Chapter Thirty Seven
As I stood with the other heroes, Sarah Pelham paused whatever she was saying for a moment to nod and greet me.

"Hello, Arcanum, are you finished?" She asked, seemingly fighting the urge to check on Amy herself. "Is Amy okay?"

"Yes, Ma'am, Amy is in near-perfect health. She is lucky that her smoking didn't cause more damage," I admitted with a frown, unhappy with how close it had been. "I was able to heal and clean them up pretty well. I also made my other offer, but…"

"I already told them everything," Sarah assured me. "Or I plan to, at least."

"Ah, I see. Well, I scanned Mark and concluded his previous head trauma is affecting his current state of mind," I explained, now going into detail. "I offered to try and heal it, but Victoria hadn't explained what had happened yet, so he defaulted to waiting for his wife to discuss the possibility."

"Dammit… okay, I'll talk to him," She said, pausing for a moment before looking at her own husband. "Actually, Neil, it might be better for you to do that."

"Yeah… you're right. I'm on it," The older man said with a grim nod, leaving the group to head inside the room.

A few seconds later he returned, his brother-in-law following him out and down the hall towards the nurses station. When they were out of sight, Mrs. Pelham let out a long sigh.

"I really hope you can help him," She admitted. "But he is going to wake up to a whole lot of problems."

"Sarah, if you could…?" Miss Militia said, prompting Mrs Pelham to nod

"Right. As I said, once Amy is given a clean bill of health by the hospital, she will be taking a prolonged break from healing," She explained. "She needs time for herself, both to figure out what is going on and to come to peace with it."

"Sarah, while I understand that she needs time…" Miss Militia said, wincing as she spoke and sounding unhappy with what she was saying. "And I truly wish this wasn't the case because she is a kid, and she deserves to have time to recover and heal… but the PRT depends on her to an unfortunate degree. Without her here to help keep us going after we are injured… we won't be able to keep up."

For a moment, I frowned, opening my mouth to respond, only to realise she wasn't entirely incorrect. A quick bit of mental math showed that the Empire alone dwarfed them in size, and they even had access to a healer. Without Panacea helping to keep the Protectorate up and pushing back... Miss Militia was correct.

"I wish she wasn't right," Assault added, shaking his head. "We should have seen this coming and prevented it, but we depend on her powers."

I could see that Sarah Pelham wanted to be angry with what she was hearing, but in the end, she could only mutter out a curse. Before she could say anything, I spoke up.

"I'll fill in for her," I volunteered, the group turned to focus on me. "At the PRT and here at the hospital. With some triage measures in place here, we could cut the amount of healing down to a level I am comfortable with."

"I'm not sure we can afford your rates," Miss Militia admitted. "At least not for consistent injuries."

"Then we can negotiate a temporary alternative price. I refuse to work for free, but while I'm covering for Amy, I can afford to take a hit."

Miss Militia gave Assault a look, and the red-themed hero nodded, stepping away from the conversation and putting his hand to his ear. Meanwhile, Sarah Pelham reached out to my shoulder and pulled me into a hug. It caught me off guard, but I managed to not make an idiot of myself.

"Thank you," She said, pulling back with a small smile and watery eyes. "Thank you for everything you've done for Amy and our family. This is… all of this… Thank you."

"Of course," I responded simply, giving her a nod as she pulled away completely.

It took a few minutes for Assault to finish his conversation, during which Mr. Pelham and Mr. Dallon returned. The depressed father gave me permission to heal his brain injury, and after I warned him it would likely be a slow, gradual transition, I fixed him up. It took a bit of juice and one of my more powerful spells, but the results were positive, and I was hopeful that he would be able to finally shake off his issues.

For now, though, it was still affecting him, and after a shallow thank you, he returned to Amy's room to sit beside her bed.

"You should keep an eye on him as well," I pointed out once the door was closed. "He is going to be looking at a lot of his past through a different lens now. Chances are he isn't going to like what he sees."

"Do you think he is…" Sarah asked, trailing off before actually asking if he was a danger to himself.

"I would love to say no, but he… well, he basically watched his daughter get neglected. Kind of neglected her himself…"

Mr. Pelham let out a curse under his breath, sitting down heavily in one of the nearby chairs. His wife looked about, ready to join him.

"Just keep an eye on him. If he seems to be spiraling, then you can react from there," I explained, Sarah Pelham giving a firm nod in understanding. "He should steadily improve over the next few days, but if he doesn't, call me."

Assault came back not much later, and after getting my permission, he gave Director Piggot my phone number. The woman in charge immediately used to call me. After some discussion, we agreed that for emergencies, I would come to the PRT, and for non-emergencies, they would quietly bring their people to the hospital. That way, I could get all my healing done at once, in one place.

Not long after that, I had a similar conversation with one of the medical directors of the hospital. Until Panacea and I could share the load of healing, they would create a list of people who needed my help. No illnesses that could heal on their own, no bone breaks that weren't dangerous, anything that wasn't life-threatening or life-altering would be treated by normal doctors. If they had insurance, I would get paid, and if they didn't, I would do it for free. Of course, as usual, my guidelines were a bit more flexible for children, but they were mostly the same.

With the stopgap in place, I finally left the hospital. It was way too early to still be up, and I had a long day ahead of me. I had quite a few rituals to prepare for if I wanted to take full advantage of the new moon. I made sure that Mark, Sarah, and Victoria all had my number, with permission to distribute it among the rest of their family, before setting back out to the Docks community. I needed to sleep, and not only was there a bed for me there, but since I also needed to talk to Olivia, it was convenient.

I was thankful that Troy could basically guide himself, especially to locations he had been to before, because I fell asleep twice on his back, trotting down the empty streets of the Docks. When I finally arrived, I made my way quietly into the same sleeping space that I had before, happy to find it unoccupied. I crawled onto the foam padding and was out before I could even put the covers up.

The next morning, I woke up tired but managed to wash away some of the fatigue with a general healing spell. With any luck, a cup of coffee or two would solve the rest.

I left the sleeping area and made my way into the open space around the community. While enjoying an apple and an avocado for breakfast, I made my way around the community, asking about Olivia. I made sure to use one of her fake names, handing out healing as needed. After about ten minutes of getting no answers, the woman herself showed up.

"Heard you were looking for me," She said in a severe tone, pausing for a moment before smiling. "What's up?"

"I wanted to ask you something. Would you mind…?" I asked, gesturing to an alleyway that led away from the general community area.

"Ooo, ominous," She said before giving me a shrug. "Alright, fine, lead the way."

We left the community behind, Troy following after us as we looked for a private spot. Alya confirmed we were alone before we both sat down on an old, crumbling set of concrete steps.

"So, I wanted to make you something," I explained, getting right to the point. "Something to work with your powers. I wanted to know if you were interested since it could…. Well, it could lead to more eventually, and I wanted to know if you'd prefer just to stay out of it completely."

"What do you want to make me?" She asked, raising an eyebrow. "And what's the catch?"

"I haven't decided yet, to be honest," I said with a shrug. "But it would synergize with your powers, at least thematically, if not actually helping you with them. As for the catch, there is no catch, I'm just hoping you'll help defend the community or even work with me, but it's not a requirement."

She looked at me for a moment before snorting and shaking her head with a chuckle.

"Your such a fucking boy scout," She said, considering my offer for a long moment before nodding. "Alright, yeah. I can't promise how much of a help I'll actually be, but yes, you can make something for me, even if it draws me into this whole cape thing."

