to listen fully.

"Nevermind that now. I promised to get you to safety, but I really need to concentrate, so I'll be creating some guards for you for the time being." He announced quickly before issuing a short chant.

A trio of magic circles appeared on the ground surrounding the two, and a few seconds later the resulting motes of light resolved into three vaguely humanoid figures composed of animate soil and rock. Each of them stood roughly two meters in height, and had thick, heavy looking limbs. They didn't appear to be particularly quick, but Mike assumed they'd be imposing enough to ward off most attacks..

"These earth elementals will guard you until you reach a safe location. I don't know this city very well, so I'll let you lead them."

Julia looked fearfully up at the creatures surrounding them, but Dorn seemed to accept his words at face value. He offered Mike a deep bow. "You have my eternal gratitude, sir mage. Should we ever chance to meet again, I pray you grant me the opportunity to repay the favor you have shown us."

[You've been more helpful than you realize.]

Once they had begun moving, Mike focused on the problem at hand. In spite of all of his actions up to this point, he was no closer to finding Selene than he was when he started. And now he was confronted with the seemingly impossible challenge of tracking down one individual in the chaotic city, which was still under attack by a horde of zombie-like ghoul thralls.

[I've really been relying too heavily on mental bonds for this kind of thing. I'll need to come up with something to serve as a backup if this ever happens again. In the meantime, how am I supposed to deal with this?]

He sorted through a few potential ideas, discarding each in turn as being either impractical or taking too much time. Finally, he came to the conclusion that, without some kind of link to serve as the basis for investigative magic, there was not much he could do right now.

[I guess it's time to move on to my last resort.] He thought while summoning the portal to his inventory and making it roughly a meter in diameter.

He stuck his head through the shimmering distortion in the air, momentarily suppressing a shiver of disquiet. Everything he'd read about these kinds of portals said that being inside one when they closed was a very bad thing, so he wanted to make this particular venture as short as possible.

The manuals had also recommended against a mage entering his own inventory fully. It was apparently alright for them to partially go inside, but leaving the origin point entirely could destabilize the skill, leading to the pocket realm being stranded in interdimensional space.

So, with those disquieting facts in mind, he opened his eyes on the other side of the portal and had a look around. Initially he assumed it would be something like a formless void. What he was not expecting was a copy of the walk-in pantry at his parents' house that he'd seen thousands of times while growing up in his previous life.

After a few seconds of dumbfounded staring, he realized that the scale was off. The pantry had been modest in his past life, barely giving enough room for his heavy set father to walk in without getting stuck. It had also only extended a few meters back, creating a short, narrow space that Mike had to repeatedly navigate when helping his family with cooking.

This version, however, was several times larger. The shelves seemed to reach into the sky, and he could barely see the other side of the vast, echoing chamber.

"This doesn't seem right…" Mike muttered while looking around. As far as he could recall, the size of a mage's inventory was directly related to his or her level in the Space Magic skill. At his current level of proficiency, it should only be a few meters square at best. That wasn't even taking into account the unusual layout.

[Could this be a side effect of one of my titles? But that doesn't explain why it looks like my pantry. Is it something to do with being from another world?]

He was about to start going down this tangent, but managed to remind himself of the reason he started this in the first place when he caught sight of his target.

"Hey, Aberth!" He called. "I have a question for you."

The god was currently in the middle of examining a few of the items stored on the giant-sized pantry's shelves. In particular, he seemed focused on the damaged dungeon core which had been placed next to a pile of unidentified meat that he didn't remember storing.

A pair of pale white eyes turned his direction accompanied by the powerful being's calm and measured voice. "In my time, it was considered a major sin to destroy the core of a dungeon. Have things changed so much since then?"

"AHEM, well, I don't know about that. I've never heard of anyone doing anything like it before." Mike answered quickly, feeling a little awkward. He tried to move over to the god, but only managed to somehow spin in place, his disembodied head rotating slowly like some kind of horrible carnival ride. With a little bit of effort, he was able to stop himself, but gave up on moving.

Wanting to head off any further conversation about the dungeon core, he decided to press on with his question. "Do you, by any chance, have any abilities that would let you track down individual members of your kin? I'm looking for someone, and she just so happens to be a vampire."

