(I) Animated

-Essential Coursework for MAG-TECH 210 at Phoenix Academy129 (I)

Animated

Shiv stared at his Woundeater-infused bone drill. The drill looked back at him, using its tip as an His vitality was vanishing fast, so he reeled the drill in with a strand of Vitaemancy and clutched the drill as tight to him as he could. This way, he fueled it while minimizing vitality loss.

As he gripped the drill, it did not strike him, it did not slam into his head, nor did it use the Biomancy infused within it against Shiv in any way. Rather, it merely existed. A vibrant clash of red and white hues danced around its length, while veins of blood and tissue dripped free from the drill’s surface.

“Well,” Shiv breathed. “At least you’re better behaved than the Gravitic Wrestler drill.”

Shiv tentatively felt around the insides of the bone drill. He used his Vitaemancy to search for the Animated Skill Infusion he bestowed upon the weapon. But the skill felt constrained somehow. Shiv got the sense that the skill was , and that the shape it embodied was unnatural.

he thought to himself.

As he studied the drill, he also observed a translucent dot present at the middle of its length. That was what Uva noted earlier with her Psychomancy, and now he saw it too. Shiv reached into the drill’s pocket of thought with his mind and prepared to discover just how sapient this once-inanimate object really was.

His mind-mana swirled down and sank into that small, translucent dot. Moments thereafter, Shiv felt a connection form between him and the drill. He was also linked to Valor and Uva's well, and he could feel their anticipation climb alongside his own as they awaited a response.

the drill asked again. The way its thoughts washed into Shiv was faint and weak. It felt like grains of sand cast through the wind, dissolving too fast to attain any wholeness. Comparatively, Uva and Valor’s thoughts were solid. The drill was an echo of a mind, and a fast-fading one at that. Shiv instinctively gave it a bit more vitality, and though it grew brighter with mana, its mind never felt any stronger.

"Are you alive?" Shiv asked the bone drill.

the bone drill asked him in return.

Shiv frowned at that. "Okay. Weird. So. Why'd one of you slam into my face earlier?"

“Not you, the last drill.”

it replied.

“It seems to mimic your words and concepts slightly. But it goes no further than that.” Can Hu’s optics blinked. “It reminds me of badly damaged automata. Scrambled of thoughts and functionality.”

Shiv narrowed his eyes at the drill. “What do you want? Do you want to kill me?”

the drill asked.

“What is with this thing?” Shiv asked. Then, he caught a hint of a feeling—an impulse behind the drill’s words. Shiv reached in deeper with his Psychomancy, and he found an urge there, one for it to be rejoined with his vitality. “Huh. Maybe that’s why the last drill crashed into me. It was trying to get back. But why didn’t you just reach out?”

“Maybe because it could not,” Valor said, his voice heavy with consideration. “Your last drill moved freely of its own accord with its gravitic field. This drill seems lost and confused.”

Shiv nodded. “Yeah. But why?”

Shiv cut off his flow of Psychomancy briefly, and he watched as the red and white aura painting the bone drill began to evaporate. As the infusion dissolved, its Biomancy pulsed, and a chain of what looked like manifested all around the bone drill before the last of its Vitae faded.

"This is just godsdamn strange," Shiv muttered. “No idea what’s up with this thing.”

"A Unique Skill begets unique results," Valor commented, "and this, my friend, is a result more unique than any I've seen before. To create a golem from a skill itself is unprecedented. Since you have attained the skill, there must be a relationship between your skill infusion, your Vitaemancy, and the creation of a living construct. The question is . How can a golem exist when there is no mana core?”

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“It's wrapped inside my Vitae, isn't it?” Shiv replied. “My Vitae is a combination of both my vitality and my soul. So, using the infused skill as a catalyst or something, maybe it's sustaining itself temporarily? Or something? I don’t know, Valor. I’m just guessing here.”

"No. Do not apologize. This is quite good, Shiv. Good thoughts. That is very possibly what might actually be happening. Let's use this as our primary theory right now and continue our test.”

As Shiv infused a new drill into a Woundeater, they had Uva cast her Psychomancy into it to see if she could manipulate its .” For a few moments, she dug around in its depths. Then she shook her head. "It's like a shadow of a person. It is purely reactive. Any decision it makes is on impulse. It has a set of chaotic memories I cannot make sense of. They’re all related to injuries.”

“Injuries?” Shiv asked. “Like. Injuries consumed by my Woundeaters?”

The Umbral blinked in consideration. “Perhaps so. Yes, that might be it. Despite this, it will not respond to me. It’s like it cannot even understand my commands.”

“Huh,” Shiv said. “Let me try something. Hey, drill.”

The drill shifted in his grasp.

"Do you know that you're a drill?" Shiv asked.

the drill responded.

Uva joined in. "Why didn't you respond to me when I sent you a thought?" she asked.

the drill replied, sounding absolutely lost about what she was talking about.

Shiv tried explaining things further to see if he could get the drill to respond in a new way. "You're a drill. You're my bone drill. I infused a skill in you, and now you’re talking to us using my voice.”

the drill said with utmost confidence.

"Remarkable," Valor breathed. "It's like a—" Valor cut himself off. "No, not a child. More like a puppet. A puppet and a parrot, both. Try to command it, Shiv."

And Shiv did. "Go out fifty meters and come back."

But the drill just shook. Blood and cancerous tissue leaked from it as it splattered against the ground. Shiv repeated his command. And the drill continued to be dormant.

“It can’t understand your orders at all,” Uva said. There’s nothing in its mind that corresponds to what you just said.

“Why?” Shiv asked.

Uva regarded the drill again. “Have it perform an act related to Biomancy.”