"Cool. Then I need to go find some containers," I said, standing up and dusting myself off. "When I do, I'm going to need a big vial of blood from you. That acceptable?"

"Really not inspiring confidence by asking for my blood," She pointed out, shaking her head. "But yes, it's fine."

"Good. Stick around for a bit," I instructed. "I need to go shopping, but it shouldn't be too long."

I quickly changed out of my uniform, pulling a set of civilian clothes out of Troy by using my plant manipulation spell to open a partial cavity in his chest. When I was done changing, pointedly ignoring Olivia's wolf whistles, I stuffed my costume back into the same cavity.

After a quick goodbye, I left the alley at a jog, leaving Olivia with Troy while I made my way to the more populated streets of Brockton Bay, eventually hailing a cab. I stopped by several stores, stuffing a duffel bag full of everything that I wanted or would need and running up a significant cab fare before having the driver drop me off nearby where I had left Troy. He was still there, waiting for me, and as I approached, Olivia appeared out of a shadow, fading in from the relative darkness.

"'Shouldn't be too long,' huh? You were gone for almost two hours!" She complained. "You're lucky I happen to be a fan of lazy mornings."

"I miss lazy mornings," I said with a chuckle, carefully putting down the duffel bag full of supplies I had bought. "Come here and sit down."

She nodded, once again sitting down on the worn concrete steps. Using a bloodletting spell for ritual crafting, I filled up a twenty-milliliter glass vial with her blood, stopping it with a natural cork. I now had hundreds of the same vail, thanks to a relatively well-stocked arts and crafts shop. A quick healing spell later and her finger was all healed up. I was very careful to direct the magic to her finger and keep it away from her scars. When the wound disappeared, she looked at her finger for a long moment.

"You could fix me, couldn't you?" She asked, looking up from her finger, her mismatched eyes locked on to me. "My scars, I mean."

"I could," I confirmed with a nod. "I was advised not to bring it up when I first saw you, though."

"...and my eye?"

"Yes."

For a long moment, she looked at me, studying my face. Eventually, she slowly reached out and took my hand, pulling it to her face until my palm was over her eye.

"Please. Just fix the eye," She said, sounding guilty of all things.

"Of course. Hold still, I might have to cast it multiple times to deal with the set scarring."

When she nodded, I focused my magic and chanted softly so I didn't startle her.

"Oculum laesum sana, visum ei restitue."

A triplet of arcane symbols glowed around the back of my hand, gathering healing magic before it pushed through me and into Olivia's eye. I repeated that spell three more times before finally pulling my hand away.

Olivia's eyes fluttered open, revealing a pair of bright green eyes, both of them completely clear of any scarring. I healed just enough of her eyelid that she could comfortably blink and look around, her eyes latching on to mine.

"Not bad, huh?" I asked. "Thank you for trusting me to help."

"It wasn't really about trust, but thank you," She said, standing up and looking up at the sky, then back down to me. "I think I need to go, but I'll see you again soon, yeah?"

"Gotta give you your gift eventually, don't I?" I responded with a small smile. "I'll be around, and you have a habit of finding me pretty easily."

"Hard to miss you," She shot back, turning to fade into a nearby shadow. "See you around, William."

"See you around, Olivia."

She vanished, leaving me 'alone' next to Troy. I quickly put my costume back on, storing my civilian clothes before climbing up onto Troy's back. I could feel the weight of the blood vial in my coat pocket, as well as the more physical weight of the duffle bag full of materials on my back.

By this point, it was only about noon, but already, I needed to get back to my forest compound. There was a lot I wanted to get done today, or more specifically, tonight, which meant I had a whole lot of work to do in the meantime.

The sooner I got to work on what needed to be done, the sooner I could start to prepare for the new moon and the several rituals I wanted to perform in order to finalize my compound.

I quickly rode through the city, making my way out past the outskirts and eventually heading into the forest. I made a decision that I would come and go from the forest as Arcanum, and then once in the city, I would take my costume off if I needed to attend something as a civilian. At this point, the only thing I really did as a civilian guise was shopping, mostly because I didn't want people to associate Arcanum with buying a two-hundred pack of glass vials with a natural cork seal or a second package of slightly larger vails.

When I finally got back, I let Troy wander around a bit as I offloaded everything that I had bought into the storage tree trunks. When I was done, I grabbed one of my enhanced metallic acorns, eager to get to work on my bedroom tree.



Hey everyone, just a reminder that I have a Patreon! Being a supporter has a lot of benefits, like early chapters and access to my original content. If you are interested in those benefits or just want to support my attempt to become a full-time writer, stop by and show your support. Every dollar helps!
 
Chapter Thirty Eight
Hey everyone, just a reminder that I have a Patreon! Being a supporter has a lot of benefits, like early chapters and access to my original content. You could get up to eight chapters early from this story and either four or eight from my other two. Board Members even get to vote on story beats, interludes, names, and the bonus unlock during Arcanum's recharge cycle! (The first vote was for Geomancy, and the second was Druidcraft!)

If you are interested in those benefits or just want to support my attempt to become a full-time writer, stop by and show your support. Every dollar helps!




I spent about an hour growing my new living space, starting from a single ritualized acorn and ending up with a massive towering oak with a thick, overgrown base. I considered trying to camouflage the base a bit better, but it was a lost cause. Between the ritual platform, which was only a dozen or so feet away, and the plans to grow more buildings later, there was really no disguising the compound from the ground. I would just have to rely on my redirecting magic for people coming from the ground and the dense canopy to hide us from the sky.

The final result of my efforts was a pleasant, if a bit small, living space, complete with a wooden bedframe, furniture, some shelves, and other storage. It felt a bit basement-like, with no windows and only one short stairway leading up and out, but I was fine with that. The room was really only to sleep in, as the general design of the compound was outdoor-focused, and only when I wasn't sleeping in the community. I realized, rather embarrassingly, that I had no reason to pick a location and declare it my only sleeping spot. I could choose to sleep wherever was more convenient, bouncing between here and the Docks as necessary.

Along the outside of the living space, I grew what would eventually become a private outdoor shower. I was pretty sure I could ritualize a wooden vessel to pull in moisture from the air to fill it up, as well as keep the water clean and warm. Unfortunately, while I wanted to do that now, I didn't have the time. Time was running out to take advantage of the new moon, and I wasn't about to let an opportunity like that pass by.

In rituals, material sacrifices ranged from everyday objects to rare, priceless ingredients. Basically, rituals create an effect, either connected to a location, person, or item, and a material sacrifice stabilizes it, making it permanent or sometimes strengthening the effect. You could also tie a location or events going on around it to a ritual as another stabilizer. Material stabilizers came in all sorts of shapes and sizes, and sometimes, you wanted a stabilizer that couldn't normally be gathered or contained by mundane means.

I knew this for a fact because my knowledge of druidcraft, which contained a dozen or so rituals to enhance plants and harvests, had a ritual that required "the first sunlight of spring," as a sacrifice material. As far as an abstract, unobtainable concept, sunlight that shone on a specific day was pretty high up there. Contemplating the material showed me that the ritual could be done on the first day of spring, just as the sun was rising, or I could use a small glass vessel that contained a slight glow inside, with a single drop of dew hanging from the stopper.

So I knew gathering stuff like that was possible. On top of that, because of a connection through that knowledge to the ritual design and crafting subject, I could even sense quite a bit of information about how a material stored like that could be useful.

The problem was that as useful as such a storage method could be, I had no idea how to make them. The vial, which my knowledge insisted was responsible for the state of the esoteric ingredient, was a complete mystery to me.

