Mana Mirror: Chapter Twenty Four (Patreon)

Author's Note: This is a bit of a shorter chapter, because it comes with a major decision at the end, and I can't just push past that.  

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Five nodes separated from the elemental and swirled out into portals, each one containing a different item.

The first portal held a small ring, made of gold, with a red stone set in it. The stone had been carved into a two different halves of a face, one half of which was laughing, while the other wept.

It vaguely reminded me of the two-faced masks that theatres sometimes used.

“This is the two-faced flame ring,” the elemental said. “It is both a defensive and offensive item. It is a solar enchantment that absorbs and stores heat, and that stored can be released in a pulse. The ring will dimmish the power of fire and heat-based spells used against you, rated up to third gate mana, with varying levels of efficacy. A spell using third gate mana will be reduced far less than one using first gate, for example. It can also be fed mana of any type to produce heat for the storage, though this is extremely inefficient. The amount of heat it can store is enough to be comparable to a third gate fireball spell, if it reaches maximum capacity and is released all at once.”

That was certainly useful, as it’d expand my range of offensive options, and having a bit of fire resistance was definitely useful, though I didn’t know how often I’d actually get use out of either of them. It wasn’t like I was fighting in a battle where I wanted to hurt someone very often, though I had no idea if that’d ever change.

I looked at the second portal and had to stifle a laugh.

The portal held a broom inside it. It was nicer than the broom I currently had, with a walnut broom and a tail made of delicately waxed horsetail. A set of three rings of gold leaf circled around the head of the broom.

“This is a middle model broom,” the elemental said. “It’s capable of being sustained by the user’s mana, though converting non-tempest mana is inefficient, and it requires six hours to refuel when on charging mode. Its charge lasts eight hours, and it is capable of traveling up to fifty five miles per hour. Finally, it has a moderate wind and rain shield.”

That was… A huge improvement over my broom. Not one that I’d be able to afford anytime soon. I did already have my own broom, though.

But was that a bad thing? I’d be able to sell my old broom and recoup some of the costs. Maybe I could put the money into getting something for my spellcraft, or otherwise tuck it away in savings.

Not only that, but it could move faster than my current broom by quite a bit, so I’d be able to move around a lost faster.

It may be simple, but both of those advantages were ones that I couldn’t underestimate. A good pill had helped me master a spell, so I could possibly do that again, or expand my death mana to catch up to my life mana.

I glanced at the third portal.

It held a ring, much like the first, but it was a plain gray color, as if it was made of stone.

“This is what is often referred to as a dimensional ring,” the spirit explained, “though I find the overuse of the word dimension to often lead to confusion and misuse. While the space does contain dimensions, all things do. This is a separated space, but it still uses the same four dimensions that standard reality operates at…”

The spirit paused and its lights flashed in what I thought might be amusement.

“I apologize, Mr. Baker,” the spirit said. “I will not involve you in what is a tangential ramble at best.”

“It’s fine,” I said. “By the way, do you have a name? I keep thinking of you as ‘the elemental’, but that feels wrong, like if I kept thinking of myself as ‘the human’.”

“You are a human,” the elemental said, “so your statement is not inaccurate, though it is broad. You may call me EC-K-forty-seven-thirteen, if you would like, or Aerde. To return to the topic at hand, however, the ring contains access to a separated space, also called an extraplanar or extradimensional space. It is roughly two point three cubic feet in size, though it would be more accurate to say it is sixty thousand, one hundred and two point three seven four four zero nine cubic inches, or one hundred liters.”

“I have no concept of how large that is,” I confessed.

“There are many travel trunks or large military backpacks in roughly that size,” Aerde said.

“Oh!” I said. “Thank you.”

“Of course, Mr. Baker,” Aerde said.

I turned to the fourth portal. Inside of it was a pot that held a small plant, not one I recognized, though…

I used a flicker of my Analyze Life spell. It glowed brightly with life energy, though it seemed to have some components that I couldn’t see. I used Analyze Death and saw the bits of death in the soil, breaking down into nutrients, but the plant itself didn’t have much death energy.

Not like my blood carnations, then. It must have something else in it, just like the Heart Lizard had.

“This is a sapling of an emperor tree,” Aerde said. “A tree that can be found in Daocheng and some of its surrounding territories. It is somewhat uncommon, but not exceptionally valuable, due to the requirements to make use of it. It flows with life energy, as well as time energy. While it is in the realm of first and second gate, it can be harvested for mana, which is its most common use. At third and fourth gate, its power reaches a point where its leaves can be used to produce a potent healing salve. However, this salve only works for the creator, as it uses a temporal template taken during the creation process. Since this salve is time consuming to create, and only effects the creator, it is not often used. At fifth gate, the potency of the salve will ensure that a weekly application of it can delay, but not stop, the aging process.”

I bit my lip. That was a great gift… And also, a trap. Or perhaps a lure. If I took it, I’d need temporal mana to keep it fed.

But that wasn’t so bad, since it was one of my biggest contenders for the type of mana I’d be taking anyways. If I wanted, I could take it, and chose my gates here and now.

Or I could take it, and hope I was able to find enough temporal elixirs to keep it fed. That’d be risky and expensive, but I could do it.

My eyes settled upon the last portal. Inside it was a single pill, about the size of a grape. It was jet black, with such a polished exterior that where the light hit it, it reflected off.

“That is a first gate Fundament Pill. Taking it will be a difficult process, leaving you in a coma for roughly a week, however the power it offers is impressive. It will increase the grade of every spell that you have cast. Your Enhance Plant Life, Fungal Lock, Harvest Plant Life, and Pinpoint Boneshard – assuming you cast Pinpoint Boneshard before taking the pill – will all be pushed to mastery. Your Analyze Life and Analyze Death spells will both reach an Ingrained state. Warning, however, after you take this pill, you should not consume anything with mana for a week after awakening. Furthermore, it will likely cause some damage to your ungated mana, making it weaker and need repairs, as well as unrooting the mastered spells inside of it.”

I let out a slow, heavy breath. That was quite the boon, but it was also quite the harsh penalty as well.

But it had stirred something in my memory. One of the rewards that I’d gotten from the Spiritwatch was a Lesser Marrow Death Mana Extract, and it could enhance the growth of a bone spell. Sure, it wasn’t the same insane degree of growth that the Fundament Pill offered, and it would only work on my Pinpoint Boneshard spell, but I did make a mental reminder to use the extract once I started to get a handle on the spell.

I reached out my hand and hesitated, unsure which one to pick. All of the gifts would be amazing, and all of them were undoubtably valuable. Was one of them more obviously valuable than the others?

“Which one of these do you recommend?” I asked Aerde.

“I believe that any of these would be of great use to growing your skill and power,” Aerde said. “For general utility, I believe that the broom and storage ring are the most valuable, and they will serve you well regardless of what paths you choose. Even if you were to choose spatial or tempest mana, the broom and storage ring do not lose their utility, and can be sold or gifted once you reach a point where they are no longer used.”

The spirit paused to let me process before it continued.

“For advancement, the Fundament Pill. It will develop your power more directly than any of the other gifts, and will save a great amount of work. However, it is purely an advancement tool, it offers nothing you cannot seize on your own.”

It paused for another moment, and I nodded for it to continue.

“If you wish to become a combat specialist, rather than remaining an explorer and generalist, the ring would provide an excellent trick that would remain useful for a considerable amount of time, irrespective of the mana type you settled upon. Finally, if you decide to gain spatial and temporal mana, I believe the utility of the emperor sapling exceeds that of any other gift.”

I slowly nodded. I knew which of those I was going to do.