[Job Options:
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Curious. Moonlight Weaver turned into Moonlight Mage. Probably influenced by the fact that I’d done cloth enchanting? That’s most likely also where Threadspinner came from - I doubt it’s as pure a tailoring job as Sylves’.
Scrollmaker is out. It sounds like making temporary enchantments, and that just does not seem very interesting at all. Engraver, too, is a little too limiting, and I dislike Threadspinner for the same reasons. I don’t want to specialize in one kind of item. I wanna be able to work with metals and cloth and wood and anything else.
Shadowbinder is interesting. It’s probably there because of my connection with Kuro. The adorable critter in my shadow. I should feed it some blood later today.
For now, though, it’s out. I don’t have that much interest in binding shadows, even if it would be cool, when I still plan on stealing that kind of magic from Kuro’s skills. That should be doable, at least.
Which leaves Biochanter and Imbuer. I like both of these, since I’m pretty sure they’re offered since I’m pushing on their domains. Biochanter feels like it’s related to, well, enchanting living things. In a way, that’s similar to the constructs I’m spinning inside my body. Making those kinds of enchantments ‘stick’ properly would be nice.
But.
Imbuer. The name is vague, but when reaching out with [Selection], I can pull a little more information. It’s about skills and the way they interact with creations. This one, I think, will let me cheat a little. In that it might let me make enchantments based on acquired or understood skills more easily, derive new runes faster and also… enchant my temporary creations.
Kind of similar to how I poured a bit of [Suppression] into my dagger, just… better. More permanent, and all that.
Reaching out, I pick Imbuer.
[Job gained:
[Stat bonuses: +1 > +3 Vessel per level]
[Experience modules: Enchanting, Imbuing]
And then, a moment later.
[Job up! Imbuer 0 > 3]
Nine more points trickle into vessel, experience that was “left over” after my masterpiece was acknowledged. Apparently, the cloak was just that good. Granted, I did spend a good three weeks working on it nonstop, using some pretty experimental enchantments. The pressure against my chest instantly redoubled, starting to hurt a little.
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Ah, that was with [Suppression]. It hurt a lot, actually. Wow.
Quickly, I poured a lot more mana into [Biological Restoration], letting it knit my messed up body back together, discarding frozen cells and making new ones from the food in my stomach.
[Essence Bestowed: Imbuement.]
The second part of my new job came in, pouring into my head. An instant, tiny fragment of knowledge about the way skills were constructed, and how to harness those patterns. As the knowledge was still flooding into me, I already grimaced, remaking every single one of the tiny healing modules I’d left in my arm.
Then I remade them over twice more, before I was satisfied. Dang. Even just a whisper of new essence had helped so much. It made it a lot easier to understand why I was able to figure out cloth enchanting so quickly - that was the essence from the moonlit lake at work. It bothered me a little, but at the end of the day, that knowledge was now a part of me.
I sighed, then let it go.
“We’re here,” Sylves says.
She’s lying. We’d been here for a little while, but she waited for me to finish my job selection. I smile a little. “Thanks,” I say, then push the doors open to the barn.
It smells better than I’d expect. The ice stopped much bacteria from growing, and the animals are smarter than those back on earth and remarkably clean. Their eyes turn to me for a long moment, before one of them approaches.
Like most of them, it’s a large thing, taller than me and brodader, not to mention that it’s quadrupedal. The beasts are strong. And yet, it very gently places its head closer to me, careful that its horns and antlers don’t poke me.
Slowly, I reach out my hand to its snout, and it presses into it, my hand sinking into the fur. A small laugh bubbles from my chest, and I pet the beast’s head, rubbing the thick, leathery skin under the fur. It’s warm and soft and a little damp from melted ice.
The thing huffs in amusement, but doesn’t try to lick me, which I’m grateful for. A few more of the animals crowd around me. They recognize me. Recognize that I killed people for them, and that I healed them when the frost got too bad.
Some still died, but I was there, and they remember. Now the storm was gone, and I returned, frostbitten. The pieces of the puzzle were not hard to complete.
A trickle of essence flows into me. Then another, and another. About half of the beasts use favours, earned from the tower, to thank me. They gift me with more knowledge on anatomy, on healing, on magic and communication. It’s… nice.
Funny, isn’t it? When I heal people, I have to demand payment. They don’t want to give anything, think themselves above it. Greedy and ungrateful. And yet, when I heal beasts, they welcome me into their fold and thank me for it. I don’t expect payment, and yet, here I am, receiving it.
How amusing.
I run my hand through the inson’s fur once more, then smile. “Would any of you like to pull our wagon to an ascendancy well?” I ask.
None of them reply, seemingly confused at my words. Hmm.
“Want me to fetch a tamer?” Sylves asks.
Slowly, I nod. “The one whose inson I healed before it died to the frost. He seemed a decent fellow.”
She quickly gives me a bright smile. “Got it!” Then she darts off, blonde hair fluttering in the wind. I lean against the wall and wait, watching the animals chew on the grass, when they present me with one of their injured.
A younger beast, who somehow made it through the cold. Still, the critter is frostbitten and hurt, breathing in shallow bursts. Without hesitation, I pour mana into [Biological Restoration].
With my new knowledge, I alter the healing skill even more. The essence guides my actions, and I activate the skill multiple times in rapid succession, each time with different alterations. One configuration to help its heart beat more easily. Another to warm its blood. A third to regenerate the hurt cells, and another, much more slow one to help it metabolize properly.
Half of my vessel empties out in moments and the pain in my chest disappears. White-gold mana seeps into the beast, and I can feel the spell take hold. It sticks to the inson’s muscles, seeping below its skin and fuelling its body. Reserves of fat are burnt away, and some muscles atrophy slightly to fuel the healing, but it still heals.
The mana provides enough power to restore its lungs and heart, to stave off the frostbite in its back legs. Despite everything, it will heal fully. I sigh in relief, then nod at the beasts, which huff and moo at me pleasantly, as if there had never been any doubt I could solve the problem. It makes me laugh, just a little, and suddenly, waiting for the beast tamer isn’t so bad at all.