The fact that it wasn't etched with symbols meant it was unlikely to be enchanted, and while its ability to trap otherwise ethereal ingredients could be due to what it was made of, I had to hope and pray it came down to a ritual. The fact that such a crucial material-gathering item wasn't covered by the "crafting " portion of my ritual knowledge meant that it could just be more advanced than I had easy access to.

I grabbed one of the vials from storage and sat down by the ritual platform, flipping through my notebook before eventually starting the design process. I had a feeling that the process would end up being a complicated ritual, since holding onto something that was inherently ethereal or conceptual couldn't be a simple task.

I spent an hour and some change working on the design, brainstorming ideas and potential solutions, before taking a short break to eat some lunch and drink some coffee. Before I started the design process again, I spent some time building a boardwalk-like platform around the living space tree, eventually connecting it to the ritual platform. When I was done with that, I worked on a golem core, dumping a significant portion of my supplies into it before I got back to work, finally finishing the ritual two hours later.

The process of making the containment vials was as complicated as I had feared, but with my knowledge of ritual design, I managed to predict what kind of material sacrifices would work with them, meaning I already had everything I needed to make them. It wasn't perfect, not by a long shot, but it would certainly do for now. Even better, I could perform the ritual in bulk, so I would only need to do the ritual once to get everything I needed.

I carefully traced out the ritual, which took up a significant portion of the platform. It took twelve material sacrifices, half of which were a bit of a stretch, each of them fitting in a small circle around the large ritual. When I was finally done, I carefully placed a hundred and fifty glass vials in the center circle, before feeding the ritual my magic.

Once it was complete, I tested one of the vials by quickly leaving the forest and holding it up to the sky, the sun shining down on me. Following my mental influence, the bottle gathered the essence of sunshine. When I felt that the bottle was full, I corked it, the small containment vial holding what looked like a tiny ray of sunlight inside, shifting and changing as I turned it in my hands. I could, just by holding it, see and feel that the vial contained sunlight with no extra concepts or additives.

I rushed back to the compound and threw together a simple ritual to test the containment vial's effectiveness as a ritual component. I quickly drew the ritual out before placing the vial in the center circle, with a singular candle as a material sacrifice. The result was a sealed glass vessel, similar to the original containment vail, with a flame inside. It put out a good amount of light but was only slightly warm to the touch.

"Well, looks like it works," I said with a smile, tossing the glowing light to Alya, who was just corporeal enough to catch it. "And I solved our lighting problem. With enough of those, I won't have to use the generator to charge a battery bank to plug in the string lights."

"Well done, William," She commented with a smile, turning the sealed vial over in her hands. "The original vial was stable?"

"As stable as I could get. They might break down after a few years, but I'm pretty sure I'll be able to transfer them over if I manage to grab anything interesting," I assured her. "They work with a lot of intent, so I'm pretty sure just holding them against each other, their mouths pressed together, would be enough to transfer them. If not, I'll think of something else."

She nodded and, after a moment, floated over to one of the storage cabinets, returning with a length of twine. She floated upwards, tying the bottle to one of the branches and letting it hang down by the string. It wasn't much light, but a dozen of them would keep the ritual platform lit pretty well all night.

"Good call," I said with a smile. "Once I'm done with today and tonight, I will make a few dozen of those and hang them around the compound."

After a short break to let my brain recover, I knuckled down and started designing the process for making Olivia's gift. I already had the designs for the final rituals for securing the compound, including the massive one, so they were all set for later. The gift, however, was turning out to be a rather large and complicated creation. I had several materials I wanted to work into the creation process, and that alone was going to make for a complicated ritual. For each extra material sacrifice, I needed to enhance and concentrate on the aspects I wanted while pushing back and filtering out everything I didn't.

By the time I finished the design process, I had been forced to turn on the generator so I could see what I was doing. The sun was setting, and the forest was quickly getting darker and darker. Still, it wasn't quite time to start yet, so I drew out the first ritual before stopping to eat a quick dinner. When I was done, I could feel that it was finally time. The sun had set completely, and the forest around me was completely dark. I flicked off the generator, looking up to the sky to see it filled with stars and nothing else, the moon dark.

My first task was to finish the basic rituals for hiding and protecting the compound, emphasizing and doubling down on the avoidance, discomfort, and forgetfulness aspects of it. In total, I did four more rituals, the magic seeping into the land around me, filling the clearing with a low glow before fading away. For each ritual, I could feel the new moon feeding into it, tying the effects to the concept of darkness and the unknown. Finally, when the last protective ritual was complete, it was time to tie it all together.

"Are you sure about this?" Alya asked. "I know I don't have to tell you that this is a big deal, but are you sure you want to go through it? We could find other options."

"I know, but none as good as this. I'm serious about making this place a safe place. Not to mention all of the other benefits," I pointed out as I continued to draw out the ritual lines. "Right now, it's just a simple living space and this platform, but eventually, I want to make this place a fortress. I plan on having allies like Olivia, a team, and I might even bring people here to protect them… Hell, I might even make this into a whole village for the Dock community. I want this place to be safe and well taken care of. The perfect place to practice and study magic. And in order to do that, someone needs to be in charge."

She let out a sigh and nodded. I could feel that she agreed with my decision but still wanted to make sure I understood the risk of what I was doing.

Once the lines and arcane symbols were finished, I laid out the sacrificial materials. Carefully, I placed down a wolf skull and a small ivory broach carved with a mother's name. A hand-made replica of the mother idol figure made from terracotta clay. A completed golem core, as powerful and complex as I could make it. A pile of dirt from the center of the clearing, a singular enhanced acorn, and finally, an ancient arrowhead knapped from volcanic stone.

When all of the materials were laid out, I did one final check of the ritual. I only had one shot at this, and while I was certain the ritual would function, it needed to be perfect. I checked every little detail, making sure that all of the arcane symbols were pulling from the right aspects of the items and suppressing everything else.

The last thing I checked before continuing to the next stage was that the ritual was pulling the concepts of new beginnings, new cycles, and fresh starts from the new moon. When I was certain the ritual was as perfect as I could make it, I made my way to the center, where a crude stone bowl, carved by my own hands, was waiting. I squatted down, careful not to disturb the ritual lines, before using the blood-letting spell.

For nearly two minutes I held the spell, filling the bowl completely, a carefully measured three hundred milliliters, around five percent of my blood, or just enough to fill a good-sized ceramic coffee mug. It wasn't enough to hurt me. In fact, it wasn't enough for me to even feel, but it was still a lot.

Especially when you considered that I would never be getting this blood back.

Using blood in rituals was a rather common thing. Blood was powerful, especially the blood of a mage, and functioned well in several roles. However, this was different. Here, I was not using it as a reagent or a magical conductor. I was sacrificing my blood, five percent of it, to this ritual. I would always have five percent less of my blood from now until the day that I died. It wouldn't affect me physically, a man of my size could lose that much blood with no noticeable effects. However, it did put me in danger of bleeding out faster since any wound would have a three-hundred-milliliter head start.

It was a sacrifice, but one that I needed to make. This was a significant step, something that would start to build now and would only become more and more powerful over time.

When I was done bleeding into the stone bowl, I wrapped my finger in a bandage. I couldn't risk any healing magic getting through and trying to restore my lost blood. Later, no amount of healing magic would bring the blood back, but for now, restoring my lost blood would remove my connection to what I had just given up.

I carefully exited the ritual circle before kneeling down beside it. After a long moment of staring, I took a long, deep breath. After slowly letting it out, I began to feed the ritual my magic.

