Chapter 69: Race to the Finish

**Ding! Skill Merged! Mana Manipulation obtained!**

Upon receiving the system notification that he had successfully merged his next legacy skill, Kaius collapsed. Falling backwards in relief. He opened his eyes, only to find Porkchop staring at him in curiosity.

“Is your nose supposed to be bleeding? That never happened to me.”Porkchop asked.

Kaius sighed, pushing his friend's head out of his personal space. “I mean, it’s happened pretty much every single time, and I’m not dead yet.”

“But you’re done though? You’re ready to work on your magic?”His friend asked excitedly. It was clear it wasn’tjustthe prospect of moving on that prompted his energy, though Kaius had no doubt that it was part of it. No, his friend was sincerely happy for him, happy that he had finally reached a goal that he had set his sights on for so long.

Just like his father would have been.

He should be here.

Claws of grief set themselves upon Kaius’s throat, choking off his response. It wasn’t supposed to be his achievement, it wastheirs. He never would have reached this point without Hastur, never would have even dared to try to forge a new path. Not without his fathers encouragement. His insistence that it was a worthy goal, something that showed he was a true Unterstern. He threw an arm over his face, stifling a sob.

“...Kaius? What’s wrong?”Porkchop said, nudging him with his wet nose.

He didn’t respond.

Now that he was there, at the precipice of one of the defining moments of his life, all he could think of was how much he had lost. He could see it clear as day. Father’s wide smile, celebrating with him as he finally bound the formation to his flesh. Hear his calm advice as he wove mana through his skin, stamping it into position.

How was he even going to do it without him? Kaius might have the formation memorised, but Father was always supposed to be there, guiding him through the process. Bloody hells, body formations were the providence of masters, not the unclassed!

Instead poor luck had turned that to ash. His father was gone. It had been far too long. There was no way Father wouldn’t have been able to find the portal. It wasn’t hidden and it wouldn’t have been too hard to track him to the edge of the cliff, to search the bottom of the falls.

A heavy weight settled on his lap, warm fur enveloping him.

“I’m here. You’re not alone.”Porkchop’s voice was soft. Understanding. Ready to wait as long as he needed.

Kaius sat up, hands wrapping around his friend as he pulled Porkchop into a hug. Holding him tight.

After a moment he pulled back, wiping his eyes with his sleeve.

“Your father?”

“Yeah.” Kaius nodded. “He should be here. Should see me when I finish the formation. Be there to help me do it. But he’s not.” He sighed, burying his face in Porkchop’s ruff.

“I just wish I knewwhy. He should have had those bandits handedly. Should have been able to find the entrance we fell through, even if it took him a couple of weeks. They had to have been looking for us, but why? Why were we hiding in the forest? Were people looking for us? Did they find us? What happened to our family? Where are our holds?” Kaius said, his voice raising as he got more and more incensed.

“So manyFUCKINGquestions.”

Porkchop flicked his ears back as Kaius all but shouted in his ear.

“Sorry.” He mumbled, drawing back out of their embrace.

“It’s okay. We’ll find him Kaius. Find out what happened. As soon as we get out of here we can look for him. Try to find records of your family. You’re always saying that people like to write everything down right? We can go to cities, look up the Unterstern name. Then, when we are strong, we can hunt those who once hunted us. Hear their cries as we force their secrets from them. Deny their pleas for mercy as we crush them.”Porkchop’s tone grew dark, a promise of violence on his lips.

Kaius nodded. His friend was right. If theyhadbeen searching for his father, and had found them despite living in the Arboreal Sea, they had to be accomplished, renowned for their skills. If his father was gone, he would have his pound of flesh.

“Thank you.” Kaius said quietly, looking Porkchop in the eyes.

“You are ridiculous. We are denmates. Brothers. A wound against you is a wound of my own. We will get our justice. You might have lost something irreplaceable, but I am here. I will always be here. This is not a bond of survival. This is -”What flowed across their link was not a word, but pure meaning, the language of greater beasts. A sacred bond of brotherhood, forged in blood and fire. Unbreakable. An oath of companionship, a partner in the hunt, a guard on the darkest nights, and a claw bared against those that brought strife.

Porkchop nudged him before stepping off to sit by his side.”Now stop dilly dallying, we have Champions to kill. I will be here with you when you forge your mark.”

Kaius breathed. Sitting up as he allowed emotion to wash through him. Feeling them, but letting them flow on. His father was gone, but he wasn’t alone. Not anymore. Not ever.

Reaching for the insistent blaring of the notification in his mind, Kaius pulled up the description for his latest legacy skill.

Mana Manipulation:

Level 1

Unusual

Raw and unrefined, the seed of the arcane is mutable potential made manifest. Seize it, and shape your destiny.

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This skill enables mental control of pure mana. Aspected mana can be controlled with vastly increased difficulty.

Each levelmoderatelyincreases control over mana.

Each level minutely increases control over aspected mana.

Merged from: Air Manipulation, Fire Manipulation, Water Manipulation, Earth Manipulation

This was it. The last thing he needed. He was ready.

Focused on his goal, excitement roared. He was finally ready! His notes! Paper! He needed paper!

Kaius launched to his feet, scrambling towards the bedroom where he had left his pack. He stopped, grabbing the door frame out of the sitting room and looked back towards where Porkchop still sat by the hearth.

“Well? Come on!” He raced away, hearing Porkchop chasing after him. A smile graced his lips as he pushed his worry away, focusing on his achievement. He had to finalise the formation, get a reference sketched out. So much to do!