Shiv grunted. “Drill. Regenerate or something.” This time, the drill responded. Shiv felt his Vitae burn itself fast as a dense layer of cancerous growths formed around the bone. “Stop,” Shiv said, shaking his head from the sudden coldness he felt. “Damn, that sucks up a lot of Vitae.”

“But we know one thing now,” Uva said, gesturing at the drill. “It can be ordered to perform actions related to your skill.”

“Related to the skill…” Valor mused. “Wait. Then, maybe it doesn’t really have a mind.” The Legendary Pathbearer thought for a beat before he continued. “Shiv. Try to detach your Animated Skill Infusion from yourself. But don’t infuse it into a physical object this time.”

“What? Just push it out of my body with the Vitae somehow?” Shiv asked.

“Yes,” Valor said. “See if that is possible. I think what we are doing wrong here is that we are treating the drill as a physical vessel. But your Vitae is already solid. It's as hard as adamantine and exhibits aspects from your other skills. Just release your Vitaemancy and let it exist of its own accord.”

“Okay,” Shiv breathed. “I’ll try.”

Once again, he reached into himself, connecting his Vitae to his Woundeater Skill. As soon as he gained the Woundeater Animated Skill Infusion, he summoned a swirl of Vitae atop his hand, and he concentrated on separating it from himself—

An explosion of Vitae blasted out of Shiv. He immediately felt part of himself break free. There was no struggle in parting the Animated Skill Infusion this time. It split immediately, without resistance. The suddenness of the separation caught Shiv by surprise, and he let out a cry as he felt his vitality plunge.

Vitaemancy 58 > 59

Golemancy 1 > 4

Shiv was cold. Very cold. Weakness overtook him, and as he stumbled back, Uva caught him and folded around his body. Shiv let out an exhausted groan as he settled against her. The world around him spun. There were spots in his vision.

As he looked up, he blinked as he found Uva's face to resemble a sloping curve. Her head was like a spoon, and her colorful eyes were folding over his face like the lip of a cave, regarding him with concern. "Are you all right?" she asked.

The rest of her body was shaped akin to a , from structure to comfort. Shiv shuffled in her embrace.

"Yeah," Shiv replied. "Uva, your Physicality is—”

“Strange?" She finished on his behalf. He tasted a slight hint of self-consciousness from her. He shook his head. "No, it's really comfortable. How many other forms can you shape yourself into?"

She blinked. "I have not had the luxury of time to test the extent of this skill."

"Maybe later," Shiv whispered.

"Maybe later," she replied.

a third voice joined them. And just then, Shiv let out a gasp. He shot back to his feet with a pull of his gravitic field. But just as he balled his fists, his mind went blank with surprise. Standing across from him was a humanoid shape glistening with streams of red and white mana—the color of his Vitae. At its core was a glimmering Woundeater bearing a long chain of crystallized injuries. Still, it was the humanoid that commanded Shiv's attention, however. It was the same height as him. The same size as him. The contours of its body resembled his, but it lacked any distinct features. It was also dissolving before his very eyes—the Vitae that composed it rising into the air like vapor.

“Holy shit.” Shiv gawked at the . He awkwardly held out an arm, and his Vitae golem stared at him. Then it also extended an arm, mirroring his actions.

Shiv then focused on the golem, commanding it to put down its arm with a thought, and it responded.

"Alright," Shiv breathed, "what else can you do?"

the golem asked.

“Still not a very good conversationalist,” Uva commented dryly. “But it definitely looks like you.”

“Structural composition unknown,” Can Hu said, its eyes flashing with the characteristic glow of the Analyze Skill.

Shiv commanded the golem to stand still as he walked over and placed a hand upon its shoulder. Its Vitae-formed flesh was as hard as adamantine and possessed an inertial sheath just like Shiv. Moreover, he could feel its Biomancy mana grinding against him as well. As he ran his hand across the golem, its Vitae began to melt back across into his body of its own accord.

“Whoa,” Shiv said, surprised at the sudden rush of vitality re-entering his person. A blast of warmth swelled inside him. A second thereafter, the golem splashed back into him. Once more, his Animated Skill Infusion returned to his possession.

Animated Skill Infusion Gained: Biomancy — Woundeater 90 (Master)

“Feels much more natural than just shoving it inside a drill,” Shiv said.

“Because this is likely its natural state,” Valor said. “Still… I’ve never seen someone absorb a golem into themselves.”

Shiv chuckled. “Yeah, me neither. Frankly, I don’t know the first thing about golems, Valor.”

“I am beginning to have a hard time calling what you just created a pure golem. It is more akin to a… .” Shiv blinked as he spun to face Valor, and the Legendary Pathbearer intercepted his question. “Indeed. Like what I could do. The splitting of a single soul into different but dichotomous vessels. Vessels that we inhabit and use at the same time. What I think you have here, though, is a limited lifeform shaped from the legends contained within a skill granted animation by your Vitae.”

“Any idea why I can do that?” Shiv asked.

“I am not sure. But since Sullain was aware of my son’s experiments, I suspect it has to do with And this resurrection now applies to creating a partially living skill. This is likely the reason why you managed to bring back Lady Van Erren as well. You didn’t just animate a Skill with which you evolved, you animated your soul, and since she was trapped in your Outside Context Problem Skill somehow—Wait, can you infuse yourself with your Unique Skills?”

“Good question,” Shiv said. He activated his Outside Context Problem and briefly vanished from reality. Valor and the others reacted with brief surprise while Shiv tried to find the skill. Yet, despite it being active, he couldn’t locate it. There wasn’t a ripple or disruption. It was just active. “Not unlike my Vitaemancy. I’m using that skill too, and I can’t feel it at all. Wonder why.”