Aberth turned a thoughtful gaze in his direction, and finally answered after a few moments of silence. "Although I have been greatly reduced, that should still be something I am capable of."

"Excellent! Now, I know that you can't really leave this space without causing some serious side effects, so I'm thinking-"

The god held up a hand to stop him. "Please let me finish. It is something I can do, but I am not certain if it is something I should do."

"What do you mean?"

"Without even considering the effects of my presence on my kin in the city, however brief and truncated it may be, establishing a connection with one of them in particular may lead to a great tragedy."

Noting that Mike had questions, Aberth continued. "As I have said before, my mere existence in this world will have the side effect of enhancing the predatory urges of my kin. You must understand that this is the bare minimum of what will happen while I am actively attempting to suppress my aspect's abilities. In order to do what you have asked of me, I would need to temporarily release my control, and then build a bridge between myself and my target."

"That would be bad, I'm guessing."

"Indeed. Not only would I drive the targeted individual into a blood frenzy by the briefest contact, but the resulting interference would be strong enough to affect any other members of my kin who happen to be in proximity."

Mike frowned. "Considering the timing, it seems likely that whoever captured her was related to your kin. Which could be rough if any powerful vampires or ghouls just so happened to be nearby."

"There is one other problem with this method."

"Hm?"

A brief flicker of emotion passed over the god's face, a momentary hardening of his features that could have only been intense anger. "If I do this, I will be announcing my presence to the entirety of this world. My enemies will be aware that I am free, and will begin moving against me and those they perceive as my allies. In my weakened state, I will not be able to do much to resist them."

"I see...I suppose it is a bit much to ask. Can you think of any other way to find her?"

"There are a few other methods, however, they have all the same risks with a much higher chance of failing."

"Hmm..."

Aberth's lip twitched upward in the hint of a smile. "Ultimately, my destiny will not change regardless of the path we take now. As such, I will leave the decision up to you."

[Some help you are...ugh, I have a bad feeling about this, but I can't think of any other way to track her down in the short term.]

After a bit of internal debate, he finally sighed. "Alright, let's do it."

"Very well, then let us begin discussion of my payment."

For a few seconds Mike stared at him, slack jawed. He'd been completely taken by surprise. "What the hell? Didn't you say you owed me for freeing you from your prison?"

"I did indeed, and I have benevolently rewarded you for your efforts. This however, is a separate matter that will cost me a great deal. As such, I feel it is only fair that I am adequately compensated."

"Rewarded? What reward?"

"I have enhanced the portion of your power that stems from my kin. You will understand if you check your [Status]."

With mixed feelings, Mike did just that and found two new entries.

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- (BC) Vampiric Regeneration, Standard (Tier 3) -

(Acquired through Blood Collector) You have inherited the legendary regenerative powers of a true vampire, allowing you to heal from virtually any non-fatal injury. By utilizing a requisite amount of mana, this skill can regenerate lost body parts. Users of this skill can even briefly store their consciousness in their bodily fluids, allowing them to regenerate from conditions where life would otherwise be impossible. Large increase to the healing speed of all ordinary injuries. Exposure to fire will slow or halt this process.

- (BC?) Vampiric Constitution, Standard (Tier 3) -

(Acquired through Blood Collector?) You have inherited the legendary resilience of a vampire, allowing you to resist a wide range of afflictions and injuries. Minor increase to Defense against all attacks, mental effects, and curses. Moderate increase to resistance against the negative effects of cold temperatures. Large increase to resistance against disease and poison.

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"Well, shit. That's awesome, but I am bothered by the fact that you did it without my permission."

[And my awareness.]

"My apologies. I meant no offense. When I granted you that power, I was under the assumption that I would never see you again. Because we had limited time at that moment, I chose to omit an explanation. If you are concerned about me tampering with your abilities in the future, please rest assured, I can only manipulate the skills that are related to my aspects. Even then, I can only improve them. Any attempt to deprive you of power will trigger your soul's self defense process, preventing the change."

"I see…I suppose that's fair, but from here on out, I don't want to have any more surprises like this."

"Of course." Aberth replied with a slight nod. "Now, should we discuss my fee?"