After leafing through theory of magic for a few minutes, Rastel finally found a chapter that dealt with inscriptions.
The chapter was short as it was meant to be an introduction to the subject of inscriptions which was apparently an entire school of study on its own.
'Inscriptions are translated spell matrixes created from existing spells or insights from talented mages which are then grafted on a material to give it various effects.'
This was part of the introduction he read and it already left him pondering.
"What is a spell matrix?"
He muttered out loud.
Although he already had a vague idea with his own guesses, it seemed he would have to backtrack later to be sure.
'The material to be inscribed on must be powerful enough to support the wear and tear of the magic circuiting around it.'
'Only materials such as the leather of powerful magic beasts or byproducts of some special materials can hold inscriptions properly although they will naturally fade over time and get weaker due to gradual irreversible damage. But it is mostly recommended to make inscriptions on gems as their composition makes them more tolerable to magic circuits. A famous location for sourcing gems is the Epilus canyons in the Evafall continent.'
Rastel couldn't help but think about his mage robe as he read this part. Seems like it must be worth quite a lot of kryts!
And considering the inscription on it boosted casting speed by a certain percentage, it was more powerful than normal buffs that only increased certain aspects with fixed values.
'Should I maybe... sell the robe?'
He was seriously considering it.
'Spell matrixes must be drawn accurately following the governing laws of the element and the given effect. They must also contain matrixes that would allow them effectively draw on the emitted magic waves of the mage so as to increase efficiency to the maximum instead of drawing straight from the reserves. The better the type of matrix used, the more powerful the enchantment and the more perfectly drawn, the longer it would last.'
Rastel was finally getting some useful insights on how to proceed with improving his golems.
Seems he might have to revisit the inscriptions and try to perfect them some more.
He would also have to study them to understand them more and figure out which part effectively does what and understand the underlying rules behind them.
'Most books on inscriptions are specialized knowledge and the only way to easily access them is through the Free Academy of Magical Arcana or being a member of the inscription tower of the 27 mage towers.'
Rastel's expression kept getting uglier and uglier as he read through this part.
What free academy? What 27 towers? Did he really need to go to school or join some whatever association to get more information on what he wanted?
Not willing to concede, he went though the other books and found relatively the same thing with references to the free academy and the 27 mage towers again.
'This game is a scam! Cheaters and scams! Do they think I don't dare to take them to court?'
He cursed viciously in his mind as he started to think about what to do.
Joining an organization was a big no to him for one reason and one reason only.
Responsibilities!
What did adventuring have to do with been tied down to one place and doing things for other people?
Going to school was an even bigger taboo.
'Fuck it's not like I enjoy going to school in the real world anyway. How hilarious would it be to attend school in a game?'
There was no way forward or backward.
Irritated, he picked up all the books and held them casually on one hand. He was going to find Myra and Roxanne.
Then after that, go around town to see if he could find something interesting before leaving for Kurn. He already got the news that the storm had passed so travel should now be possible.
Walking down the never ending corridors, he found himself lost quite a few times before he eventually ended up in the main hall.
Rastel approached with the hopes of having his craving fulfilled to see a hall full of blacksmiths beating their hammers down at pieces of ore.
He was so excited that he was slow to react to the fact that, there was no banging sounds at all!
Entering the hall, he found it as empty as before.
He clicked his tongue in disappointment before noticing Myra running up to him.
"Hero!"
She jumped into his arms for a hug.
He caught her awkwardly while trying to stop his books from falling with a wry smile.
"Hey girl, how have you been?"
She mumbled something in his arms that he couldn't quite get.
When she left his arms, she was smiling brightly which gave her blue eyes extra charm. Rastel adjusted the ribbon in her hair before asking her a question.
"Where's Amba?"
He noticed the small figure was not with her.
"He is over there together with that strange man."
Myra leaned closer and whispered secretively while pointing at a corner of the hall.
Rastel had told her not to reveal Amba to people so she normally took him around like a doll. But he was actually Rastel's last safeguard for Myra.
Rastel turned to look over at the left side of the hall that was filled with different completed works from the smithy and indeed saw Amba there.
He was in the hands of a queer looking middle aged man with soft cotton like brown hair and a mustache.
The man had on an elegant yellow mage's robes with the hood taken off and the man's deep brown eyes studied Amba with great interest.
Beside the yellow robed mage was the dwarven grandmaster Vulcan. He was drinking deeply from a large mug and occasionally refilled it from the large jug that sat beside him on the floor.
The ever present scowl on the dwarf's face seemed to ease up a bit as he drank down with relish.
Approaching the duo with Myra skipping happily behind him. Rastel took a bow to show his respect to his host and the guest mage, greeting them politely.
"Ah….. you are the muan boy, a summoned eh? You slept for long this time. Your little girlie friend went out for a while to get me some things so wait here a bit for her."
Grandmaster Vulcan seemed to be in a boisterous mood as he answered him cheerily.
Rastel was surprised to hear that Roxanne had already gotten a quest from the dwarven grandmaster. It seemed her eagerness to get close to a legendary figure was very high.
The mage was still studying Amba quietly and there was a slight frown on his face.
Rastel could feel Amba's nervousness through their mind link and he was urging Rastel persistently to rescue him from the man's grasp.
Rastel was amused with Amba's reaction. Although Amba was a golem, he was really well made.
There were no signs of inscriptions or anything on his body except for the circle on his belly that glowed faintly when he was active.
Other than that, he really just looked like a cute doll.
But he still had to take action as he couldn't let a random stranger observe him too closely. If someone with bad intentions figured out he was carrying a golem around, what would he do then?
