Chapter 73- A Second Master
The Persevere- Demonstration Cave- 21stday of the month of Niffle of the 6983 GR (Morning)
Nath’aniel-
“Next, you pce your loved one’s soul on the spirit bed.” He instructed to the muscur Tribesman. The mage wanted to say that he was from the northern nds, but his skin tone made him hard to pce that, as the athletic man was rather darker skinned like the southern tribesmen possess.
The disciple moved over and around to the spirit bed, as he did he reached into a pocket and pulled out the container with the soul trapped inside. Nath’aniel was actually a little surprised with the level of skill used to reinforce the spell trapping the mortal soul inside. Especially the simple yet powerful purity seals over the small metal box’s seam.
“And you and your companion are, who exactly?” The mage asked the man before the man actually pced the box on the bed.
“I am Lucian Aster, and this is my sister, Luca Aster.” The young athletic man introduced himself and the soul. Then he pced it on the bed, and they waited as it powered up and scanned the soul.
The spirit bed took twice as long as it did when they used it on the members of the Brotherhood, probably because the seals ensured the soul didn't cross over to the pne of bone. And yet it eventually gave them results.
As the bed was meant to scan and show the results to the occupant, Nath'aniel had to use a cantrip to reposition the results in front of the man. Then he tapped into the bed, like he had when Magneto or the other Tribesmen who used it, to get a copy of the results for himself.
"She qualifies," Lucian muttered before breaking his stoic face into a smile.
"Archer, Shielder, and Avenger." The mage read off the combat csses, expecting those to be the ones most of these magic users would be interested in.
“Archer, I understand, but I am unfamiliar with the other two.” The Tribesman admitted.
"They are non-standard extra csses. Those who qualify for Shielder have protected or saved others and literally shielded them either with their bodies or actions. Meanwhile, the Avenger is like the Berserker, in that they are driven. Not to kill mind you, but to complete a task at any cost." Nath'aniel expined.
“What kind of task?” Master Keacilius asked from across the chamber.
“Varies on the person. Some may have a single wrong that they want to be righted, or they may desire a certain group eliminated." The mage expined, before gncing at Magneto before he added. “Or protected.”
"She always wanted to protect children," Lucian muttered beside the bed, staring at the list.
“I urge caution when choosing a css like the Avenger or Berserker. The magic will do changes to their mind, and you may find them acting different from how you remember them.” Nath’aniel suggested.
“Do we have to choose now?” One of the female tribesmen standing beside Professor Ortani asked. She was the same young Tribeswoman that the man had brought with him to Entreatment Day.
"Preferably, yes. The bind points work best when they are adjusted to the Servant Css. In my tests, more open points have a higher tendency chance of failure. Mind you all tests were done to spirits and not to living specimens." The mage admitted.
"What about feeding them?" Ortani asked next. Making Nath'aniel think that they were trying to give the disciple more time to decide, but before he could answer he pointed out. "Familiars require regur periods of mystical energy fed to them to maintain the bond, how are we to keep our Servants, sated?"
Psylocke sheathed her sword, as she agreed to the problem. "You are correct. Nath'aniel sends to be me and She-Devil regur amounts of mystical energy throughout the day."
“If I recall my reading of the Thesis, it mentioned something about a carnal transfer.” Master Keacilius muttered while rubbing his chin.
"Intercourse would be the original way to pass energy to your Servants, yes," Nath'aniel confirmed, and the looks some of the disciples gave him made him realize such an admission was not what they wanted to hear. So he added. "However, with this equipment, you have an easier means of 'feeding' them." He feed some astral energy into his right hand, before willing it into his left. "The command roots are open, so you can absorb energy through them, before it is passed onto the Stabilizer. From the Stabilizer, energy is sent to the bind point and finally through the bond to your Servant."
She-Devil seemed to shiver as he demonstrated it to them.
Concerned and disgusted looks on the disciples’ faces quickly faded after said expnation.
"How much energy can these hold?" A young male disciple of Keacilius asked pointing at the prepared sets.
“About a week’s worth when full.” The mage answered.
“Won’t we burn ourselves when we fill it?” Another disciple asked quietly, but still enough for him to hear her.
“More than likely when done directly, but that is a problem for the Artisan Branch to solve.” Nath’aniel pointed out.
“And how can we be like you?” One of the more reserved disciples asked from the back of the gathering. When the mage tilted his head confused the man added. “That is having more than one Servant? From the looks of it, you have four on each arm.”