Immediately, I could feel the arcane symbols and lines greedily drinking my mana. This was a deep, powerful ritual, so getting it started would take a lot more mana than I could give at once. So rather than try to blast through it after the initial contact, I slowed down, slowly feeding my magic into it. It took nearly an hour for the ritual to fill, the night getting darker and deeper until, finally, the lines and arcane symbols pulsed with my magic. The sacrificial materials began to dissolve, feeding themselves to my blood and the stone vessel, which itself began to glow a dark purple-blue.

Finally, when all the materials were gone, the blood-filled vessel seemed to collapse into itself, folding and cracking as if being sucked into a black hole. My blood was consumed by the magic, and suddenly, with a final snap, the vessel disappeared, a wave of magical energy rushing outwards, passing through me, flowing through the rest of the compound.

For a moment, everything was quiet. Then, suddenly, a massive wave of pressure rolled over both Alya and myself. I collapsed to my hands and knees, my fingers smudging the burned-out and completed ritual, even as Alya was forced to disperse, retreating inside my soul as she was banished in a split second. For a long moment, I struggled not to collapse further, as I felt something study me, taking a measure of who I was and what I wanted. Finally, after what felt like hours, the pressure passed, and I could feel a gentle hand caress my cheek, tilting my head upwards and helping me back to my knees.

For just a second, standing in the center of the now inert ritual, was the barest hints of a person. A humanoid form, female, almost entirely transparent, but still colored like a black and purple sky. She reached out, waving her hands, grabbing onto something, and pulling it into herself. As she did, I could feel all of the protective rituals I had performed pull tight, merge, and strengthen.

Then it was gone, the figure vanishing. For a moment, something touched my back, rubbing it soothingly before retreating completely. A comforting feeling spread through the compound, sinking into every stone, tree, and blade of grass.

And just like that, a Genius Loci was born.
 
It feels like he's rushing way too much with all this ritual stuff. The man has practically unlimited potential with enough time, and he's already making permanent sacrifices for little gain from my PoV. Like a man with a hammer and seeing only nails.

For instance, the magical light. How does it turn off? Will the entire place be lit up 24/7 just because he could make them instead of using the simple generator and electric lights combo? You need air in a place where you sleep, he said that his new shack is small and has no windows so I assume he'll have the doors open, which will make the room have a bar of mage light in the middle of where he's trying to sleep. You have to think through these things instead of just using magic because it's cool. See my previous statement about getting a vehicle to make everything easier instead of running around and looking sus af.
 
Nah, making a Loci is a good investment for the future. The things tend to grow, and the earlier that growth can start the better. Will the missing blood come back and bite him? Oh, absolutely. Still worth the boost to his home-field advantage.

He's got an air spirit bound to him, he has no need for such petty things as ventilation or AC. As is proper for any self-respecting mage!

Last time I checked, you don't need a driver's licence to ride a horse-shaped golem. In this city, visiting the DMV might earn this story a horror tag. I shudder to even mention the place.
 
Oooh, yeah, if you need a place guarded, a Genius Loci's a good idea. It'd also only get stronger as he invests more into his base and he gets more and more allies there. My only question is if it'll be able to grant intellectus at some point, cause that shit is gas. It'd be pretty rough if whenever you attacked a guy at his base he suddenly got localized omniscience.
 
If it's possible he can perform a ritual later to indirectly offset all the disadvantages posed by such a sacrifice (I can think of some huge loopholes, depending on the fine print), then this makes perfect sense. If he can't, then sacrificing more than 1% of his blood was jumping the gun entirely—he's still a wee little baby mage.

It would speak very poorly of his risk/reward measuring. He has plenty of alternative options open to him given what he hoped to accomplish with that ritual, magical and not.
 
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Isnt it entirely possible to have other people sacrifice like .1% of thier blood to him in a mass ritual and him not be in much danger anymore
 
I'll be very disappointed if the definition of a forbidden technique done as a not-even-freshman project doesn't bite him in the ass later.

It's not like he built his forever base at ground zero of a future endbringer attack, is a high priority target, and is on the home dimension of an omnicidal mad god or anything.

I wonder if the place spirit he made out of the night sky with Druid craft is gonna be chill with growing legs during the inter dimensional time war he's currently engaged in?
 
I was also a bit worried about how literally putting down roots in that place for the long term isn't risky as well, but there's no reason why he can't turn his place into a floating island or something later to travel.
It could also be a great boon during the endbringer battle if it doesn't just die, which I assume it doesn't.
 
Honestly, this is pretty cool. Does she absorb any ritual cast on the location, or only absorb rituals already made? Imagine if he cast a ritual later on that lets the compound just stand up and walk away! Also, Elemental waifus are top notch.
 
Chapter Thirty Nine
For a moment, I knelt there in the dark, my heart rate slowly lowering as I looked around the compound and the clearing. All around me, I could see and feel the weight of heavy, potent magic. As I watched, it slowly dispersed into the rocks, trees, and dirt. It felt like watching water get greedily sucked up and absorbed after being poured on parched, dry dirt or sand.

I let out a long, steady breath, satisfied that the magic had settled. As the moment passed, I delved into myself to check on Alya. I was once again reminded that while my companion was extremely useful, she was also highly specialized, meaning she was physically weak. The pressure wave of magic alone had been enough to knock her for a loop and force her back into my soul, just like when she had passed out after using too much energy. She would be back eventually, probably by the time I woke up in the morning.

Still shaking off the jitters of the rather extreme experience, I quickly stood up from the ritual platform and sat along one of the roots of the storage trees. I looked around carefully for a moment before speaking out loud.

"I know it's rather quick, but do you think you could clean the ritual platform for me?" I asked out loud. "It's okay if you're tired or low on energy, just ignore-"

Before I could finish my statement, a roil of magic, dark blue and purple, waved over the platform, washing away the soot left behind from the previous ritual. In fact, the platform was the cleanest it had been since I had made it.

"Thank you, I appreciate the help," I said with a smile. "I know physically manifesting is going to be difficult, but do you have a name? If not, you're welcome to pick one, or I can pick one for you. It's up to you."

I could feel a warm feeling on my chest, right above my heart, like someone was pressing their hand against me. Then, a soft touch on my lips, accompanied by a general happiness. The connection was nothing like what I shared with Alya, as the emotion was… much more simple and straightforward. Alya and I could talk entirely without words, using complicated emotions, general tugs, and mental gestures to communicate complex ideas and concepts.

What the Genius Loci was doing was a lot more simple, like painting a picture with only primary colors, whereas Alya got a much more generous color palette. Still, they managed to get the point across, the warm touches and emotions telling me that she would be happy with any name I gave her as long as it came from my heart.

"How about Kali?" I asked, "It's a Hindu Goddess, which I admit isn't my strong suit, but she was supposed to be a divine mother, and her name is connected to the Hindu word for black. Considering how you were born..."

A faint, loose hug tightened around me for a moment before it faded, leaving me with a smile. She was happy with the name, even if she was too tired to tell me herself. After the hug, I could feel her disappear, feeling the connection spread to the entire clearing. It wasn't too dissimilar from how Alya would disperse into the air, but where I could feel Alya directly all around me, I could only feel Kali in her metaphysical weight.

As she faded into a sort of dormancy, I looked down at the now clean ritual space. This was exactly why I wanted a Genius Loci around my home. Once she was properly awake, filled with mana, and had a little experience under her belt, she would be able to help me in a hundred little ways, making every task I did at the compound just a bit easier and cleaner.

