Chapter 28 Stones or Experiments

Walking into his laboratory, Viladore took off his coat before it floated itself over the to coat rack and hung itself. A luminous orb lit up the room as he sat down as his desk, waving his hand over a black cube.

“Greetings, master”

“Hello.” Viladore leaned on his desk over the black cube with a warm smile “Can you do it yet?”

“No, master.” The black cube responded as tiny black crystal eyes peeked from the top of it, gazing up at Viladore.

“Oh ok, keep trying. Soon we can try some different materials, then maybe you’ll be able to sense mana.” Viladore looked at the black cube lovingly, his current project.

“Thank you, master.”

Viladore only stared back at it, while it seemed to await orders for a moment before it’s black crystal eyes lowered back into it’s cube body, forming a perfect seam.

Viladore leant back in his chair “Once it can sense mana, perhaps I can have it make copies of itself or build more of it’s own body, growing into a creation even more spectacular it’s own creator.”.

His eyes glowed blue with anticipation, slightly failing to hold back his mana “It already has its own mind, though still infantile at this stage. It won’t be long before I teach it some basic philosophy and maybe even some manacraft theory” he smiled knowingly at his little black cube “Someday, someday soon, It’s advancement will be endless, It will conquer dungeons with ease, and make my power unquestionable.”

With that, he took out diagrams along with some ancient parchments as he began to make notes, tweaking his cube design and writing new diagrams.

—

“I have to keep going, I have to get stronger so no one can control me, or even kill me – then when I’m free, I will continue to get stronger still – for myself, for my own sake. And why would I ever stop? I won’t let someone catch me – only to become their tool again.” Jay encouraged himself, reinforcing his purpose “I will become a power among the powers.”

Since the moment he got this class, he knew he was in danger. Already, he was feeling like he was being manipulated by the guild master – both of them knowing that he would be killed if the wrong person discovered his class.

Upon telling himself this, resolute in his own way, Jay felt like something was calling to him from his inventory – it was his book. Taking it out, he gazed at the cover.

“Hmm, it’s been a while old friend” he tenderly held the book as he analysed it.

[One day, One Lifetime]

“Oh? You changed your name again.” Jay talked to his little book as he looked at the golden ring on the front of the book. It was slightly more shattered now – while a small dot of gold appeared in the centre of the ring.

“Interesting…” thought Jay, finding a rock to sit on.

Since Jay was tired, he decided to read the new page of the mysterious black book, thinking to himself “I wonder if this is changing my thoughts somehow… Well, so far it has made sense, so it can’t be that bad.” he shrugged, turning to the new page – this time, the writing was in gothic lettering.

**Author here – new page of Jay’s book is the next chapter. Enjoy, Aero182.**

Jay was less tired now and felt even more resolute. He stashed his book, standing up to continue grinding as he began to walk through the darkness once more, a blue lamp-carrying skeleton at his side. Taking random turns through the cave system, he was looking for more monsters to increase his power, though he had lost track of the monster he was hunting at this point, the one that released a mana pulse attack; the cave walls no longer had any crystals in them so there wasn’t a glowing path to follow.

It felt like an hour before they came across another light up ahead. Moving cautiously, Jay prepared his buckler as he walked towards the light. The closer he got, the colder it was – his breath beginning to create mist as he exhaled.

The light seemed to be responding to him as it too moved closer. Suddenly, he saw another skeleton in the dark, Jay was a little startled before he realized it was an old mirror, the light approaching was merely his own reflection.

The mirror was huge, twice as tall as Jay and wider than two doors, towering over Jay as it seemed to threaten him merely by it’s size. Strangely, it had no dust on it despite being in the filthy mine, perfectly reflecting Jay and his skeletons; the mirror seemed to be as clear as water. At this point, it was obvious to Jay that this was a magical mirror – or perhaps something worse. It had a black-grey frame made out of some kind of ancient wood, Jay drew near to look at the wood more closely before realizing it seemed to have warped faces of people screaming in horror as it’s decoration.

