34. Minarv and Magic Elvis

Lukas’ breath caught in his throat. His chest tightened. He felt heavy. It wasn’t like being in a high-mass state but something he hadn’t felt in a long time.

“I don’t know if you want to call this a parting gift or my way of evening the scales. You did a lot for me and completed several jobs without pay or without me getting around to providing appropriate compensation. 

“We didn’t discuss what your intentions are for your future? But I assume that you still wish to embrace magic and pursue the path of an archmage in whatever form. Given the clones, wizardry would’ve been ideal. Set a bunch of them to study, research, spell development, and memorization, and then reap the benefits. But it's not your style. You’re too restless and prefer working with your hands, and I suppose the flexibility of intent-based casting.

“This should help in whichever path you choose, but more importantly, help you disentangle yourself from the silver-scaled bitch. It's weak. But with the right essences and rituals, you could grow it into something more potent. In fact, I’d suggest doing so before you even consider fusing it with either of your remaining pillars. If it feels like too much work or you decide it's not something you want, sell it and put the money toward something else. Something permanent.

“Much love, Minarv

“P.S.: The leather is treated and enchanted to conceal arcane signatures. You can use it to conceal shards, essences, and valuables with powerful magical signatures.”

There were several jobs and missions Lukas had completed for Minarv not because he had to but because he wanted to. It mostly involved retrieving valuable artifacts from traitors and thieves and investigating members of her court. He didn’t expect payment for many of them. Lukas did it or had a clone take on the task because he had time or bodies to spare and because he cared. He had only asked her for a way into Fracture. Unfortunately, all the paths she could provide wouldn’t allow him to take his cloning powers along. Now, he couldn’t help but feel guilty about leaving so suddenly.

I should’ve taken more time. I should’ve given her a proper goodbye.

The inside of the leather roll was a magic circle that resembled the ritual Penelope used for the hollow shard. The triangle’s corners poked out of the circle, the intersection points had spots for reagents, and the center had a spot for the focus of the ritual. It came with an instruction scroll and, more importantly, a finger-sized shard.

Shard of Arcane Weaving

Lukas’s chest tightened further. Minarv knew him. She still thought about him. After inhaling deeply and slowly exhaling, he checked the possible abilities.

Arcane Core(Heart): Your heart will gain the ability to attract and store ambient magic. Channeling magic also doesn’t have as great a strain on your mind and body.

Arcane Threads(Mind): Gain the power to detect threads of magic and control elements of spells and enchantments and twist them as needed.

The base abilities on their own were already incredibly potent. Lukas couldn’t begin to imagine how powerful they could become. Arcane Core was flexible and would make it easier for non-arcane-specialized clones to use magic better and with significantly less strain. Arcane-specialized clones would most likely reach a whole new level of potency, and he wasn’t thinking about the personal benefits.

However, it was Arcane Threads or whatever it could become in the future that excited him most. Lukas believed it was the reason Minarv had sent him the shard. With enough mastery, it would likely grant him the ability to unravel the soul binding, if not disconnect the journal from Silverspine.

It was tempting to use the shard straight away, but he resisted. Instead, he checked the instructions and ritual circle again. It wasn’t exactly the same as what Penelope had used. Lukas noted subtle differences. The instructions also didn’t talk of using any shards but essences related to magic or magic-related powers. The ritual wouldn’t create a new shard but upgrade the current one instead of changing it. Lukas just needed to find the right ingredients. His eyes drifted to the Essence of Arcane Regeneration. It felt like the perfect reagent for the ritual. The timing of both couldn’t be more perfect. He believed the Essence of Repulsion would also suffice but wanted to scour the markets first.

Essences directly related to magic or any that had the words arcane, magic, or runes in the name felt near impossible to find. Lukas believed the guilds, mage colleges, and research center scooped them up before any made it to the market. He was sure that finding one, especially two more, would be a pain.

For the time being, he rewrapped everything. He summoned a pair of clones and had them lift the bed without dragging the legs on the floor. He didn’t want them to make any sound or leave scratches on the floor. Lukas crawled under it to the far corner of the wall and slid a needle he carried through a floorboard. The hole in question was so small it looked like a natural part of the wood grain.

The floorboard rose just enough for him to grip it with the tips of his fingers and lift it. The hiding place contained most of his valuables. He had done some testing, and because it sat against the wall shared with Penelope’s room, her arcane fields and protections seemed to extend into the sliver of space. Lukas had concealed his growing wealth of crowns, the two unused essences, and several bits and bobs in the space. The rolled length of leather joined them. Lukas hoped the enchantment and treatments were enough to conceal the arcane signatures of everything within.

Lukas returned his attention to the journal, flipping to the Pillars of Strength. The adjacent page had changed as the journal read his mind, forming an easier-to-read summary of his current abilities and their progress.

