The Arcane Emperor Chapter 124: A Ghost in the Snow

Chapter 124: A Ghost in the Snow

A film of Arcane covered his eyes as Rainer used [Arcane Revelation] to stare at his second Avatar in [Sleep Learning]. While his first Avatar did his usual job of enchanting practice, his second Avatar sat in a constant [Void Suppression]. It would die every once in a while and Rainer would take the chance to practice the Avatar ritual. He guessed his familiarity with his own Soul had been a part of his success with anything related to it. And damaging it, or perhaps dissecting it, was the easiest way to gain familiarity.

Even in the [Sleep Learning] s.p.a.ce, Amer for example couldn’t do things that would damage his Soul overmuch. [Arcane Invigoration] healing his Soul and body was as important as [Sleep Learning] in this aspect.

Switching his focus between himself and his Avatar, Rainer could see the use of [Void Suppression] in a whole new way. He didn’t just have to rely on his own internal senses as he leveled it. It made up for his lack of high talent with Void.

Right away, he could tell the path that [Arcane Rage] took - becoming a powerful cycle within his body as [Arcane Awakening] - wouldn’t work.

Rainer grinned, wondering if this strategy would work even better as his [Avatar Control] leveled further. How would three minds work together to level a skill with so many tools of a.n.a.lysis available? And then in the future when he could bring great minds of his school into here...

He watched ever more carefully just how [Void Suppression] altered his main body. Slowly, he made small adjustments, slowing the pace of Void Will in certain areas specifically, and speeding it up in others. With every changing path, the suppression would change. Sometimes leaning towards making his physical body weaker, other times his mind. Other changes made him even more invisible to detection skills, making it hard to even look at the gaunt and elongated figure that was somehow him.

Knowing he would need to be able to at least walk and think properly, he focused his efforts on reducing the physical weakening effect and partially the mind. He couldn’t use magic in this form after all.

He s.h.i.+fted how the Void Will flowed yet again, this time the skill improving enough so that he could stand under its effects. The [Archon] bonus showed its strength as the flow s.h.i.+fted ever so slightly, but significantly, in effect.

[Void Suppression has reached level 2]

He watched carefully, for the first time seeing the [Archon] bonus work from an outside perspective.

Truly unfathomable…

Rainer sighed. He had been waiting for this, hoping to get even the slightest hint on how this worked. He couldn’t depend on the system forever. Yet… he failed completely. All that could be seen was how the Void Will flowing in his body seemed to adjust through his control. Despite the fact that it wasn’t his control. It seemed this mystery would have to wait for another day.

For the first time in a long time he sent a silent thank you to the system for its help and continued on.

Hours pa.s.sed as Rainer continued to alter the flow of Void Will. Over time he began seeing the pattern; in fact, it wasn’t much different than the swirling Void that appeared when he used [Void Call]. At times part of the swirling Void was slow, and at other times fast. By mimicking this it wasn’t an exact copy but it was good enough to serve as a base.

Reaching level 6 had made it so he could walk under the effects and wouldn’t be at risk of death. But the walk was still slow, and to prevent himself from dying quickly he had to lower the suppressive effects, making it less effective at stealth. If he wanted to fool powerful mages and defensive enchants and spells, he needed far more than that.

While Avatar techniques like his own were nonexistent, techniques like his grandfather’s which involved a subst.i.tute golem or body were not uncommon amongst the truly powerful according to Elelaria. Which meant any Mage Guild would be truly guarded well. Though as it turned out, golem Avatars like his grandfather’s didn’t meld well with the system. They lacked cla.s.s bonuses, and often even lacked the added attributes from the cla.s.ses. They certainly wouldn’t gain experience.

This only proved that the Avatar Ritual given to him by Amer was either created by one of the greatest Mages ever, or was Divine in nature.

“Talvara?” Rainer called out, curious if the Void-being would finally grace him with her presence.

He just chuckled to himself as his call went unanswered. It seemed he wasn’t the only one affected by Francis’ merging into him. Returning his focus to [Void Suppression], he continued his work. Ever slowly the unique swirl of Void Will, fast in some places, slow in others, or standing nearly still, shaping it’s way through his body.