“Nope. Fuck that.” he backed away as he noticed a silt-wolf approaching from behind him in the reflection. “Shit!” he turned around as he ducked to the side. Normally he would’ve stepped back if not for the mirror there.

As he turned around, raising his buckler he realized there was no silt-wolf there.

Curiously, he looked at the mirror as he backed away – the reflection of himself however didn’t back away, standing there, staring at him with a scornful expression.

“Nice try you cursed fuck. You’re not getting my soul.” Jay wouldn’t give the mirror a chance, he wouldn’t even throw a stone at it, thinking that it would somehow use it to it’s advantage. He walked back the way he came, and turned down a different path.

It wasn’t long before Jay came across another silt-wolf. Jay had his two minions, Blue and Red, go to fight it before he was attacked from the side.

“Shit!” A different silt wolf pounced on Jay, the first one was merely acting as bait to draw out his stronger minions. The wolf pushed him to the ground as the lamp-carrying skeleton stabbed at the wolves shoulder and ribs.

The wolf was trying to snap down on his skull right as Jay shoved his buckler into it’s maw, stabbing at its eyes while he struggled on his back. The buckler was beginning to crack from the tremendous pressure of the wolf jaw, quickly losing durability.

Getting desperate, Jay shifted his ring while it was inside the wolf – the wolf’s mouth began to fill up with bones. Before long, it’s neck bulged and it couldn’t take the pressure of the bones as it started to gag – some of the bones were sharp and cutting it’s throat from the inside. It spat out Jay’s buckler along with numerous bones. Jay stood up as it hacked and spewed – while the lamp-skeleton continued to stab, targeting the wolves neck now.

Before long, Blue and Red had finished killing their silt wolf and pounced on the one that attacked Jay, ripping through its hide and flesh with fervour. It wasn’t long before it died, still being stabbed relentlessly by three overly-enthusiastic necro warriors.

[200 Exp][200 Exp]

With a few heavy breaths, Jay calmed his nerves after the fight.

“That was close. I probably would’ve been knocked out and lost 20 HP if it bit my head.” Jay stared at the corpse for a moment. “Seems like it’s getting dangerous, the wolves seem to be working together more. Perhaps I should leave…” He looked at his skeletons “Most dungeons aren’t meant to be done solo anyway, maybe another skeleton would be useful.”

Analysing his cracked buckler, the metal frame was warped. “And I’ll need another buckler, or maybe even a shield.”

Having an idea, Jay decided to try to make a bone-shield – but first, he upgraded his last minion with the siltwolf bones. After the upgrade, this one had the same colour pattern as Red: cobalt-blue bones with red specks in them – so Jay decided to find another name for it.

“Since you so nicely carried the lamp, I will put extra creative effort into your name for your service” Jay smiled with a toothy grin.

“Lamp!” he began to laugh into the dungeon, the laughter echoing back as it seemed to make a chorus of maniacal laughter. “You’re Lamp now. I love Lamp.”

Lamp didn’t respond in any way.

Pleased with himself, Jay sat down next to the second silt wolf body.

Jay had his necrotic ring tenderly extract the bones from the wolf corpse as it left three more plates and another spine on the ground behind. Adding them to his inventory, Jay gained six ferritic plates in total from the battle.

“Maybe I should save these metal plates for when I come across an armourer, or perhaps mana scribe… hmm, actually I probably won’t be able to afford a mana scribe for quite some time.”

All mana scribe’s were protected by the ruling class; they were not just a sign of wealth and nobility to their nobles they worked for, but also created powerful items by inscribing manacraft pathways into them – you would merely have to channel mana into such an item and it would reproduce a spell. Often, a noble family would not be considered for marriage arrangements if they didn’t have at least one mana scribe working under them.

Jay sat cross-legged against the cave wall as he began to craft his shield. “I’ll use the white bones first in case I mess up. Once I discover the ability, I’ll be able to perfect it.”