“I do.” The mage confirmed, before answering. “These are simple enough to allow for a Master to bind and maintain a Servant. More advanced ones to allow longer periods between recharging or handling the draw of more than one Servant will again be a problem for the Artisans to solve.’
"Mine underwent several sessions of augmenting and improving to be where it is today. And I do not trust any of you enough with such an advanced artifact."
“But you will teach us how to make these simpler versions?” Professor Ortani asked in confirmation, as he pointed at the present mystical tools.
“Of course, how else will you add additional members to the Order," Nath'aniel confirmed, earning him a satisfied sigh and smile from the older Tribesman.
“Archer.” Lucian finally announced. The mage turned to look at him and after a moment the disciple expined. “I shall be the one to protect her. She shouldn’t be the one to protect me. So what’s next?”
Nath’aniel nodded in understanding before answering him. “Next we will move to an adjoining chamber, where you will become a Master.”
“You won’t do it here?” Keacilius asked, surprise heavy in his tone.
“No, I have cleaned a smaller space with magic, to reduce the risk of infection. But I am willing for you and I assume the professor who will become the Senior Schor for the Artisans…” The mage started to trail off, as he saw that the other ‘master’ still seemed conflicted over something.
“The abandoning of my career, to more focus on the mystical side of life, I am perfectly ready for. However, the threat of backsh from an Oath Rod makes me hesitant to take a position of power.” Ortani expined.
For once the price for a pace in the recimed Magi city was paying off. “Alright, then Elder Lynet, would you be interested in leading the Artisan’s Branch?” Nath’aniel intentionally slowed down speaking his question so that the Leaper would understand him.
This not only surprised the woman in question, but many of the Tribesmen of the Land as well.
"Wait for her?" The professor asked angrily, before adding. "She can barely speak English."
"A dedicated transtor or even All Speak rune-stones can be provided for the Order," Psylocke added to the discussion. Her tone clear and level, the mage expected this was a taste of what she was like when she worked as an envoy and negotiator for her family's company.
The bunny woman looked around at her future comrades, before saying. “Learning and being a part of this Order is already a little overwhelming, but if you believe my skills are good enough…”
“Your point is made!” Keacilius interrupted the woman sternly.
“Point?” Ortani asked confused.
"That he doesn't need us… that he could form this Order of Masters with just the bumbling savages that live around him," Lucian expined, as he retrieved the little metal box from the spirit bed. Then he turned around and added to the Leaper. "No offense meant." Then he shifted his stance to gre at the professor.
Ortani cleared his throat, before he pointed at the Leaper and asked. “Alright miss, Lynet, what is the most complicated magic tool you have created?”
"I won the competition, and earned the title of Elder, by my tribe by creating the Whispering Bowl," Lynet answered, while nervously smoothing out her clothes.
“A communications tool?” The professor asked, his tone showed that he was in fact interested in what she had created.
"No, the bowl is a reusable magical artifact that creates weather events based on the animal blood poured into it. When they used a boar's blood, it created a heavy wind storm that blew over a pair of their huts, meanwhile, when they used a deer's it created a genital rain." Nath'aniel expined to her.
“I want to make something that would give us a stable source of water for our crops.” The bunny sorceress muttered quietly and reached up and covered part of her face with her long ears with all the attention the mage’s answer garnered her.
The Tribesmen hearing that started looking at the bunny woman differently. It was as if they had just started to see her as more than some beast-kin, but rather as someone with talent and skill in the use of the mystic arts.
“That’s actually kind of impressive.” The professor muttered. Then he cleared his throat and said. “But with that said, Nath’aniel’s first assumption was the correct one. Your skills, Elder, not withstanding, but you are far too shy to command or discipline the students that we have gathered. And I was being selfish in my fear… I will swear on the Rod.” He reached into his jacket and pulled out a cloth to wipe away some sweat from his brow.
His two blonde disciples gred at him as he did this, but said nothing. ‘Maybe it would be wise to have Psylocke screen the thoughts of members before we allow them to take someone as Servant.’ The mage thought. Then he cleared his throat to get everyone's attention, before continuing. "As I was saying earlier, the two leaders may observe today's procedures so that one day they may do it themselves, but the actual bindings will be done privately."
"That makes the most sense, depending on the seals; many of these souls won't even realize that they have died. So it will be quite confusing for them." Keacilius agreed while he crossed his arms. "Although, perhaps we should also let the Elder join the observations as well… you know in case future members of her tribe want to join, and they want one of their own to carry out the seeding."
