THEOS

He scrunched his eyebrows, as he did the math in his head.
Luke opened his status, wary of the pain he was still in, and acutely aware of the fact that Rex was just inches behind him, and Nel in front of him. Since both of them could probably detect his mana, he decided to raise his Arcana attribute by a single point. Planning to drip feed himself the Stat Points over a period of a few days or weeks to make the gains less noticeable.
A decision he regretted immediately, as a searing heat spread throughout his body.
He closed his status.
They flew for another hour, before setting up camp.
Im going to go hunt something. Rex said, the second the griffin touched down in a clearing. Can I borrow a bow?
I have food. Nel offered, pulling a bow and a quiver full of arrows from her ring as she did.
He grimaced. Your food is bland. Then collecting the weapons wandered into the forest.
I should probably go with him. Jax said, striding into the dark woods after him. Leaving Luke alone with the warrior.
Nel, like Luke, carried all the essentials of comfortable living with her everywhere she went. Fully realizing the benefits of having easy access to portable storage. A few minutes after the two of them slinked away, she had the whole campsite ready. Tents, bedrolls, pillows, chairs, tables, and a half dozen other random items meant to make life easy all laid out in a loose circle around a large bonfire.
Unlike Lukes inventory though, food left in hers would spoil, whereas in his, time seemed to stop. Allowing him to remove what he wanted, in exactly the same state he had put it in.
Even so, Nel had found a way around it tagging her food with preservation talismans.
The talismans dont keep food fresh for long, but it's fine for a day or two. She explained, noticing Lukes gaze.
Can you teach me how to make one? He asked, watching her pull one off a container full of rice, and tossing it into the fire.
She frowned at him. A preservation talisman?
Talismans in general. I dont know how they work, like at all.
That She glanced at her food, and then back at him again. Yeah, we have time. Id advise against spending too much time on learning how to make them though. Your time will be better spent using the manasink and cultivating than it would on these. We usually let those that have lost hope of ascending to the Warrior-tier make them.
Nels storage ring flashed, pulling Luke out of his thoughts, and a handful of blank slips appeared on the table along with a thin wooden cylinder and a thin leather bound booklet.
Grinning in excitement, he picked up and inspected the wooden cylinder.
He rotated it in his hand, idly noting the small glyphs engraved down its shaft.
The process isnt complicated. You draw a symbol, and then channel your mana into it to power it. That book has the common talismans, and those slips are what we use. All the ones I gave you are designed to activate when you tear them, so we make the paper easy to rip in advance.
He grabbed the book, and flipped it open.
. His eyes tracing over the complex but beautiful series of lines that made the talisman, and the label underneath it.
He flipped through the book one page at a time.
,
His eyebrows shooting up in surprise at the surprise inclusion.
Do I channel my mana in this to make it work? He picked up the pen, and idly twirled it between his fingers.
Yes. The stylus isnt really needed, any thing that you can write with works, but it's enchanted to write so long as you put mana through it. Its not as messy as charcoal, and it doesnt smudge either.
So you draw one of these symbols, he tapped the book and lifted up the pen, with this, and then you fill them with mana?
Yes. The hard part isnt drawing them though, it's charging them.
Hmm. Luke grunted, flipping the book back to the page with the protection charm.
Then grabbing a slip, he drew the symbol. His boosted agility allowed him to draw the glyphs on the page, perfectly, quickly and easily. Why not just make a stamp?
Nel swallowed her food. It doesnt work. Anyone can use a talisman, but only the person who draws it can charge it. Here. Her ring flashed, and a piece of paper landed in front of him. The glyphs for an explosion talisman, already drawn on it. Try putting mana in this one, and then the one you drew.
Picking hers off the table, he concentrated on his mana. It was still ache-y, but the pain had faded rapidly, and his Arcana Stat had ticked up another seven points while they were still in the air. Much to Lukes relief, and surprise.
With a flex of his will, he moved his mana towards the paper, and like she said, it felt no different than venting it into the air.
Huh.
He picked up the one he drew, and pushed his mana towards it. Instantly, he felt it latch onto the ink, much like it did when he was funneling the energy into his boots. With an effort of will he began to push more and more into it. To his frustration, only a small fraction of his mana appeared to be absorbed by the glyphs, with the rest dissipating into the air. Frowning, he increased his output from tens of points, to hundreds. Expecting the increased amount of mana to make a difference in the rate it filled. It didnt.
Nel grinned, swallowing another mouth full of food. Did you try to put mana in it faster?
Yeah.
That wont work. She said matter of factly. How fast you can push mana into them isnt related to how quickly you release it. Its a fixed rate over time. The only way to improve is by constantly filling one after another. Eventually your mana learns how to get in there faster, but it takes time. Every new talisman also needs to be learned from scratch, so even if you learn to make a protective talisman in a reasonable amount of time, if you ever decide to make an explosive one, then youll be starting from square one.
He reduced his mana output to one point of mana every couple seconds, matching the rate the talisman was absorbing it.
What about Warrior-tier talismans? And would this one hold up to that giants boulders?
No. Definitely not. She shook her head from side to side. If I were you, Id get out of the way if a warrior attacked you. Maybe surrender if you can. And Warrior-tier talismans are the same glyphs as those, but just filled with Warrior-tier mana instead. So only someone at that tier can make one.
Are these the only talismans you have?
She frowned. I dont think you realize what I just gave you. Those are all the talismans the Rising Sun has access to. If you were a member of the Sect, then you would have had to spend thousands of merits to even learn one of them. Its only because youll be representing Sylcra in the tournament that I even allowed you to see them.
Oh.
Quite. Id also caution you against mixing and matching the glyphs. Unless you somehow learn how to read and write in the Ancient Tongue, youll likely blow yourself up.
The what? And what? Luke looked at the talismans with a sudden sense of apprehension.
Its the language of the Divines. Every word has power, and carelessly toying with it, will get you killed.
Thats good to know. Ill be sure to be careful. He said evenly, eyeing the book.
Good. She waved her hand, and the talisman she had drawn flew away from him, and back into her hands. Closing her eyes, she funneled her mana into it, and after a few seconds, it blinked white, and the symbols drawn on it changed. Condensing into the familiar pattern that the other talismans he used had.
You can have it, and these. She said, flinging it back to him, along with a handful of other talismans from her ring. Theyre all warrior tier, so youll have something to rely on if things get dangerous.
Thank-you.
Dont mention it. She waved him off.
NEL! Jax came running back into the camp. His clothes tattered, and covered in blood. They took him. They took Rex! He panted, hunching over his knees.
A spear appeared in her hand, and she rose up in the air.
Where? She demanded.
Jax pointed to the direction he had emerged from.
Not wasting a second, or even bothering to ask who or what it was that had taken her brother, she flew into the tree line. Moving so fast, she looked like a blur in Luke's eyes.
What happened? Luke asked, standing up drawing his sword from his sword from his sheath in anticipation.
Jax didnt answer, and just stood there, his chest rising and fallign as he caught his breath. Staring off in the direction that Nel had left in.
What happened? Luke asked again. Tightening his grip on his blade. His heart beat in anticipation as he realized that something was wrong.
Nothing Nothing happened. Jax looked at him. His eyes cold, he withdrew his sword from its sheath and inched towards Luke.