Jareth called on his sorcerer’s chart.
The panel, which resembled an ancient and futuristic piece, flickered in his face.
–––
SORCERER’S CHART
[Na]: Jareth Idren
[Race]: Human
[Body]: ⟨5% Mana | 95% Oblivium⟩
[Source]: [Oblivium Forge], [Caniblaze]
[Spells]: [Weeping Ward], [Grieving Echo], [Quagmire], [Infernal Torrent], [Quintessence Claws]
[Rank]: Awakened
[Core]: 0/200
–––
"I really have two sources. I can vaguely rember getting the second when I passed out in that cavern, so it must be from Duke."
He thought of sothing and swiftly ran to the door and bolted it before returning to his forr spot.
’I have to be careful since I have an oblivium source. But from what I read yesterday, others can’t trace my source just from seeing it apart from smart deduction using what they saw and felt, like Liana has a fire source because I saw her fire spell. Well, that’s how I understand it.’
Jareth didn’t waste ti and focused on his first spell, and the panel changed.
–––
[Weeping Ward]
[Description: Grief heard your prayer. Grief listened to your plea. Grief answered your prayer. A gift from Grief that passively shields the mind from attack.]
–––
’This sounds ominous. Is this from oblivium? I don’t think it’s from caniblaze. And the opening lines are... majestic. Is this why I appeared in Arkados? Because of my grief? I never knew grief bore this much power. How do I test this spell now?’ Jareth thought while rubbing his stinging nose.
Then he turned to the static robot. "Can you attack with a ntal attack? Power level of an untrained awakened arcanist."
"Negative."
"I guessed so. I’ll just let it be since I can’t test the limit, even though I’m itching to see what it does. Let’s check the second one."
–––
[Grieving Echo]
[Description: Grief heard your prayer. Grief listened to your plea. Grief answered your prayer. A gift from Grief that turns an opponent’s inner sorrow against them, weakening their attacks in proportion to their sorrows.]
–––
"Again? I guess grief is a good emotion."
Jareth activated it with a guided thought.
Green aura flickered on his body in that instant, swaying gently like a solitary green fla dancing in a gentle wind.
’Is this grief?’
His eyes road over the green aura.
He opened his mouth to command the robot but shut it when he recalled that machines are emotionless aides.
’First limitation.’
Jareth dismissed the spell and went to the next.
–––
[Quagmire]
[Description: A surge of raw oblivium from your core that transforms the surroundings into a viscous fog.]
–––
Seeing the description, Jareth didn’t feel like testing it, because it sounded like a spell that would blatantly point out his connection with oblivium.
But sothing abruptly rushed from within him.
Thick violet fus surged from his palm, swiftly expanding and transforming the vicinity around him into a violet fog but it didn’t impede his vision. He could clearly see the robot standing idly with its red eyes.
He could feel a subtle connection between him and the violet fog, like he was holding it like an object.
’T-This is an oblivium spell. And it activated without my command. I never planned on activating it as it is directly linked to oblivium.’
His heart beat faster, from the unconscious spell activation and displaying an oblivium-based spell.
He had previously dismissed the warning on the arcanist nexus about unconscious spell activation, even though he adhered to the instructions as he was trying to play safe due to his oblivium source. But now? He felt fortunate.
Suppressing his fears, he thought, ’Well, since I’ve already activated it, why don’t I see the function?’
"Co at with the strength of an untrained awakened arcanist," Jareth commanded.
"Order received!"
But the robot remained still after replying.
"Huh? Didn’t you hear..." Jareth’s voice trailed off before he pald his forehead as he realized what happened.
"Since you can’t move with that strength, use the strength of a trained awakened arcanist."
"Order received!"
Jareth suddenly heard a vibration accompanied by miniscule trembling of the robot, but it remained still.
"Make it a mid-level awakened arcanist."
"Order received!"
The robot began arduously walking towards him, like it was walking through a mire.
"Increase your strength to Peak awakened arcanist."
It paused.
"Order received!"
It suddenly began running towards him with a sharp speed like a trained arcanist.
"Stop," commanded Jareth.