Eventually, she would be a god in her domain, able to wave her hand and create or do whatever she wanted, shifting the world to her whims. A Genius Loci was fundamentally tied to their location. They were the land they inhabited, and so it followed their wants and desires.

Of course that was hundreds, if not thousands of years from now. Kali would need a lot of time, experience, and effort to reach that level of power. Until then, she would help where she could, maintaining the forest, the compound, and the people in it. A guardian angel for my new home, lending a helping hand or a gentle nudge whenever I needed it, all the while absorbing the residual or dispersed mana coming off from my rituals and other magic I performed in the forest.

I smiled and stood up, dusting myself off and turning the lights back on around the ritual platform. With Kali summoned and tied to her new domain, it was time to work on Olivia's gift.

I quickly copied the complicated ritual from my notebook and onto the ritual platform. This particular ritual was all about imbuing an aspect into a specific item, namely a long black cloak that I had bought used from a second-hand store. It was a bit worn but still in good shape, which was good because objects with history tended to work better for a lot of magic, even if it could make them a bit less predictable.

It also had a little tag worked into it. While the cloak would be Olivia's, it was still made from my magic. I made sure to strengthen that bond quite a bit, so that if I wanted to, say, give it a mental yank while she was close by, and turn it into so much fluff and torn cloth, I could. I got a good feeling from Olivia, and I felt like I could trust her to help me keep an eye on the Docks community, but I wasn't crazy enough to leave her completely unchecked with enhancements I made. And since it was something I had to consciously do, rather than some sort of hidden mechanism or triggerable consequence that might pop up if she wasn't careful, I felt comfortable not telling her about it.

When I was done, I carefully laid the cloak down in the center circle of the ritual before then placing out all of the material sacrifices. First was the vial of Olivia's blood, which would hopefully give Olivia a sort of claim over the cloak. It wasn't enough to keep other people from using it entirely, but it would undoubtedly give Olivia an advantage, while giving everyone else a disadvantage.

After her blood was in place, next came a vial of my shadow, taken with as much light contrasting it as I could, so that the shadow was the darkest and most well-defined. While the containment vial was filling up, I focused on the idea of general human shadow, rather than mine specifically, something the ritual symbols doubled down on.

Looking back, I could have also used a sample of Olivia's shadow, maybe to run counter to the "general" sample. If I wanted to upgrade this cloak or make her a new one, that was something I could consider, but for now, I would rely on the blood sample to connect the cloak to my friend.

Next was a sample of dark, moonless light, which looked beautiful inside the containment vial. It was a swirling black liquid dotted with stars that twinkled as the liquid moved. I made sure to grab a dozen samples of that, just in case I wanted some for later.

The rest of the samples were more mundane. A trio of onyx gemstones, several raven feathers, a jar of black ink for fountain pens, and finally, a container of deep black paint. If I had been making this for myself or anyone else, I would have most likely included something like coal, dark smoke from a fire, or even ground-up charcoal, but judging from the burns on her body, I knew Olivia had a bad history with fire. I wasn't about to traumatise her by making the cloak smell like ash or billow like smoke.

Once everything was in place, I quickly shut down the generator, and the clearing almost went completely dark. With a frown, I looked up at the hanging, newly made glowing light that Alya had hung from the protective canopy above the platform.

"Damnit…"

I cursed, looking around for a way to get the light down without damaging the ritual. I was about to get up and start manipulating the tree with magic to pull down the branch when suddenly I could feel Kali again. It was subtle, her energy barely rising from dormancy to tap the small glass vessel. The light inside dimmed for a moment before going out completely, leaving the entire area nearly pitch black.

"Oh… Thanks, Kali," I said with a smile, settling back next to the ritual.

Unlike the previous ritual, which had created an entire sentient entity, this ritual was much lower on the power scale. That meant that once I started pushing my energy into the lines and arcane symbols, I only had to keep pushing my mana for ten minutes before everything flared up and activated. I watched as, one by one, the material sacrifices fed into the cloak, fading into nothing as the ritual progressed. I could feel the excess energy being pulled back into the space around me, as opposed to floating free and fading into nothing. I could also feel Kali, still quiet and mostly dormant, reaching out and prodding the ritual, using her influence to enhance and reinforce the result.

Once everything was done, I quickly turned the lights back on, rushing to the center of the now burned-out ritual to pick up the cloak and inspect it.

Any sign of wear that the original piece of clothing bore was gone, completely healed by the ritualization process. It was also a much darker black, going from your average black cloth to a much deeper, almost illusory black, a color that wasn't natural.

I resisted the urge to try it on, wanting Olivia to be the first to wear it. I was honestly not entirely sure what it would do, but it was so steeped in the concept of shadow and darkness that I knew it would interact with her powers.

Once I was done examining it, I carefully folded it up and put it inside a paper bag before finally storing that inside Troy's chest. I had one last task for the night, something simple that I would need when I woke up. I quickly copied down an old ritual, one that took heavy inspiration from a ritual designed to make planter boxes self-watering from the druidcraft subject. When it was done, I put it onto the large water storage bucket I had grown with the creation of my private outdoor shower.

I could once again feel Kali poke and prod the ritual as it was underway. This time, as I wasn't so laser-focused on the ritual, I could really watch and feel what she was doing. Kali's understanding of magic was instinctual, as she was born from it. She was magic, and as such, she could feel it as easily as I would feel my breathing. She could also feel what I wanted, and as the spirit of the land, of my home, she could nudge the ritual as she pleased. I had hoped she would be capable of helping with my magic, but to watch her do it so easily, so quickly after she was given form was astonishing. It completely validated my decision to make her in the first place, as well as the price I had paid to do so.

With the water-gathering bucket finished, I pushed it into place above the shower, growing a tangle of branches and vines to hold it in place. Already, the interior of the vessel was looking moist, as if dew was collecting on the interior, dripping down the side, and pooling together.

When I was finally done getting my morning shower started, I made my way around the living space tree, heading down inside before shutting the simple door behind me. The interior was still pretty threadbare, as the bedframe was still just a frame, but that wasn't something I couldn't solve. It took me a good thirty minutes to get it right, but eventually, I managed to grow an interwoven lattice of tree branches to create a spring-esque mattress. I covered it with my overcoat for just a bit more of a cushion.

It wasn't optimal by any means, but I could remove the lattice work easily with another spell later. Besides, all things considered, it was actually pretty comfortable. Or maybe it was just that I was so incredibly exhausted from doing ritual work for literally eight hours straight. Either way, after rolling up some bags to use as a pillow and lying down, I fell asleep almost instantly.

The next morning, I woke up to the smell of coffee and toast. I nearly jumped out of my bed, my brain confused with what was going on. When I finally gathered my wits, I stopped and tilted my head. There, sitting on the small table next to the wicker, woven chair, was a steaming hot mug of coffee, two pieces of toast with peanut butter on them, and a perfectly sliced apple. All things I had brought with me from my temporary shop home, but obviously in different states.

"It was Kali," Alya explained, sitting on the edge of my bed in a semi-corporeal state. "It was here when I regained consciousness, and it's all stayed at basically the same temperature."

"Jesus, really proving me right here. Thank you, Kali. How are you feeling?" I asked as I gently sat down at the table. "Is there anything I can do for you?"

A gentle hand rested on my shoulder, and I could feel a happy smile radiating from the Genius Loci. After a moment, though, it shifted to a slight hunger, a question of how she would grow.

"Well, any ritual or magic I create here should help you grow," I pointed out. "I'm sure you could feel the rituals I did after I woke you up. Plus, all the trees and rituals for protection."