But just as he was about to open his lips to request for Amba back, the mage finally reacted and turned to him to speak.
"This thing..."
He asked in a slightly unsure voice.
"It is some type of construct isn't it?"
Rastel's heart skipped the next two beats as his mind shook with dread.
________________________________________________________________________________________
In a dark quiet room, the figure of a girl rolled back and forth on top of a bed with purple sheets.
"Should I have said more? I should have talked more right?"
She kept on mumbling random things to herself.
Sara Fujino had long since returned home after spending some time with Reo and his friends.
Immediately they split ways, she had hurried back home and immediately flung herself on her bed.
Her mind was in a turmoil and she was feeling flustered. She never thought she would meet them there and was caught off guard.
Heaving a deep sigh, she took off her glasses and dropped it by a bedside drawer.
Picking up her large headphones, she put it on her head and closed her eyes, immersing herself in the music.
Slow soulful piano strings been plucked echoed in her ears and stirred the depths of her soul, giving her a kind of peace she could only feel addicted too.
When she opened her eyes half an hour later, they reflected immense calm.
She quietly took off the headphones and kept them aside and picked up a large comfortable looking helmet immediately after.
Laying down in a comfortable position on her bed, she pressed a button by the side of the helmet and watched as her sight was covered by a boundless white before a multitude of colors rushed by.
When she regained her sight again, she was staring at the red sandstone wall of a natural cave.
Her purple eyes glinted with a mysterious light and a slight wind from a crack in the concealed entrance blew through her long black hair with streaks of purple cascading down her shoulders.
She was wearing a ragged looking black cloak that looked like it was designed more for warding off the elements than for fashion and there was a thin face mask attached to it that covered up to her nose.
Standing up from her crossed leg position she patted down the dust on her and picked up a unique looking hat that was as large as it was wide.
It seemed like a traditional woven hat worn by old Asian travelers and farmers but this one seemed to be woven by metal strips and was much more elegant.
Putting it on her head, it effectively covered most of her face and with a wave of her hand, the entrance was opened up and she stepped out.
She was surrounded by large red stone spires, but she walked through the terrain with great familiarity.
She hadn't moved for long when she suddenly stopped.
Lifting her head slightly to see, she found out that the path in front was suddenly blocked off by a large group of people with intimidating auras.
She just had to glance back to see that her retreat had been cut off too.
"You damn witch! You actually dared to kill one of us! Do you understand what this means! You would become an eternal enemy of the blue leaf guild! We will hunt you down to death!"
A large wolf beastman with white fur growled angrily at her as he unsheathed a long two-handed sword from his waist.
She didn't respond and just stared quietly at them.
The sun was soon setting and the orange light that filled the sky gave a romantic backdrop to the large red pillars.
But this had nothing to do with the tense atmosphere.
"Why are you still arguing with her, quasi-commander White Blade? Let's take down this heartless witch once and for all! Anyone who dares to slight blue leaf should be immediately exterminated!"
A man shouted behind him.
His declaration was met with cheers of approval from those around.
"Of course that is what we are going to do. Everybody charge your most powerful skills and attack her with it. Don't give her a chance to use a move!"
The wolf beastman known as White blade yelled out!
They had already experienced this woman's attacks before and were fearful of letting her carry out an attack.
The few rangers both in front and behind fired their projectiles without hesitation activating control skills of different sorts.
Without giving any time to check the outcome, the mages with slightly longer cast times fired off a volley of spells afterwards and the melee fighters immediately followed behind.
The seamless teamwork among this group showed that they were skilled and well experienced.
As players under a quasi-commander, the discipline was high as they usually went on expeditions and dungeon raids together.
White blade took the lead, swinging the long heavy sword with a wide sweep as he launched an attack aiming straight for the witch's head.
No matter what happened, she would die today!
The first volley of projectiles had just reached their target when a loud buzzing sound blared out from the witch's body.
BRRAAAEEEENN!!!
An invisible soundwave burst out, smashing those projectiles to bits and destabilizing the following spells.
BOOM!
BANG!
BLTZZ!
A myriad of explosions echoed out around her figure as the spells collapsed on themselves with the explosions and the ensuing smoke obscuring her figure.
The melee warriors that were too close were caught in the explosions and the few slow ones who couldn't activate their defensive skills on time were blown back violently!
White blade waved the smoke away with his large blade to look for the figure within.
When he saw her again, she was still standing quietly at her spot but this time, there was a strange stringed instrument in her hands that was partly covered by her large cloak.
Seeing this instrument, White blade's expression turned ugly as he yelled out.
"RUN! USE YOUR DEFENSIVE SKILLS QUICKLY!"
But it was too late.
The woman used her slender fingers and plucked the strings...…
And that was it.
No sound came out, no reaction, no explosion whatsoever.
She just plucked the strings a few times before putting it away.
THUD!
A rouge warrior in front with slightly weaker mentality fell to the floor first, bleeding from all his orifices.
THUD!
THUD!!
THUD!!!
The bodies of the rest of the group followed by one by one as they fell to the ground.
As the strongest person there, White blade was the last person to fall down.
He stared hatefully at the calm looking figure while staggering on his feet but there was a hint of fear mixed in.
Blood was dripping down from his eyes to his ears.
"You…. witch…. Kill…. for sure…..."
After mumbling those few words, he fell face down on the red dust floor.
THUD!
The woman's figure stared intently in front of her for a while.
Moving slowly, she pulled down her mask a little bit and wiped away a drop of blood that trickled down.
"He has a grudge with blue leaf, I see no need to be courteous any more."
She whispered to herself.
Putting her mask back on, she left the eerie scene with light footsteps as she headed towards the outskirts of the stone spires.