As the robot halted, he dismissed the spell with a thought, and it was very easy.
"Sprint towards with the speed of a peak awakened arcanist."
Jareth decided to see how much his spell reduced the speed of a peak awakened arcanist.
"Order received!"
That was the last he heard before he saw a streak and the robot was in his face, his hair and clothes flapping for a short mont as a strong breeze hit him.
Jareth’s jaw slacked a bit.
Taking a deep breath, he thanked his guts for avoiding testing the strength of mid-level and peak awakened arcanists.
He distanced himself from the robot before checking his next spell.
–––
[Infernal Torrent]
[Description: A violent expulsion of caniblaze from the palm, unleashing a torrent of ravenous fla.]
–––
’This looks like my first destructive spell.’
Jareth stretched his two palms forward and commanded with a thought, ’blaze’.
Blood-red flas erupted from his palms like a flathrower, dyeing the room red.
He stopped it, afraid of burning down the building, but everything the fla touched remained unscathed, still in its dull ash color.
"No wonder Esta said I should test my skill in this room," Jareth mumbled.
Then he turned to the robot.
"Can you handle my fire?" He questioned with a smirk.
"For safety, I can handle every physical attack spell below the Elite arcanist rank, and so Elite arcanist spell," it replied with its robotic voice.
Jareth’s cheek twitched.
He stared at the robot for a good while.
He finally decided.
"I will test the fire on you. I never wanted to destroy her robot, but she wouldn’t bla as you’re the one that assured ."
"You can."
Jareth stretched his palms.
"Ready?"
"Ready."
"Blaze!" Jareth roared, like it was going to affect the intensity, and the blood-red flas returned with a maddened ferocity.
It drowned the robot in a few seconds.
After a few seconds, Jareth’s face twitched when the robot remained standing like it was bathing in warm water.
Jareth was just about to push the intensity with everything he had but was hit with a sudden headache. The fla went off with it.
He felt his vision spinning.
Holding his head, he slowly laid down, his eyes fixed on the white light on the ceiling that looked like it was moving and pulsating. His breath ca laboriously.
It took about thirty minutes before he recovered enough to move.
’I forgot about mana exhaustion that they wrote about.’
He laid down even after he shook off the disorientation as he could clearly feel sothing entering his body.
It took another thirty minutes before the sensation stopped.
He stood up and decided not to use his spells like he had a big reservoir.
Stretching his palm, Jareth activated [Infernal Torrent] and quickly halted its output when a ter-long fla appeared in his palm.
He felt a connection, now that he focused on the fla. It was a very clear connection, unlike [Quagmire].
Jareth shaped it into a spear, before changing it to a big sphere. He tried compressing it. It compressed until it reached a palm-sized fla ball before it exploded in his face, sending him flying. He quickly patted his half-burnt pajamas as he rolled to his feet
He then busied himself with the spell before he finally checked the last spell.
–––
[Quintessence Claws]
[Description: *** abhorred *** error ***]
–––
’This spell feels like it has everything to do with oblivium. Even the sorcerer’s chart can’t fully interpret it. But it sounds super ominous, after all, the unknown is most tis very dangerous.’
Jareth shook his head.
’Why am I becoming a sissy now? I’ve even tested the oblivium one. I want to test all my skills. Who knows if I’ll survive tomorrow? Maybe I might be mad, corrupted, and finally, dead by tomorrow.’
Jareth chuckled at his last statent.
With that, he activated the spell.
A cooling sensation washed over his lower arms.
Dropping his head, he saw black mist spiralling around his arms. It swiftly contracted, sheathing from his elbows, down to his hands, in a black substance ending in sharp claws on each finger.
He first touched it, but felt nothing. Then he clapped his hands but no noise ca out.
He squatted and ran his right index claw on the floor, drawing a surprisingly thin line.
A knock jolted him.
He squinted his eyes at the door.
Then he dismissed his spell before walking to the door.
He opened it with his hand ready to burn anything in his path but found an empty passage. Just as he poked his head, a silver arc descended and a sharp pain seared his skull before his vision faded to black.
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