While the hand pulled away from my shoulder, I could still feel her confirmation that she was pulling the excess mana from what I had created. It was hesitant, though, as if she was worried about the amount.

"Well… I could also feed you magic directly?" I suggested, getting her attention. "Maybe a necklace that absorbs and pushes out my excess mana constantly. In fact… I bet that would help me increase my mana reserves, as if I was constantly using it…"

I considered the idea of a few seconds. The ritual of creating such a thing would be remarkably easy. I could easily create a simple temporary version with no material sacrifices just to test if it works.

"That's what I'll do, and I'll wear it around here so that you can absorb all my extra mana," I confirmed, getting a happy, eager feeling from my latest friend. "Also, I plan on making you a few golems. They should put off some extra magic, and you can influence them directly to do your bidding. That way, you don't have to do everything to manifest your higher powers. I'm sure this took a good chunk out of your energy reserves, didn't it?"

I guessed, gesturing to the food, only to chuckle at her response. It felt like every stereotypical mom or grandmother waving away compliments for her food or hard work.

"I appreciate it, Kali," I repeated with a smile. "I'll need to go shopping a bit to make more golems. I used the last of my gemstone resources to make the one I used to call you forth. I can do it between going to visit the Docks and the hospital.

I chatted with Alya and Kali for a few minutes, finishing my breakfast. When I was done, I grabbed my clothes and carried them outside with me to my shower. I nearly cried when I realized that Kali had heated the water for a ridiculously luxurious hot shower, with no need to go out and fill buckets or anything. Even with it being a bit short, it was well worth the work I put into making it.

When I was all clean and ready for the day, I dressed in my costume and quickly applied a steel absorption. When that was done, I whistled to summon Troy, climbing onto his back and riding him out of the forest, heading for Downtown.



Hey everyone, just a reminder that I have a Patreon! Being a supporter has a lot of benefits, like early chapters and access to my original content. If you are interested in those benefits or just want to support my attempt to become a full-time writer, stop by and show your support. Every dollar helps!
 
Chapter Forty
Hey everyone, just a reminder that I have a Patreon! Being a supporter has a lot of benefits, like early chapters and access to my original content. You could get up to eight chapters early from this story and either four or eight from my other two. Board Members even get to vote on story beats, interludes, names, and the bonus unlock during Arcanum's recharge cycle! (The first vote was for Geomancy, and the second was Druidcraft!)

If you are interested in those benefits or just want to support my attempt to become a full-time writer, stop by and show your support. Every dollar helps!




My first stop of the day was to check in with the hospital. A day had passed since I had been there to heal Amy, so there were plenty of people waiting for me to help. I ended up healing nearly thirty people over the span of two hours, with injuries and illnesses ranging from a child with severely broken bones to a single case of HIV. When I claimed I was done, one of the doctors tried to guilt trip me into also healing people who settled firmly into the "not urgent or necessary" list. He insisted that Panacea wouldn't have left anyone injured or in pain, even if their problems weren't life-threatening.

I managed to resist the urge to put him on that list myself.

I did, however, end up sending a message to Sarah Pelham explaining that Amy absolutely had a legal case against the hospital if that was something they were interested in. They had very much taken advantage of Amy in ways that were more than a little dubious, even though they knew she was a minor. Just the amount of stress they must have put her under was criminal, but worse, is that they should have known better. She thanked me briefly but said nothing else after that. I didn't blame her for that, however, as they already had a lot going on.

Once I was done healing everyone who needed it, making a cool chunk of cash in the process, I quickly found somewhere to change into civilian clothes. While shopping in costume would have made my life much easier, it would have raised a lot of questions that I wasn't ready to answer quite yet.

The first stop on my shopping journey was another jewelry store, a different location from the first one I had gone to. I spent a good chunk of cash refilling my precious stone supplies, nearly buying them out of their stock of lesser-quality stones. At this point, I was worried I might be showing up on some people's radar as a tinker. This would be my second large purchase of stones, though they had been in different stores.

Until I could figure out some more long-distance travel solutions, I would need to hold back from doing this again. I had already investigated teleportation circles with my ritual creation, but it was either beyond what I had access to, used something else entirely, or was so specialized and different that it was considered another subject entirely. Either way, I couldn't make one.

Yet.

When I was done with my shopping, which included buying the rest of the supplies needed for golems, I once again got changed before heading out to the Docks community. The communal space was bustling, with people cleaning, working, and all sorts of business. A small group of people had set down blankets and were hocking wares, selling everything from food to second-hand clothes. Looking around, the community had definitely grown, and as I walked through the crowds, guiding Troy through rather than riding him, I got quite a few appreciative waves and handshakes. Eventually, I found one of the people I was looking for.

"John… what's going on?" I asked the older man, finding him standing under some shade, talking to what looked like a dock worker. "There's a lot more people here than last time."

"They heard this place was protected," he explained, nodding his head to one of the golems as it carried a box around. "And that there was food. Some of them are people who would have lived alone, a few from Tasha's old crowd. That's the people selling stuff."

I looked over at the people sitting on blankets, trading and selling their goods. Before I could comment, John waved me off.

"Before you ask, none of it is stolen from anyone who's gonna come after us, and they sell it cheap, especially since they are eating for free here," he explained. "Tasha had a whole system set up, and I've been shifting it to fit with us. So far, it's been working."

"Who is it stolen from?" I asked with a frown.

John winced, but now it was my turn to wave off his concerns.

"I'm not gonna shame anyone for doing what they need to do to survive, John," I assured him. "I know you can't wear "law-abiding" as a coat when it snows. But I would like to know where or how this stuff gets here."

"...Most of what's stolen is from quick grabs, snagging things off chairs and benches at the mall and around the city," He explained. "The food is from several businesses around town, getting rid of stuff that is about to or has already hit its expiration date. Most businesses have rules against that, and it's illegal to knowingly sell 'expired' food, so it's all under the table. Some stuff is snagged from abandoned homes, picked from trash, and repaired."

I frowned and nodded in understanding.

"Listen, if possible, encourage people to focus on scavenging and repair," I said, leaning in closely. "I will personally supply the cash needed for sewing and repair kits, patch material, and things like that so people make more from less."

"That… would help a lot," He admitted, nodding his head with a considering look. "I know we sometimes get halfway decent clothes from second-hand stores throwing out worn-down stock…"

"Good, here," I said, pulling out a stack of bills and handing it to John, whose eyes went wide as he quickly pushed the stack into his jacket. "Use this to buy what they need or whatever the community needs. Talk with Charles about it."

"Dammit, kid, you can't be flashing around that kinda money," He warned, shaking his head, looking around to make sure no one had seen us. "Living like us, it can change some people. Getting this much cash rubbed in their faces, they can't help themselves. I've seen sweet old grandma's pull knives on friends for half this many bills."

"Right… sorry," I said with a wince, rubbing the back of my head. "This is… all pretty new to me."

"I know, but you're only trying to help. And so far, you're doing a damn good job," He admitted, patting my shoulder. "Just be careful. I'll get a few guys together to go shopping, grab some essentials, and talk to Tasha's people. I'm sure with the right incentives, we can get everyone on the right page."

"Great, fantastic," I said with a nod. "You seen Sarah/Mary around today?"

"She was here earlier," he said with a frown, looking around for a moment before shaking his head. "I swear that girl is flightier than a rabbit."

"Can only imagine she has a reason," I pointed out, the man wincing and nodding.

"Fair point," He admitted.