• Shadow Clone: Tier 2 | Rank 0

  • Shade’s Mantle

• Altered Mass: Tier 1 | Tier 3

Altered Mass’s first rank had come with a cost reduction to the already almost negligent cost of moving the slider. Meanwhile, the second increased his toughness at high mass and flexibility at low mass. Neither came with ways around the slowness or fragility on either end of the spectrum as he had hoped. Lukas hoped the mid-tier upgrade, if not a sub or conjunction ability, would grant him a way around. It was part of the reason he wanted Essence of Steel.

It had seemed odd to him at first that Shade’s Mantle didn’t have any tiers or ranks of its own. Now, he believed it was because the ability was a part of Shadow Clone, and regular use would help push the ranks higher. In fact, he could feel that the next rank was close. He didn’t have direct examples, but it seemed Shade’s Mantle would grow with future tier upgrades. Lukas imagined complimentary essences would empower it and the base shard ability, while incompatible ones would spawn something new.

Lukas wasn’t quite sure how everything would work once conjunction abilities came into the mix. He imagined they’d grow only when the connected shard abilities did the same. He needed to figure out how to increase Altered Mass’s ranks faster. It was the second reason behind him investigating Silverspine’s interest in the undercity. He wanted another rank boost to help him get close to the next tier faster. 

My first priority needs to be magical essences. Do the ritual. Pimp out the shard and start raising the ability.

Arcane Threads or its ritual upgrade version would likely take several tiers before it served the intended purpose. In the interim, he could see it making intent-based casting, especially modifying existing spells, easier and perhaps more cost-efficient. It seemed like a potent piece of metamagic. Twice Magicked from the Shard of Duplication was a hammer—more specifically, a multiplier. In comparison, Arcane Threads was a finesse tool that would demand far more mastery. Lukas didn’t mind such an ability. Doubly so because of the arcane-specialized clones. 

For the time being, Lukas needed to figure out how to get his hands on arcane or adjacent essences. He trusted Minarv. If upgrading the shard would get him something more potent, he wanted to rush into it. In his old life, it had taken him a long time to develop his patience and reign in his impulsiveness. Now, it was a challenge once again, leaving him to wonder if his young body, its body chemistry, had something to do with it. Lukas didn’t quite know its age, but he was starting to think it was not completely mature. Malnutrition makes a person appear older, after all.

El-Two, or Magic Elvis, as he liked being called, hated working at the arcane smithy. Training under Kat and her father had paid off. He passed all of the tests with flying colors. First, they had him craft a simple knife. Then, they wanted a flanged mace, a gauntlet, a horseman’s axe, and, finally, a cutlass. The latter two weren’t high enough quality to meet the interviewer’s standards. 

However, his arcane prowess made a notable difference. Their forges carried enchantments, and alchemical products helped fuel burn hotter or flare temperatures. It was a learning curve that Magic Elvis wasn’t ready for. So, he had called forth the Shade’s Mantle. A veil over the face had helped mute the light far more than goggles. It was also more comfortable than wearing them. Minor tweaks also marginally improved the leather aprons and garments’ heat protection. 

Then, when working the hot metal and drawing it out, Magic Elvis also wrapped it in shadows. He had only intended to create a pretty pattern but accidentally ended up infusing the metal with magic instead. Even though his handiwork was far from perfect, the cutlass suffered minor delaminations, and the axe’s edge had suffered a few cracks. The interviewer and foreman weren’t direct, but it seemed no other candidate had managed such a feat. So, he got the job.

The bastards had worked him to the bone ever since. Impossible standards. No direct training. Unsafe work conditions. Work politics. Massive ego trips. Magic Elvis imagined it was how things would’ve likely ended up if Lukas never left Earth and ended up in a corporate job. 

Magic Elvis didn’t get to make weapons, but the foreman had him make billets while pouring magic into them, turning ordinary scrap metal and steel into magic steel. It was a slow and tiring process, and he didn’t meet the necessary standards or levels on the first attempt. It didn’t matter if his magic stores were sparse or dwindling. They pushed Magic Elvis until he nearly collapsed, and the shell containing Lukas’s soul fragment was on the verge of unraveling. Then, they pushed busy work on him while his hands were trembling and his head throbbing.

Magic Elvis occasionally considered protesting and quitting. Lukas occasionally wondered whether the time investment was worthwhile. But then, they saw how the foreman and a couple of other smiths manipulated heat and the enchanted forges and drew out the magic in his billets to create tools with internal magic or foci. As far as Magic Elvis knew, the only other smithy with such talents belonged to one of the more exclusive guilds of Iskander. The recent expedition’s leader belonged to it, and they didn’t allow just about anyone to join. In fact, he had heard that most of their members, artisans included, were scouted young or reared from a young age. It was likely nepotism played a significant role.