Kaius sat at the opulent hardwood desk in the manors office, over a dozen sheets of paper laid out on its broad surface. Each and every one was covered in dense notes, intricate labelled diagrams, and blueprints of arrays. It had taken him hours to copy them from his notebook, annotating them with tidbits from his memory as he went. It was worth it, he wanted it all in front of him. When he was actually controlling his mana, forcing runes into place, he wouldn’t be able to turn pages.

“Everything is ready? You have everything?”Porkchop asked from his regular seat on the daybed across the room.

“Yep,” Kaius nodded. He’d triple checked to be sure. “Got the designs for the arrays. Double checked my notes on placement, and securing mana in place. I’ve got my stylus ready. Everything.” Now he just had todoit. No big deal.

“Good luck.”

Kaius nodded and laid his left arm on the table, palm side down. It was the best choice. While it might have been easier to aim with his right, he used a longsword. He could still use it without his off hand, so it would be much much easier to weave casting into his fighting style. Plus, scribing with his left hand would have been almost impossible.

He picked up his stylus, thanking the gods he had managed to find one. Theoretically it was possible to do body formations without one, simply using pure mana manipulation to lock internal mana flows in place until they settled. It was, however, several times more difficult. Carving into his astral body with the stylus wouldhurt, but it would also create channels that encourage his mana to stay put.

First he would start with the Ykkardian key stone. TheSovereignsigil. Like all Ykkardian sigils it was packed with a wealth of meaning, in this case its ability to control, direct, and order forces fit his needs perfectly. By itself it would be lacking, too ill defined for his needs. That’s where the control array came in. He still had to start with the keystone though. It was the lynchpin. The point where everything else was built from. It had to be as stable as possible, woven tightly to his being.

With a flash of intent, Kaius started pullingManafrom his pool, suffusing his hand and forearm. With his latest skill he had none of his early difficulty, saturating the limb in moments. Holding the density of power in place with ease.

**Ding! Mana Manipulation has reached level 2!**

TheSovereignsigil would be centred on the back of his hand, positioned so that its base was in line with his wrist. A sharp breath focused his intent. Kaius brought his stylus down onto his skin.

Itburned. Like someone was dragging a scalpel through his soul. Ploughing a furrow through his very being. He stopped, expecting to see blood. To smell burning flesh and see his skin bubble. Nothing, there was just pain. He shoved the sensation away, feelingRapid Adaptationsection off the agony, letting him continue.

**Ding! Mana Manipulation has reached level 3!**

His breath hitched with every stroke, his pace slowed as he fought to keep his hand steady. Slowly the rune came together, a sweeping black knot appearing on his skin. Marks on his flesh revealing the deep channels that were being cut into his metaphysical self. Splitting his concentration, he held theManasuffused in his arm back. Preventing it from rushing in to fill the incomplete pathways. If he let it in now, the rune would collapse, ruining his work.

**Ding! Runic Lexicon has reached level 2!**

A quarter hour of agonising work later and he was done, theSovereignsigil clear and resplendent on his flesh.

**Ding! Runic Lexicon has reached level 4!**

That was the easy part done, now he had to suffuse his mana into the rune. Holding it in place with his will as he worked on the next array. That was the true difficulty. The drawing wassimple, keeping hisManain runic alignment while he added complexity upon complexity was going to be maddening, he knew.

Taking a moment to steady himself, Kaius grabbed a hold of the energy in his arm, directing it into the rune, carefully and slowly. If his grip slipped it would rush in uncontrolled, saturating the rune unevenly. Leaving minute imperfections that would impact its stability. Even the barest hint of imperfection would ruin his work.

So he went slow. Letting his mana waft in from all angles. Slowly suffusing the sigil.

**Ding! Mana Manipulation has reached level 3!**

**Ding! Mana Manipulation has reached level 4!**

Then it was done. A thrum of power pulsed through the dense fog of energy in his flesh, like eddies in water. The rune surged, threatening to spill over as its own resonance tried to force its carefully measured flows out of alignment. Kaius clamped down, holding it in place as it slowly settled.

**Ding! Mana Manipulation has reached level 5!**

**Ding! Runic Lexicon has reached level 5!**

The sigil snapped into place, gleaming in hisTrue Sightwith mystical radiance. He held it with his mana sense, ensuring that the mana stayed in place. Resisting the pressure as it sought to escape the confines of the furrows he had carved with his stylus.

Looking away from the keystone, he set his stylus against his flesh once more. Next was the Vhaxanish controller array. A dense scrawl of runic words that would encircle theSovereignsigil in a dense band. It would serve to link the overall working to his inner self, granting him mental connection just like he would have to a normal spell. Beyond that, it was one part of the binding that would allow mana investiture, letting him keep his runic hymns charged with mana.

In their initial theories, his father had investigated leaving the High Lothian spells inert, only activating when he pushedManainto the runic spells. It wouldn’t work. Inevitably, that road led to channelling. A side effect that defeated the entire purpose of the exercise. Instead each hymn would crystallise a portion of hisMana, holding it in reserve to be instantly activated at his choosing. That much crystalised power was volatile, hence the controller and stabilisation arrays. Even then, the hymn was sacrificial. Like an anode, it would burn away as he released its stored potential. Unfortunately, each cast would require its own inscription, but it was the only way to preserve the overall working.

Kaius channelled mana into his stylus, starting with the first Vhaxanish character that would make up the array. Flesh boiled. He winced, twitching his hand.

With the twitch, manaroiled.Kaius blanched, torn between his growing pain and the building pressure in his sigil.

**Ding! Mana Manipulation has reached level 6!**

Focus slipped.

The rune detonated. Flesh shattered. Kaius screamed as blood squirted from the twisted remnants of his hand.