We chatted a bit more before I spent about an hour healing some of the community. Thankfully, there weren't any significant injuries, but in conditions like these, even the smallest scratch could spiral out of control if it wasn't watched or fixed. When I was done, I made my way back through the large open space in the center of the community, Troy following after me. I had been around long enough to assume by that point that if Olivia was somewhere hiding, she would have seen me. I just needed to get somewhere more private.

"I see her," Alya said as I made my way down and away from the group. "She was hiding along some of the rafters in the warehouse. There's a sort of walking maintenance area she has claimed for herself."

"Thanks," I said, sitting down on the same broken and cracked stairs the two of us had met on before. "Wait, how are you seeing her in the darkness?"

"...That is strange. I can sense her physical shape but not see it," The awakened elemental explained with surprise. "It appears that my awareness trumps her stealth."

"Well that's good, means I can find her if she ever gets injured in a shadow she is blended into," I pointed out.

We waited patiently, sitting on the old cracked stairs. Eventually, Olivia turned the corner, rolling her eyes as she spotted me.

"You know, coming by asking about me is very suspicious," She pointed out, throwing an peach at me, which I caught after bobbling it a few times.

"I only asked John, he knows you're around and keeping an eye on things," I explained with a shrug. "You must have been watching when I asked, after all."

She didn't respond, instead stepping into a shadow and jumping up to the top of the stairs. The jump was a bit too fluid, a bit too extreme to be a normal jump, though not by much. When she was sitting, she nudged me.

"So what's going on?"

"I told you I was going to make something for you, remember?" I said, standing from my spot to walk alongside Troy, using magic to open up his side and pull out the paper bag. "I finished it last night."

"You finished it?" she asked, her eyes wide. "That was just the other day! I didn't think tinkering worked like that…"

"I don't know, honestly," I said with a shrug, passing her the bag. "I'm not a normal tinker."

"You're not a normal anything," She responded, accepting the bag carefully. As flippant and sassy as she liked to be, she wasn't mean or stupid enough to manhandle a gift, especially a "tinker tech" one.

I watched with a smirk as she opened the bag and pulled out the cloak, turning it over in her hand. The super, unnaturally dark look shimmered slightly as she moved it to study it from all sides.

"A cloak? Like as part of a costume?" She asked. "It's nice, a lot darker than… well, anything I've seen… "

"Put it on."

She gave me a look, before pulling it around herself, wrapping the cloak around her shoulders. Just as she managed to get the thick, dark cloth over her body, she let out a gasp.

The cloak suddenly surrounded her, pulling closed and settling on her body as if put on perfectly. All evidence of who she was disappeared in an instant, the hood fluttering up over her head, the interior vanishing into a pitch-black pit. As the cloak sealed and hid her identity, it also lost all sense of cloth or clothing, forming instead a cover of wispy shadows and darkness. Dozens of hanging strands of shadow seemed to waft and float around her, suspended in the air. The deep black material reached down to her feet, coalescing into a sort of formless base of shadowy tendrils and whisps. She looked like death, floating straight from nightmares to reap souls.

"Holy fuck," I said, taking an involuntary step back before I regained control of myself.

"I-Wait, what is it?" She asked, stepping forward. "What's wrong?"

"No, nothing is wrong, you just look intimidating as fuck," I explained, shaking off the unnerved feeling, focusing on her voice. "Way more than I anticipated. Why did you gasp?"

"I feel really good," She explained. "It's… like being in the darkest darkness I could find… and then finding a shadow to hide in. All my enhancements have been pushed to eleven and... And I feel free, like… it's soothing a craving for something."

"...Do you think your power might have been pushing you to find dark areas?" I asked with a raised eyebrow. "From what I understand, getting powers can do stuff like that sometimes."

"I… Maybe? I would have called you crazy a minute ago but… I can feel some sort of difference," She admitted. "I feel the calmest I've- Holy shit!"

As she was talking, she looked down at herself, finally noting what she looked like. She shook her hands, like she was trying to flick the strands of shadow off of them.

"What the fuck, Arc? What did you do to me?" She asked, a lilt of panic in her voice.

"Relax, it's okay," I said, stepping forward and reaching out, my hand passing through the shadow to find hers, holding it tightly. "This should be pretty responsive to you, try thinking about what you would like it to look like."

She nodded, her head tilting down as I assumed she closed her eyes to concentrate. After a minute, she let out a long breath, and the cloak started to change. The coils of shadow and black wisps didn't disappear, but the majority of the material did shift to a dark cloth. Still intimidating, still scary, but it didn't feel like I was holding hands with the Grim Reaper anymore.

"Not bad, see?" I said, stepping back to take a quick picture with my phone so she could see for herself.

"Damn… I still kinda look like a villain, though…"

"You're not wrong," I admitted with a wince. "Okay, try this. Instead of focusing on pure darkness, focus on the dark night sky, filled with stars."

She nodded, and after a moment, her look shifted again. The cloth effect faded quickly, but rather than the sinister strands of wispy shadow, it was speckled with thousands of twinkling stars. The floating strands still existed, but they were thicker and less intimidating. It was surreal and nonsensical but ultimately beautiful.

"Woah," Was all I could manage to say as Olivia looked down at herself, also struck speechless. "I… I think that's the look to go for, unless you're really trying to scare someone."

"Yeah…" She said softly, still watching the cloak swirl and shift around her body. "This… how did you make this? It's… Arc, this is incredible! I feel bad accepting it now!"

"Don't, it's yours," I assured her. "It will never work for anyone as well as it works for you. It would be pretty pointless to take it back."

"Well, in that case... Thank you, I… How do I take it off?" She asked, her still obscured face turning to look at me.

"Just focus on it going away," I explained. "It should-"

I couldn't even finish before the whole cloak began to pull away, thick strands of star-scattered darkness sliding off her. I expected the cloak to return to normal and for her to take it off manually. Instead, it just continued pulling off of her, revealing her completely as the strands and coils of darkness were dragged over her shoulders, down her back, and into her shadow, vanishing from sight. After a moment, it reappeared, going through the whole process in reverse as the darkness coiled and grew around her, the cloak escaping her shadow and once again covering her completely.

"Arc, don't take this the wrong way," Olivia said, looking down at her hands as the process repeated for a third time, the cloak vanishing into her shadow, this time staying there. "I love this thing... but it is spooky as hell."

"How do you think I feel?" I asked, getting a raised eyebrow from her. "I had no idea it could do that!"
 
That's so sick! He just turned her from a halfway decent Stranger with some Mover and Brute leanings to a strong Stranger/Brute/Mover combo. That's way better than your average Tinkertech for sure.
 
The cloak suddenly surrounded her, pulling closed and settling on her body as if put on perfectly. All evidence of who she was disappeared in an instant, the hood fluttering up over her head, the interior vanishing into a pitch-black pit. As the cloak sealed and hid her identity, it also lost all sense of cloth or clothing, forming instead a cover of wispy shadows and darkness. Dozens of hanging strands of shadow seemed to waft and float around her, suspended in the air. The deep black material reached down to her feet, coalescing into a sort of formless base of shadowy tendrils and whisps. She looked like death, floating straight from nightmares to reap souls.

Okay. So, when are you making her a magical Scythe?

It's too thematic not to at this point.
 
So it's definitely been proven Arc is a significant power booster for other capes in ways specific to their powers, now to recruit or empower all the independents to then fuck with the gangs and shift the balance of power :V
 
Chapter Forty One
Olivia wasn't exactly happy to learn that I didn't know the precise capabilities of her cloak, but eventually, she accepted that I wasn't just openly experimenting on her. My current "tinkering" process was just not very specific and left a lot to be explored.

