I have barely been sleeping nowadays. I can feel the strain of it by now. another side effect of my loss of regeneration. the first time was never this annoying. it is not exactly easy to make this new puppet armour of mine. I have spent quite a period of time trying to modify this armour of mine. it is not easy. the structure of my armour is very complex. I have to decide the thickness of the armour, of each individual armour skin, and then making the armour more free to move is another challenge. it is like trying to build a house of cards blindfolded and every mistake makes the armour more distorted and weaker. there are many such flaws in my armour, but I can confident that I can still use it in battle.
I have to decide exactly which kind of materials I want to use in this place. presently I am only using wood. once I begin with other materials it is going to be even more of a problem.
well, I can't really complain. I have spent most of my life feeling powerless. gaining a bit of power, even a trace of it is enough to make me pretty satisfied. also building this armour has been quite interesting. tinkering with things is always quite interesting. also, there is something about puppet mana that is different from other types of mana.it is capable of actively changing the structure and shape of a material. this is called as transmutation type of mana. (while, personalised mana or ability is different for each person we can still define them in four main categories. those would be the elemental category, transmutation category, contract category, and unique category.
elemental category is the kind of mana that can control a part of the world. pyromancy is an example of this.
transmutation mana is the kind of mana that can be used to change the shape of materials. for example, my puppet mana is already a good example.
contract mana is the kind of mana that is used to establish contracts. necromancy is an example. those guys summon spirits of the dead and maintain a contract with them.
then we have unique mana, which give rise to some interesting effects. my own immortality is an example or the minotaurs dungeon. ). most of the weapons that we use today are mainly created by transmutation abilities. just take my wood armour, if I were to cut ten trees, do you think I could make anything that I can wear using those gigantic trees. with my ability, I managed to compress it to a level where I could create an armour and even then have it be thin enough to not affect my mobility too much. well, I have barely begun to discover all I can do with it. I have a feeling that if I were to use this to its full potential I can achieve some very powerful things. just with something like my puppet armour I can reach a class six power at the very least. if I can find some elemental crystals I will be able to achieve even more without too much problem. if possible, I want something like mithril which would boost my mana conductivity.
well, I am presently sitting in wind city, waiting for my allies to come to this place. right now rock is in the ruined dungeon, a place where he can keep bloody mage somewhat safe. I also need to see if rock can convince bloody mage to change his name, something that is pretty annoying about him. blood mana has already begun to affect that little brat because he is already showing the arrogance of his kind.
well, let's hope that the brat can keep as strong of a control which the previous bloody mage had.
well, it is not time to think too deeply about all of this. the little brat is not powerful enough to be a threat to us or the empire yet and I have a good feeling about the brat.
I would rather not kill him if it comes to it.
well, I am meeting phantom here in a couple of days. her research should yield some results, she is quite good at her job, if I have to say so. I really am curious which noble family is daring to use a chaos gate in such a reckless manner. those things are dangerous at best and guaranteed death at worst. honestly, I just want it to be some crazy noble attempting some kind of last-ditch move to keep his family going. the alternatives are too scary. at least, new chaos gates can't be created without the book that it has originated from or it would have been a threat at the level of the old gods returning.
well, I have a pseudo prince to defeat before worrying about other things. after all there is someone stronger than me who shall be dealing with all these problems.
(after a couple of days)
finally, I have managed to meet phantom, who is predictably in the library of this place. during the period of her powerlessness, she became quite the reader, something I rather not have happened. well, this is one of the more better off libraries, with quite the polite people inside. well, that means that it is very silent, which makes me very uncomfortable. noisy places are the best places to hide conversations that you don't want others to know. a bar is better, since everybody is behaving weirdly. she is in the stories section, something not found in most libraries. before leaving for the phantom city, such places used to be so rare, mostly made by nobles that did not want their legacy lost due to lack of suitable inheritors. then the libraries had the role that academies have now. maybe that is why the nobles were so confident that they could create the academies, which were a fancier form of these libraries. now, libraries are mostly used to store storybooks, newspapers, and books that could be needed in the academies and are maintained by the throne. now, a library can be found in most cities, which are somewhat developed.
anyway, it is time for a serious discussion. let's first of all seal the sound in the area surrounding. before it would have been way, easier with me using my blood to make the said seal. since that is not the case, I will have to do it the old-fashioned way. I have to physically use a spell. spells are harder to use than seals. with seals, all you need to do is draw them. with spells, you need to manipulate an appropriate amount of mana and then move it to create the spell model. then finally I can execute the said spell, though carefully because spells tend to backfire. a man suddenly getting blown backward tends to grab attention, especially in a silent place. thankfully I finally figured out a way to remove my armour from myself or a man in a wooden armour with a weird face tends to catch attention. right now I have them in a more storable position as a somewhat large statue. a statue is not that eye-catching. right now this wooden statue is hard enough to rival normal iron weapons. maybe I should make a sword or something soon enough.
me - phantom, you need to be more careful. we are not exactly in a safe place. we are in enemy territory after all.
(the library is mostly empty, maybe due to it being the middle of the day, a busy time for most students, who are the main business of the place.)
phantom - no one will be paying any attention right now anyway. they are busy themselves, they have their enemies to deal with. even you know that. this civil war is making it quite easy for us to hide, those guys are busy being at each other's throats.
me - caution is never a bad thing, after all, you never know who is listening.
phantom - fine, you have placed a seal anyways, so it is not too much of a problem.
me - okay, so what information did you get.
ghost - well, I can confirm that whoever gave out that gate is not a local. every clue that I have found has lead me to nowhere. it is like they did not exist until half a year ago. that is why I think that they are an outside force. every family with a chaos gate is under the supervision of the night order.
me - that could be true, but do you think that it possible for any outside force to be able to sneak in a chaos gate without getting caught by the army. there is a local power involved in all of this. we need to find that local power. just how lousy has the night order grown, to not have any intel on a chaos gate.
phantom - well, we have an assassination to deal with. the crowns are too protected and you have lost most of your power, so we will deal with them first. the night order is capable of handling it, regardless of how divided they are. those guys are not idiots.
me - you don't know how bloody these wars tend to get and how suicidal those that fight it get, young one, but what you say is true, let us focus on this first. well, what plans have you made?
phantom - well, we will have to deal with many things. the nobles are already threatening the academies. the throne has added extra defenses in the academies. so, we will have to deal with them also. from what I have heard, it is some troop from the army.
me - does the throne need to drag in the army in this fight. if anything happens to the army then we are in quite the trouble. just what the hell is happening this year. well, you have dealt with similar things haven't you?
phantom - I know, but it is not going to be easy. well, I do have a couple of ideas as to what we can do. you are not going to like any of them.
me - tell them to me then.
Phantom - well, you can do two things. is it necessary for you to kill the brat and are you willing to negotiate with the chancellor?
me - well, If I am forced to, I would rather not fight with the academies and my contract is to be the monster. the third emperor did give me the freedom to deal with it as I see fit.
phantom - then is it necessary for you to kill the brat. well, you could attempt something similar to a kidnapping. after all, a living crown is more important to the academy rather than a dead one. it will be more effective at grabbing the attention of the throne.