Ikaris arrived a moment later in front of the Elsisn Stele with a flashy ruby ring on his finger...
He had long since discussed the bad prank pulled by the Vampire and the latter had already apologized profusely. The truth was that he was well and truly dead. The specter inhabiting the ring was only a fragment of his soul that he had managed to salvage by discarding his body and Divine Spark.
At this point, his soul could be considered severely damaged. All the ghost had left was his Soul Spark, but without a body, nor Sparks to produce magic the old man was completely harmless and powerless. A single ray of sunlight would be enough to dissolve what was left of his mind.
[Soul Spark: 0.06]
Therefore, Magnus could only remain wisely in the ring and give advice based on his abundant experience. With his spiritual sense he could also monitor what was happening around Ikaris.
"What do I do now? Just pour my blood on it?" He spoke aloud while there was no one around him.
A raspy voice sounded from inside the ring,
"Make a cut on the palm of your hand and place it against the stele saying 'I conquer'. If the territory's destruction and the defeat of its previous owner has been recognized, then you will become its new master. The stele will answer only to you until your kingdom is destroyed or you perish.
Much calmer, the teen listened to Magnus' specter's instructions and rested his bloody hand against the stele. His eyes widened in stupor as a flood of information entered his mind.
By reflex, he turned on his Appraisal and System Skill and the stream of data was immediately transformed into readable and interpretable data in the form of a mind interface.
[Elsisn Stele: Wood]
[Village: Waiting to be established]
[Lord: Ikaris (Commoner)]
[Title: none]
[People's Well-being:]
[Security:]
[Administration:]
[Culture:]
[Military:]
[Magic:]
[Technology:]
[Territory population: 1]
[Spawn rate of immigrants: 5-15 / day]
[Territory area: 4 square kilometers]
[Territorial characteristics: Territory Crop Output+1%]
[Treasury: 0]
[Territory Resources: None]
[Territorial army: None]
[Territory Industry: None]
[Existing Buildings: None]
[List of basic construction buildings: The Lord's cottage]
"Wow, it's truly game-like." Ikaris exclaimed as he familiarized himself with the features offered.
"What are you talking about?" The Vampire asked deadpan. He hadn't been in this ring for ten minutes and he was already bored.
Having nothing to fear from a ghost trapped in a ring, Ikaris explained the workings of his current Sparks. Listening to the mechanics behind his System and Appraisal Spell, Magnus was speechless.
"Why didn't I think to create such a spell earlier? It's such a simple and straightforward spell !" The old man lamented, cursing his idiocy. "If I had learned this System when I was younger I would have avoided many pitfalls."
In fact, it wasn't that he hadn't thought of it, but that it wasn't as easy a spell as one might think. The concept and expectations of a System was within reach of the dumbest, but casting the spell was another matter.
Unlike the Black Veil, closing one' s eyes was not enough to perform the spell. Visualizing all the tabs and functions of the desired system required mental abilities that most people lacked.
That's why, like everyone else, Magnus had simply created a spell that allowed him to gauge the strength and magic power of his enemies. The wish was much easier to formulate and the practical result almost the same.
At its peak, this Secondary Spark had evolved to the point where it could detect the slightest life signature from miles away and could even distinguish most races and creatures based on their biosignature and aura.
Except that it was not necessary to create an overly complex System from the start. If he had failed, Ikaris would have simply reduced the number of attributes, down to just one if he had to. As long as the spell worked, he could then build on it and refine it as practice made his Secondary Spark more powerful and the spell easier to cast.
In the end, it was a matter of perspective.
The Vampire had a primitive upbringing and he didn't have the open mind of Ikaris who had been immersed in computers and video games since childhood. But that didn't mean he couldn't understand the appeal of such a spell.
"With this, it's very easy to get detailed information about everything. The Elsisn Stele seems to respond very well to your... System, right? You may be the first person to have such a detailed and clear panel at your disposal."
Most shockingly, even after deactivating the System Spell, the mental interface immediately returned when he touched the stele again. The artifact had promptly mirrored his ability and changed the way it presented information.
"Territory Crop Output 1%... It seems a bit crappy, no?" The boy worried as he reread this line.
The bonus was unexpected, but its existence meant that he could logically expect much better. One percent really seemed trivial.
"It's indeed a bit crappy..." Magnus admitted in a low voice. "It's all you can hope for from a Wood Stele."
"Should I expand my territory to enhance these special attributes?" Ikaris inquired quietly.
"It helps, but not as much as you think. Your problem is that your stele's grade is too low. Your stele needs a lot of energy to evolve and gathering the Fate of your territory will take years, even decades to produce any change unless you can acquire an Empire the size of the Forsaken Lands."
"In that case what should I do?" The teen frowned.
"Cough... Conquer. Conquer more Steles." The Vampire replied fiercely. "It works with the Glenrings too. Elsisn has unfortunately only taken inspiration from these creatures to create these steles after studying them at length. The other Saints have also created their own version of these Steles and their characteristics differ slightly, but they can all merge. The Conqueror Stele becomes the dominant Stele and the others become secondary Stele."
Ikaris thought for a moment and then stated,
"In other words, even if I develop a super empire, this Territory Crop Output will remain the only bonus I can hope to enjoy for a long time. Unless I conquer more Steles and feed them to my Elsisn Stele.
"That's about right." Magnus nodded sheepishly.
In the meantime, he still had no territory and Karragin's rubble was surely not the right place to settle. Taking advantage of the time he had left before Malia and the others woke up, he retrieved the stele and put it in Magnus' ring with his consent.
Ikaris didn't know how to use his mind, let alone mobilize the mental sense required to operate a Spatial Ring. For the time being, it was the Vampire's specter that took care of that job for him.
It was a small consolation to be stuck with him from morning to night during all his future adventures...
The boy then found Krold's bag that he had lost when he was lifted from the ground by the shockwave caused by the Great Wall explosion and gathered his things. After that, he bandaged the wounds of Malia, Toby, Ellie and his bison friend with the bandages found in the young woman's cellar and patted their cheeks to wake them up.
The bison had been awake the whole time and was looking at him with a disconcerted face from hearing him speak all alone. Against all odds it was Ellie who woke up first. Her wounds were by far the lightest thanks to the Demonic Beast's protection, but he expected to see Malia awake from her coma before her.
"What-what happened?" The blonde student stammered in bewilderment, still confused.
Upon discovering the razed village, her jaw drooped to the ground and she began to sob.
'Here we go again...' Ikaris sighed inwardly as he ignored her.
"You need to leave now." The Vampire suddenly warned him. "The Glenring Vanguard is about to cross the rift. In a few hours the Barren Bush will become a no-man's land. Anything that is not a Glenring will be exterminated or captured for food or breeding purposes."
Taking his warning very seriously, Ikaris patted Malia's cheek a little harder, then finally slapped her hard. Her head spun to the side and her lip cracked, but at least she was jolted awake.
She glared at him, but as she saw the urgency in his eyes she understood the situation. Wincing from her injuries, her heart died when she saw the desolate state of the village. However, when she reached the ruined altar she yelled in rage,
"Where is the Elsisn Stele?! IKARIS!"
The teenager who was in the process of placing Toby on a stretcher with Ellie's help shuddered when he heard his name called.
"That was to be expected." Magnus smirked comfortably inside his ring.
"Go fuck yourself!" Ikaris retorted in kind.