Magic-Smithing Ch: 120.1

The human mind can only take in so much at once. Increasing your stats and skills increases a person's ntal threshold and helps with overload, but sotis it isn’t enough.

My Mind stat was high compared to others with similar builds, and I was already used to scanning large swaths of land with Sense Mana, so when I say I was struggling to decipher the magic item on my wrist, you know how complicated it is. It took a couple of hours just to get a general idea of how the runes are structured, let alone before I started guessing what they did.

It would be one thing if all the runes were simple in design; I might have been able to piece things together quicker, but each rune was like an enchantnt unto itself. No extra lines were added to obstruct people from copying the runes like other items I’ve scanned— there was no need, they were just that complicated. There was so much to look at, I couldn’t process it all. My head felt like it was splitting in two, and it was only getting worse the more I looked, but gods help , I couldn't stop.

The runes alone led to believe the bracelet was tier 6, and the more I understood about it, the more I considered the possibility that it might be even higher than that. From what I knew, tier 6 was the pinnacle of mortal understanding, but what if mortal hands didn't make this bracelet?

The piece of jewelry likely predated the rules set in place to limit the gods. And if the gods used to give their followers skills freely, what was to say they couldn’t gift them items as well? At the very least, I knew Zelous had a hand in the bracelet’s creation, especially seeing how I could only interact with it after I t his fragnt.

It’s been over ten hours since I started trying to figure out what the thing did, and it felt like I was no closer than when I started.

Okay, that might be overly dramatic; it wasn’t much, but I had learned a few details about the magic item on my wrist.

Firstly, I was right about the bracelet having its own pocket dinsion. While a part of it was physically attached to my wrist, most of the material and its runes that made up the band were contained in a separate space. I knew the space existed because Sense Mana could pierce into the pocket dinsion, and because the two were physically connected, I could scan it. However, there was an added layer of difficulty in doing so.

The best way I could describe it was as if I were walking down a corridor, and halfway, the size and shape of the passage suddenly changed alongside gravity. I could continue, but the sudden shift was more than a little jarring and challenging on Sense Mana. I was slowly getting used to the sensation, but every minute counted, and I was wasting precious ti not working at 100%. Sadly, the only thing I could do was grin and bear it.

That alone was infuriating, but how the runes functioned made want to tear my hair out. The runes worked together despite a dinsional barrier between them, which, if we were in any other situation, would probably be the main thing I focused on.

Usually, runes had to be directly connected to transfer mana and function correctly. There were so instances where this wasn’t the case, like the knife I gifted Mother and its accompanying charging block, where two items could touch to form a temporary connection, but enchantnts like that ca at a cost.

Mana was always in motion and hard to contain, so even the most minor gaps leaked a lot of mana. Mom's knife block worked because the base was thick steel and powered by relatively small amounts of magicite. Even then, if the accompanying knife didn’t absorb most of the mana, the rampaging mana would eventually break down the steel and the runes carved in it, causing a critical failure.

Considering vital sections of my bracelet were essentially divided into two different areas, you would think it would be losing massive amounts of mana constantly communicating between them, but it was the opposite. The runes inscribed in the part of the bracelet around my wrist lost no mana, communicating with the rest in its pocket dinsion. In theory, that should be impossible, but as Tabitha was here to remind , it wasn’t sothing I should focus on now.

For now, I’d have to chalk it up to divinity bullshit and move on— As frustrating as that is.

The second thing I learned wasn’t as scientifically significant as the first, but it did change how I viewed the bracelet. And to think, I only learned of it due to a mandated break.

Initially, I didn’t want to stop for anything, not even a break to clear my head, but Tabitha insisted I did, and as usual, she was right to have do so. After I spent the first three hours ditating over the band on my arm, Tabitha interrupted and forced to stop for an hour to catch my breath and ensure I was staying on topic, like she said she would.

I complained at first, but that first break and the second one I took three hours later quickly proved the best thing I could’ve done. The breaks were the perfect ti to review everything I learned and consolidate my thoughts. The breaks also helped combat my headache, which allowed to work smarter, not harder. Tabitha would even give her opinion on things, and though she knew next to nothing about runes or enchanting, just having sobody with a different view of things helped.

For a brief mont, I thought I was back in Spotted Creek discussing runes with Sandra.

It was during my second break that Tabitha brought up sothing I wasn’t initially thinking about. At so point, our conversation turned towards the physical bracelet on my wrist, and according to her, the obscuring enchantnt was still going strong. I didn’t think about it much after eting the gods, but ever since I left my soul, there has been a quantitative change in how I perceive the band on my arm.