Nath’aniel rubbed his chin in thought for a moment, but in the end nodded, before he gesture off and towards the left of the chamber where the side chamber was. She-Devil escorted the disciple, while he waited for the three observers to get closer before grabbed one of the completed sets and then the mage set off behind them.
Wanda stood waiting beside the elevated bed. In the end she had proven herself quite talented at forming the bind points. So the pn was while he impnted the Stabilizer, she would adjust the point to the right css.
“Css?” His disciple asked the rger disciple.
“Archer.” Lucian answered, as he removed his top. Then the id the box atop his clothes before climbing up onto the bed.
“Roll over onto your belly.” The mage instructed the young Tribesman.
She-Devil held out her spear keeping the observers back a good ten feet from the actual proceeding. The mage went to the far end of the table. Once there he pced the completed set onto the man’s back, and then he conjured some gloves onto his arms, as he did Wanda wasted no time and began modifying the bind point.
“Aren’t going to give him something for the pain?” Keacilius asked him as Nath’aniel visualized and traced what he was about to do.
"What pain?" The mage muttered, before weaving Limbo's energy to distort the spaces around him. "He should only feel pressure against him, much like a rough massage or rub down." Then he wrote the three runes into the air, creating a temporary pocket dimension in the air. Once it was stable enough, he wrote another linking the small pocket above the man to his insides.
This caused the disciple to gasp as the pressure of the pocket blended with him.
Nath’aniel waited, before asking. “You ok to continue?”
“You weren’t joking… it feels like …a bear is hugging me.” Lucian gasped evenly.
Not hearing any compints or pain in the man’s voice, the mage started pcing set into the pocket dimension, first the Stabilizer, and the line connecting it to the other two. As he willed the first part to transfer into the Tribesman, Wanda reported. “Bind point is done.”
Nath’aniel nodded, but kept his attention on what he was doing, his fingers gliding over the disciple’s body while his cantrip continued to feed the magic tools into the pocket. The Abyssal lines also began transferring into the man then.
Just as the bind point node went into the pocket. A moment ter it too transferred over, the red tattoo of a bow and arrow appeared between two of the man’s scars just below his elbow. More Abyssal lines went into the pocket before transferring into the disciple’s arm, and stly the command root, before it too transferred into the Lucian’s hand.
Other than the red tattoo, the man appeared the same.
“That quick?” Ortani asked surprised.
"When you know the right spells, yes," Nath'aniel admitted.
“Can this be done… well more, conventionally?” Keacilius asked.
“You mean, cut his back and arm open, pce the parts inside, while also weaving the Abyssal connectors between his bones?” The mage asked, when the two ‘masters’ nodded, he shrugged. “I suppose, but then he would need healing or time to recover after.”
“(He looks the same.)” Elder Lynet muttered in her native tongue.
"Of course, that is the point. Much like the Beast Masters of Atntis, Masters look very much like other mystic arts users. However, their ability to bind a Servant makes them a real threat to others." Nath'aniel said, in English for the Tribesmen's benefit. Although he did say it a touch slower to make sure the Leaper would understand. All three observers nodded in understanding.
Then Keacilius asked his disciple. “How are you feeling?”
"The same," Lucian admitted.
“That’s because it’s not charged.” The mage pointed out, before conjuring a ball of Astral energy in between his hands. “Reach out and awaken the command root.”
The disciple sat up, before pointing his left palm at the ball. Nath’aniel waited, his Mage Sight watching the dormant magic tools slowly awaken from the disciple’s efforts. When the command root opened, another tattoo appeared on the back of Lucian’s hand. It looked to the mage as a three-petal flower.
“It’s working.” The disciple muttered. Just ahead of Nath’aniel shifting his hands and pushing the Astral energy towards the offered appendage. Lucian filched when the tattoo expanded to be on both sides of his hand, as it reached out and tried to drain the offered magical energy.
Everyone watched, waiting for the worse to happen, but as the times passed and it didn’t, Nath’aniel eventually dismissed or absorbed the magical energy in the small room. This time he was the one to ask. “Well, how do you feel?”
“My hands hot, and maybe a little feverish.” The disciple admitted, that made the mage weave an Appraisal spell over the man. The blue and white characters he expected, but the bck icons, while minor were still present near his eyes and brain, confirming what Psylocke had felt of them. They had made contact with the Dark Dimension.
“Your body isn’t reacting to the tools,” Nath’aniel reported after reading the findings of the spell. Then he concluded. “I think it is just the heat the extra energy in the Stabilizer is what you’re feeling. I know we Magi tend to run a touch hotter than you Tribesmen of the Land.”