Creeping his way through a snowy village, a gaunt figure surpa.s.sing seven feet in height treaded slowly. The heavily packed down snow on the paths left no evidence of his pa.s.sing.

He slipped through like a shadow, not bothering with the few guards of the village. A sniff caused him to pause in his footsteps, only for a sneeze to signal him to go on.

As he crept into a small village hut, he wondered over whether this was a smart idea. Shaking his head, he continued on. It was enough that he used an Avatar in case Kara accidentally killed him. Maybe she’d get a t.i.tle for killing him intentionally?

Entering the hut, he saw a single Wolfkin sitting in the center of the room. She sat in a meditative posture, though it was clear her senses were still tuned to the world. Step by step he drew closer.

Rainer swore in his head as he nearly knocked over a jug of water. Only his weak strength kept it from making too much noise. He may as well be a ghost given his strength. As carefully as he could, he stood in front of Kara and draped his arms onto her shoulders.

Her eyes snapped open, and then further widened in horror.

“I’ve come to collect your Soul.”

Rainer tumbled backwards as he barely avoided being cleaved in half by a saber. Only the surprise had dulled her blade.

“Kara wait, it’s Rainer!” he quickly explained as he turned off [Void Suppression]. The visual effects quickly vanished, but it would be around ten minutes before his suppressed attributes would return to full form. It would be a crippling and risky disadvantage if he didn’t have Avatars. If it hadn’t been for Amer’s likely belief that he’d never actually learn it, or die trying, he’d probably have asked for far more back then in the trade.

She stopped her second swing and just gave him a long stare.

“Is this why you asked to practice stealth techniques together?”

“To wipe the floor with you, yes.” He planned on betting, but figured scaring her would be more fun and and he wouldn’t feel as bad for ‘cheating’. Plus, the prideful Wolfkin might still take on the bet.

Kara tried to maintain the glare, but the blatant confession caught her off guard, and she couldn’t suppress a smile.

“Teach me it.”

“But-”

“Doesn’t matter. Who knows what information might be helpful. Gunthar created an Aura skill only matched by powerful Demon cla.s.s skills solely from watching your [Arcane Blade]. Really, you’ve been unfair to him, figure out how to bring him into [Sleep Learning]. Can you imagine what he could do with limitless Aura?”

Rainer gave a sheepish look. He had written it off as risky, but couldn’t he raise a common undead and then test it out that way? It had been awhile, but he clearly had no issue using the sc.u.m of society as test subjects, trusting in himself to not tread down the obvious slippery slope attached to that. Mind-reading opened all kinds of options when it came to justice. Given that he likely had the greatest mind-readers on the planet on his side, he didn’t even need to worry about implanted memories either.

“Besides, what do you think the difference between Mana and Aura is? And then Void Will? According to you, didn’t the Divine Avatar cast spells just as normally with his Divine Power?”

Rainer couldn’t be sure what the true difference was. Sure there were obvious ones. Like how different Aura or Mana fueled body enchantments acted despite technically using the same runes apart from the source-related ones. And then their sources: one from within, another from World Energy.

Not that he knew how Mana came to be. It was either a function of the body via fat cells and then an impossible use of E=mc^2, or it naturally drew from another dimension. The latter was in line with the idea of Affinity. Affinity to what? Another Dimension. His grandfather had guessed and the magical community of Earth tended to lean to one of those two theories. Rainer didn’t feel either had merit, but he didn’t have an alternative to offer.

And no doubt if he could figure out how to fuel body enchantments with Void Will the effects might be completely out of his expectations. He was technically going to become a Magical race one day so it was relevant… maybe. Who knew what his strange body that was part Human, part Arcane, and part Void would become.

In a good mood, Sophia hugged her son as he rounded a corner, prepared to share her good news of reaching level 25 first in their group. She had gotten lucky and ended up killing a stealth-type monster of apparently considerable level. She had sensed it through her empathy skill, something the system was considering both a Talent and a skill. It had been burned alive before it even knew it had been sensed.

And then she felt something deeply disturbing as she ended the hug.

“Rainer… don’t take this the wrong way but… what do you feel about yourself?”

“What?”

“I mean… how do you view yourself?”

“As a Mage who loves magic?” Rainer said, utterly confused.