The jewelry felt a part of , even more so now, but unlike before, I no longer struggled to notice it. How comfortable it felt on my wrist was a little terrifying, so much so that I questioned if it might indirectly influence my thoughts. I had no proof of the fact, but I'll have to keep that possibility in mind for the future.

It was scary to think my thoughts weren't entirely my own, and I wish I could say that was the worst of it, but there was still one last thing I’ve unraveled about my new accessory that put even those previous two points to sha.

From what I can tell, there are no less than three intertwined yet separate enchantnts embedded inside my bracelet. The first two were surface-level. And even though I couldn’t decipher a single individual rune in their makeup, I could tell they were what powered the pocket dinsion and the enchantnt that made it so others were more likely to ignore the band outright. Both enchantnts were positively imnse, containing thousands of runes each, but neither compared to what I assud was the core function of the bracelet.

The first two enchantnts were massive in scale, but even the two combined couldn’t compare to the absolute ss that was the core enchantnt that took up much of the bracelet. There were runes inside other runes, three-dinsional structures that made my brain feel like it was liquifying to scan, and runes that were in one spot one mont and in another the next. The core enchantnt was so complicated and vast that I had to scan it in sections or risk my head exploding from mory overload.

It felt like I could spend weeks going over the various clusters of runes, and I could, but that wouldn’t be a very effective use of my ti. No, I was focusing on a single group of runes. The cluster was just as complicated as any other and, at first glance, appeared to do little. Still, there was one reason I was focusing on this section rather than the others, and surprisingly enough, it had nothing to do with Enchanting but rather another one of my skills—

Sense Soul.

It shouldn't have surprised that the bracelet had tethered itself to my soul, seeing how Zelous’ skills functioned, but it did. And I was struggling to figure out what that entailed. From what I could tell, the connection was paper-thin yet exceedingly strong.

The bracelet wasn't siphoning anything from other than minuscule amounts of mana, so that was good. But not sensing anything wasn't the sa as nothing happening. There was a real possibility that my skills weren't strong enough to sense what the bracelet was doing to or how it affected my soul in general. This ans that it wasn't just my mind that I would need to keep an eye on; it was my soul as well, and the latter was much scarier than the forr.

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I was trying to see if I could cut power to the runes governing the connection to my soul, but saying I was struggling was an understatent. No matter what I did, the runes continued to pulse with mana, and I couldn’t help but feel frustrated. Whether it was the gods showing up unannounced, people using skills on , or my skills trying to influence , if there was one thing I hated above all else, it was people ssing with my soul.

Everything is tied back to the soul, so to have an unknown item connected to mine was a hard pill to swallow. It sucked, but as they say, every cloud has a silver lining.

If it weren’t for the connection to my soul, I don’t think I’d have a single clue as to what the enchantnt did. But because it did, and because of how the runes in question were placed at the center of the overall enchantnt, it’s safe to assu the bracelet augnts my soul skills sohow.

The question was, would the bracelet help or hinder ? If the bracelet sohow helped curb the adverse effects of Soul Devourer, then that would be excellent news. However, if it does the opposite— Well, I didn’t want to think of the consequences.

When I first started examining the bracelet, I tried channeling my mana into the band to see what would happen, confident it wouldn't harm after what Zelous and Ebeon said, but nothing did, or at least nothing I could see.

I couldn’t waste all my mana on it as we were still technically in a dangerous place, but the few hundred points of mana I did pour in vanished amongst the countless runes. It could be that the bracelet didn't have enough mana to function correctly, but I couldn't test that possibility until we were safely back in the village.

The simple fact was that it was almost half a day later, and I was running out of things I could safely test. I could stare at runes for the next sixty-two hours, but as previously stated, that’d get nowhere. I’d learned all I could playing it safe; all that was left was jumping into the deep end.

If the bracelet augnted my soul skills as I hypothesized, then the only way I can confirm my suspicions is to use them and see what happens.

I grit my teeth and try to ignore the pit slowly growing in my stomach. Part of the discomfort was due to hunger, but most of what I felt was purely psychological. I knew it was all in my head, but that didn't make the feeling of dread any less.

Tabitha was almost back to 100%, so I shouldn’t need to worry about her if Soul Devourer sends on a rampage. Then again, it isn’t physical damage she’d need to worry about. It was hard not to picture myself turning into the very sa creature I killed. What if—

Suddenly, I felt a hand on my shoulder, followed by a gentle squeeze. My eyes snap open, and I co face to face with Tabitha.

“It’s ti,” she tells .

“What?” I need a second to gather my thoughts, and when I do, I frown. “But I still have an hour left,” I complain.