One evening, when there was no one else in the smithy except for a couple of other assistants, Magic Elvis tried his hand. He took a billet that hadn’t passed the foreman’s inspection and attempted to draw out the metal and magic within. They hadn’t taught him how to do it and rejected every demonstration request or explanation.

“You’re green and untested. How do we know you’re not just going to learn the smithy’s secrets and run off to start your own thing or sell them to a competitor? Prove your worth. Your loyalty. Then, we can discuss such things.”

What the foreman and the other smiths didn’t know was how keen the arcane-specialized clones’ senses were. Magic Elvis saw and sensed the flow of magic far better than Lukas. He also had significantly more focus than him. The Shadow-Sight spell also helped with the task. They wouldn’t explain things but no one could keep him from watching while he recovered magic or completed chores around the workshop, and he studied the flow of magic within them. 

Replicating their actions proved a challenge. Magic Elvis attempted the process with raw intent first. He intermingled his magic with whatever had merged with the steel. Then, while hammering the billet he attempted guiding it with the flattening and lengthening steel. The magic resisted at first. It was as resistant as the billet before heating. 

Magic Elvis worked himself raw. His hands and face blistered as he reheated and kept working the steel. He attempted to squeeze and massage the energy. Nothing seemed to work until he used the Shade’s Mantle. It seemed pure arcane manipulation wasn’t enough. He needed to give the magic purpose. As he worked, the material darkened even before all the heat dissipated. It blackened, looking like a faint shadow on a sunny day. 

It took four hours to draw the billet into a forearm-sized straight dagger with a short tang. It wasn’t pretty but Lukas could feel the magic within. He reheated, quenched, and tested the blade with a file. It was hard and straight. More importantly, it was naturally a dark, almost black, grey.

The workshop was empty when he finished. All other apprentices had long completed their tasks and left for home. He spent some time grinding the blade, giving it a killer edge before wrapping it in a scrappy length of oiled cloth. All the waisted bits went in the waste pile nearby. Magic Elvis hoped to make it look like that he was practising with scrap after hours to hone his skills as all the apprentices were expected to do.

Iskander streets were never quiet or empty. The white and black-flecked walls seemed to glow under the moonlight. Occassional fires and magic lamps cast dancing orange, yellow, or noxious green on nearby walls. It seemed close to midnight but dozens walked the streets. Magic Elvis kept his head low and the blade concealed under his coat. It was tempting to use Shade’s Mantle but it was likely to draw too much attention.

High mass already made his walking speed slow and made traversing along the roofs impossible. His progress would slow further if he were to stick to the shadows. Fortunately, he made it home without incident and unmolested.

Elvis hadn’t yet returned. It was expected. He often worked late or spent a little time with Kat after the smithy closed. Lukas didn’t mind since the relationship came with personal smithing lessons they’d be hard-pressed to find elsewhere and they also received mundane equipment at discounted prices. The business’s owner also didn’t mind if Elvis paid only material and utility costs for pieces he made himself. 

Much to Magic Elvis’s surprise, El-Prime was fast asleep. The man rarely went to bed so early. His expression was also strange, carrying hints of happiness and sorrow. As clones, they always knew of everything in Lukas’s mind at the moment of creation. They understood his ups downs joy and sorrow, often better than him. But he rarely let any of it show.

It was Minarv wasn’t it?

El-Three and El-Four were nowhere in sight. It was unlike Lukas to leave clones idle. It wouldn’t surprise him if they were out making deliveries, staking out the secret docks, or the business that had tried to steal the runic shortsword. The chances of him sending a pair into the undercity were also high. He didn’t bother El-Prime with the question. It didn’t matter.

The day had left Magic Elvis exhausted. He felt ready to pass out. Clones didn’t need sleep but they enjoyed it. The floor called to him, but he resisted. The others, especially Lukas needed to benefit from everything he had learned and experienced the past day. He unwrapped the handle-less, almost-black dagger, and placed it on the empty desk, and took a step back to admire it for a second.

It was pretty and radiated danger. Even though Lukas had left the assassin life behind, Magic Elvis was sure he’d appreciate the creation, especially because of the magic coursing through it. They needed runes and perhaps a few socketed gems before becoming a true arcane focus, but he was sure it would serve well as a conduit for spells related to shadows and darkness. It was tempting to run tests but he was far too drained. Magic Elvis worried that pushing his arcane abilities any further would destabilize the magical shell containing Lukas’s soul fragment. So, he removed the trinkets and tools he carried that weren’t a part of the initial cloning, neatly placed them on the desk and then dispelled himself.