Sophia stared at him for a long time before remembering his weird habit of keeping one of his girlfriends in his pocket. What was that anyway? Why was everyone so okay with it?

“f.u.c.king Francis. How dare he play a prank on his mother. I miss him.” She had spent so long worrying about Rainer’s relations.h.i.+p with Luna. And any time she managed to talk to the Fairy it would be weird greetings while she had to look at the oddly smug smile on the silver-haired vixen’s face. So both had messed with her. And wow, could the Fairy act.

How entertaining. She wondered how long Luna would keep up the charade. It would be far more fun now that she knew the Fairy loved her son to a seriously unhealthy degree rather than constantly worrying that he was being manipulated. Normally that would alarm her, but it didn’t matter since her three-bodied son was a borderline zombie in survival ability and seemed to feel the same way, if not to the same degree.

“I miss him too. But he’s still here.”

Rainer didn’t miss Francis; Francis was him even if he wasn’t Francis. But he figured it didn’t hurt to just agree. It was hard to explain to an outside party. And why won’t Talvara show up? Absence makes the heart grow fonder, even when he didn’t want it to.

“I suppose so. He... you can tell can’t you - was he happy in the end?”

Rainer didn’t have to lie this time.

“He was.”

Ever so happy about dropping his one-sided love of Talvara on his lap. That was one part of the merger that bothered him. He felt both happy and annoyed with the memory of that decision.

“Good.”

With the idea of swirling Void in mind, Rainer found his progress with [Void Suppression] going smoothly. With a promise to practice in the future, Kara had gone off by herself after he explained the principles behind it. He planned on sharing it with Gunthar later.

The Undead had spent far too much time alone in the mountains. If it wasn’t for the recent scare, Rainer might consider going after a Unicorn here and now. Alas, living to actually return him to having a real body seemed a better idea than a suicide mission.

However, despite smooth progress, he soon found himself stuck at level 9, a not too uncommon situation as the more complicated the spell or skill, the larger the qualitative change required for level 10. Especially if there was an expected skill to be gained at the end.

While the recovery period hasn't changed, and the suppression was as strong as ever, he had altered it enough to where he had the physical attributes of a normal Human despite a far stronger stealth effect. So long as he wasn’t doing anything disruptive, he could even brush a hand across someone’s back and they wouldn’t notice. Even being right in their face, they looked right through him.

The final disadvantage being the more stealthy he was, the more his enchanted items stood out. The contrast let someone even without [Magic Detection] feel weak enchantments. It meant he would have to wear ordinary clothing. And that a.s.sa.s.sinating someone with a powerful enchanted item was out.

The problem with level 10… is that he had no idea what it could be. [Void Suppression] without its disadvantages? That seemed entirely unlikely. Especially given their two main disadvantages: the attribute suppression and the sheer cold he felt. Cold in a way that seeped into his bones and mind. Like he felt apart from the world and truly something inhuman. Despite the recent lack of physical danger, it was not a good state to remain in for too long.

Which disadvantage should he try to get rid of? And was it even possible with how Void Will worked? [Void Suppression] had also been made with a mindset of ‘it’s okay if it’s a worthless skill, it needs only to control Void Will in a physical body’.

Either way, tomorrow was a rare event, where both the moons of this world would be dark. It seemed [Void Harmony] and further improvement to [Void Suppression] would have to wait.

It was time to see just how far the Fa.r.s.eers could see.

…

How he wished he could bring Gunthar in here. He would have enjoyed that.

Rainer nearly lost his breath as his Avatar stared at the Fa.r.s.eer’s Guild location. Due to the history behind it, finding the place proved beyond simple. A tower of the fallen Imperial Magi. And the many secrets behind them.

It extended into the sky, far surpa.s.sing any skysc.r.a.per he’d seen. The dilapidated ruins around it, that still held an echo of the enchantments that once reinforced them, only added to the old history of the tower.

He grinned, a distorted smile that only showed darkness appearing on his face. This was a proper Mage’s tower. Perhaps he should consider redoing the one he built to hold the Mana-Well. It felt too short. A Tower of Magi should inspire wonder.

Looking at the setting sun, he patiently waited. And seeing the sheer amount of magic that surrounded the tower, beyond just the enchantments, he wondered just what his ability could hide from.