Tabitha frowns and gently shakes her head. "Wrong. It's been three hours. You lost track of ti again," she informs in her emotionless voice.

“Really? Shit!” I can’t help but curse. Losing an hour didn’t sound like much, but ti was of the essence. I'm about to curse again when Tabitha sends a pointed glare. I knew that look.

Without being told, I stop and take a series of deep breaths. “I’m good,” I tell her before refocusing Sense Mana away from my bracelet and using it to scan our surroundings— the sa thing I did the last two tis she pulled out.

After I was sure nothing had changed in our vicinity, I relaxed my shoulders and turned my full attention to Tabitha, who gave a nod of approval. That simple gesture was enough to bleed away much of the stress I felt—

But not all of it.

Taking one last deep breath, I reaffirm my resolve. "Okay, an hour break, and then it’s back to work,” I tell myself.

I was ready to start reviewing my progress with Tabitha, but one word from her stopped . “No,” she says to my face.

“Co again?” I ask her to repeat herself, probably with a dumb expression on my face.

"I said no," Tabitha calmly repeats. “We’re done for today,” she informs with an air of superiority.

“What!” I jump to my feet in protest, but the action loses so of its impact when Tabitha is forced to steady . “I’m fine,” I weakly tell her as I gently brush aside her arm.

“Sure, you are,” Tabitha deadpans, letting remove her hand from my shoulder and giving a look that said she didn’t believe .

“Just give a second,” I hold up a finger as I let my sense of equilibrium settle. Even during my previous breaks, I hadn’t gotten up from my seated position, so it made sense that I was dizzy after standing up too fast.

Watching , Tabitha ruefully shakes her head. “This is why we’re stopping.”

"But I can continue," I plead, but Tabitha quickly stops .

“I know you can; I'm not questioning your resolve. But it’s ti to rest. You’re pushing yourself too hard,” Tabitha’s eyes soften slightly.

“Or not hard enough,” I counter, but Tabitha doesn’t budge.

“Do you even know how long we’ve been up?” Tabitha asks a seemingly simple question.

I scoff, "Of course I do. It's been—" I start counting the hours in my head, only to frown when I realize we’ve been up for over twenty-four hours.

“That’s right,” Tabitha interprets my silence for what it is. “The last ti you stopped to rest was after you hamred out the dents in my armor. Since then, you’ve opened the chamber, helped slay the undead guarding it, helped bury it, picked up an unknown magic artifact, got your soul sucked into a statue.”

“Hey,” I try to protest that last point, but Tabitha ignores and continues as if I didn’t interrupt her.

“Got a history lesson. Unlocked access to said unknown magic artifact,” she continues to count off. “Studied it for the last eleven hours. Did I miss anything?” Tabitha looked at like she was daring to contradict her.

“When you put it like that,” I lower my head and grumble.

Once again, Tabitha places a hand on my shoulder, but this ti, she waits for to look up and et her gaze before she continues. When I do, she gestures for to sit back down. I do, and Tabitha plops down in front of .

“You’re letting your emotions get the better of you,” Tabitha flatly tells . "I could see it all over your face these last three hours."

“Then why didn’t you stop ?” I ask, a hint of sadness leaking into my voice. If she saw struggling, why didn’t she do anything to help?

"Because this is sothing you must overco yourself," Tabitha informs seriously. "I can't tell you how to feel. All I can do is make sure you don’t burn yourself out and remind you that you aren’t alone. We’re in this together.”

“But the bracelet,” I weakly protest.

Tabitha struggles to glance at the piece of jewelry on my wrist as if it were invisible, but when she does, she reaches out and taps it with her gauntleted right hand. When her gauntlet makes contact, it doesn't sound like two tals hitting each other; it sounds more like tal touching stone. "This does not guarantee us victory." Tabitha’s words are like a bucket of cold water being dumped on .

“If it’s useful, then good. If not," Tabitha shrugs lazily. "We'll figure it out. What won't help us is you hyper-focusing on an unknown.”

"Then why let examine it at all?"

Tabitha shrugs again. "As I said, it may help us, it may not. You seed excited to try, so I let you.”

“But I failed,” I mumble in defeat.

“You did,” my head snaps back up when Tabitha doesn’t deny my shortcomings. "Maybe you'll learn so humility for a change," she smirked at for a split second while my mouth hung open in shock. "But I doubt it," she playfully adds. Tabitha chuckles to herself, and after a second, I join her.

Laughter really is the best dicine; by the ti the two of us finished giggling, my headache was gone, along with the pit in my stomach.

"That was an of you,” I playfully retort.

“You deserve it," Tabitha quickly fires back.

After the two of us had sufficiently cald down, I hesitantly asked Tabitha, "So, does this an I can't work on my bracelet anymore?"

“I didn’t say that," Tabitha fixed her posture as she returned to her serious persona. “You can keep working on your bracelet, but sparingly. Don’t forget, you said you’d try to craft a shield, and we have much to discuss about how we'll deal with the lesser dragon above. You can do neither if your head is filled with runes.”

I nod along, seeing the logic behind Tabitha’s words. It would be unwise to put all my eggs into one basket. I should have multiple baskets and spread my eggs equally. My ti is the eggs, the baskets— my various tasks. You know what? Screw the analogy; I need to manage my ti better.

“You’re right, as usual," I say, the second half barely above a whisper, but I knew she heard .

“I know,” Tabitha proudly sticks her nose in the air like a proud teacher.

I can’t help but smile at how silly she looks, but I notice a few things while Tabitha is lording her superior intellect over . She wasn't moving very much, and while Tabitha rarely made unnecessary movents, I could tell she was keeping movent to a bare minimum even by her standards. Was she still injured?

Tabitha’s left arm still looked like a ss, but she was moving it okay. Her breathing was shallower than usual, but she didn't look like she was in pain. It almost looked like—

Of course! I’m such an idiot. It was clear what was wrong with her; she was exhausted. I wasn't the only one who'd been up forever; Tabitha’s been watching this whole ti without rest.

Wait, hasn’t she been watching even longer than that? That's right, she stayed up while I rested after fixing her armor. How long has she been up? Thirty hours; more? It’s hard to keep track of ti down here, but I know she's had almost no sleep since we woke up after the soul horror incident.

Crap, I was only thinking about myself. I was struggling, but I never even considered I might not be the only one. I’m such an ass.

Ashad, I pretended not to notice Tabitha's condition. Instead, I let my body relax, and as soon as I do, I feel the urge to yawn. Usually, I'd hold back so as not to appear weak in front of Tabitha, but this ti, I allowed myself to let out a long yawn, hopefully shifting the topic back to sleep.

My plan works. Tabitha snorts in amusent, like I expected her to. "See, tired," she continues, looking down her nose at , but not maliciously.

“Yeah, yeah,” I pretend to be annoyed, but in my head, I’m trying to think of a way to take the first watch to let Tabitha get so much-needed rest.

“You should get so sleep,” Tabitha suggests before I can devise a good excuse.

"Tabitha, maybe you should—," I begin to broach the subject, but stop when I see Tabitha putting up a strong front.

"Should what?" Her eyes narrowed, trying to decipher what I was about to say.

I desperately wanted to suggest she sleep first, but the words refused to leave my mouth. I like to think I knew Tabitha pretty well after spending so much ti with her, and if I know her as well as I thought I did, then I’m correct in assuming she’d only feel insulted if I offered to take the first watch.

I’d already not considered her position once; I wasn’t keen on doing it again. Activating Sense Mana, I scan our surroundings one more ti. Again, there wasn’t so much as a brick out of place. We could probably both sleep without worrying about anything, but Tabitha would never go for that.

It was funny in a morbid kind of way. With the winged serpent above us and the ruins cleared of undead, we were probably in one of the safest spots in The Endless Forest. And yet, it was still one of the most dangerous.

Should I respect her wishes and say nothing, or should I offer to take the first watch?

Letting out a deep sigh, I bite the bullet and hope I don't appear rude. "Are you sure I should go first? You've been taking the first watch for a while now; shouldn't we switch it up?” I purposely ask in a joking tone with just a hint of seriousness so as not to appear like I'm pitying her.

“Please,” Tabitha brushes off my questions by rolling her eyes. "You should sleep first," she insists.

"Fine," I relent before she gets suspicious, letting out another yawn. I don't say anything else as I crawl to a nearby wall and lie against it. But before I close my eyes, I secretly glance at Tabitha. She had already closed her eyes and started ditating.

I don't look long because I know she'll sense staring. As I close my eyes and feel myself drifting off to sleep, I can't help but think about how great a person Tabitha is. Behind her rough, battle-hungry exterior was a genuinely thoughtful person. I wasn’t going to forget this any ti soon.

I’ll make this up to her, I silently vow to myself.

I’ll catch a few hours of sleep and switch places with her then. And I won't take no for an answer. After that, I’ll make her the best damn shield I can.

I can hear the ringing of tal already. I might not offer much in terms of Strengh against the winged serpent, but I'm a damn decent blacksmith. Those are my final thoughts as everything goes black.