We continued to play around with her cloak for a while, before she finally found what she was sure was the cloak's last ability. Apparently, she could sort of "feel" it before she fully realized what it was, and she couldn't feel anything else.

"It's like… a tension, nestled in a notch inside the cloak," She explained, the cloak still around her body. "Not literally, but… It's hard to explain, like trying to describe my seventh sense to someone who only has five."

As she talked, she stretched and flexed, getting a feel for her range of motion, which, as far as we could tell, was essentially perfect. By now, she had settled on a mix of the starry night sky and the cloth-looking cloak for her general look. It was an intimidating, but not quite terrifying, look and was probably the best she was going to be able to do in that department.

"Well, focus on it, maybe give it a tug or something?" I suggested while taking a step back. When she gave me a look, I shrugged. "I'm pretty sure the cloak won't hurt you, I have no such conclusions about it hurting me, which means taking a step back."

She shook her head before lowering it in what I now knew was in concentration. After a long silence, she raised her hand and sort of flexed her arm, and a black streak whipped through the air and slammed into that brick wall behind me. I cursed and ducked, though she really hadn't even gotten close.

"What the hell was that?" We both asked at the same time, both of us stepping closer to examine the projectile.

"Is that... A…feather?" She asked.

Sure enough, it was a pitch-black raven feather, more shadow than physical, solid black with wisps of shadow trailing off of it. I tried to reach out and pull it out of the wall, but it didn't even budge. Then, after about half a minute, maybe more, the feather vanished in a puff of fluttering darkness. A quick examination of the impact site showed no damage to the bricks despite having clearly had a feather in it just a few seconds ago.

It took us twenty minutes to figure out that the feathers interacted with shadows, namely, nailing them in place and immobilizing whatever was casting it. She first did it to me by accident, locking me in place until the feather vanished and I was free. We tried it with Troy and succeeded, then random objects, giving her a good feel for what she could do. The lock only lasted for thirty-four seconds, and it could be disabled by blasting a bright light, which would disrupt the shadow and release whatever was locked up. Destroying the object released whatever was left, and she could also pull the feather manually, but only with her own hands. She could only throw out six feathers at a time, which to her was just an arbitrary number, but I knew that I had only included six raven feathers in the ritual.

Perhaps our most interesting discovery was that the shadow must be touching the object that is casting it. We tried to suspend an object by dropping a brick and nailing the shadow as it fell, but there was no effect.

Even with all those limitations, though, it was still an incredible ability. It added a ranged option to her repertoire, something that she sorely needed, even if it didn't do any damage. Olivia's powers made her a natural at stealth and infiltration, and now she had a way to escape if she somehow got spotted.

After she got a firm handle on the raven feathers, she added a few to her shoulders as decoration, like a feather pauldron. Once she was done, she thanked me again, this time giving me a hug, before leaving. She had her own things to do, but she assured me that she would keep an eye on the community as best she could. She was done hiding, and with the cloak wrapped around her, she felt much better about fighting to protect the community.

She waved as she walked away, her new cloak sliding back into her shadow as she left the alley, making her way back to her home. Once she was out of earshot for a few moments, I nearly collapsed back onto the stairs.

"What the fuck?" I asked the ether, shaking my head and resisting the urge to pull off my hat so I could run my hand through my hair. "That was…So much more than I was expecting."

Alya sat down beside me, mostly corporeal, as she patted my shoulder.

"It appears your rituals are even more potent than you thought," She said. "Do you think it was Kali's aid that increased its strength?"

"Maybe? Probably not… She might be why the feather ability is so concise and clear-cut," I admitted with a frown as I mentally walked through the ritual. "But that much power and flexibility? I think I really just underestimated how powerful I could make something… I really need to make some of my own gear."

I sat there for a few minutes, considering just what I wanted to make for myself when Alya finally got my attention.

"Perhaps a trip to the second-hand store will show you your options?" Alya suggested. "Then a few places around to look for good materials."

"That's… not a bad idea," I agreed, standing from the stairs and stretching a bit. "Gathering materials sounds like a plan. Maybe I'll get some inspiration."

I made my way to Tory, patting his back before starting to change out of my uniform, pulling my civilian clothes out of his back, and pushing my costume back in. When I was fully changed, I gave him a gentle shove and told him to head back to the community. He could stick around the outskirts, which would hopefully keep him out of trouble.

I spent the next four hours wandering around the various shops of Brockton Bay, buying interesting and useful things, anything that might be useful, with a specific hope of creating equipment for myself through my rituals. Seeing what Olivia's cloak could do had really thrown me for a loop. I knew that rituals were powerful. I had used one to call forth what was essentially a god of her domain, after all. But watching the level of utility the ritualized cloak had managed had been shocking. Who knew if I would be able to replicate that level of potency, but I certainly needed to try.

I essentially spent the rest of the morning and into the afternoon walking around, buying trinkets, clothes, and other stuff, spending a good chunk of what I had earned that day on materials. Some of what I bought was chosen for a reason, with a particular idea in mind. Other stuff was purchased because it was interesting and could come in handy one day. I made a mental note that taking a shopping trip to Boston might be a good idea at some point.

While the neighboring city was not what I would call safer, it had its own gangs and problems after all, it was much more economically stable. I was hoping that it would have more esoteric and interesting shops tucked away in the much older city streets. I would also do incredibly embarrassing things for a wiccan or witchy shop. I was making do with what I could find around town, but I desperately needed a good source of esoteric, out-there items.

And that isn't to say that Wiccan or other magic stuff was or wasn't real. A month or so ago, I would have laughed at the idea, but considering I unironically bought a chunk of clear crystal quartz for use in a purifying ritual so I could make a source of pure drinking water... I couldn't exactly throw stones in my glass house.

When I was done shopping, as decided by my duffel bag and backpack being completely full, I made my way back to Troy. I quickly changed into my costume and fed Troy my bags, making him significantly bigger in the process, before heading back home to the forest.

The first thing I did when I arrived back at the compound was make a huge batch of candle vials. This time, rather than just sticking with sunlight and a candle, I added a tiny little strip of magnesium in each mass ritual. Just an inch of the strip I bought from a metal shop was enough massively crank up the light in each candle vial, meaning that in two batches I had more than enough to light up the ritual platforms, the storage trees, the boardwalk path, the shower and the living space.

Even better, a quick test with Kali showed she could easily turn them on and off again, which meant I could officially retire the generator and the string of lights I was using to see at night. I happily grew them a spot in the storage tree, sliding them away and growing around them to keep them protected from the elements.

I also added a foam layer to my woven branch bed, creating a layered mattress that, once I covered it with a layer of canvas, followed by a sheet, was resilient and comfortable. I used the leftover foam and canvas to make a cushion for the chair as well. I then sat there in my comfortable new chair, looking down at my notebook, with a pile of clothes, simple jewelry, and other items on my bed for inspiration.

"So clearly, protection is something I desperately need," I pointed out, tapping my notebook with my pen. "I haven't felt nearly as safe with my steel absorption up ever since Shadow Stalker punched through it like wet tissue paper."

"The obvious place for such a ritual is on your overcoat," Ayla pointed out. "It is even something designed for protection."

"That's what I was thinking as well. I could also… I'm also considering trying to make the absorption process permanent," I explained. "That way, I can splurge on some really good materials and get the most out of every piece. I bet I could trade some free healing with the PRT for some titanium, mercury, tungsten, and a few others."

"I thought you were concerned about affecting yourself with permanent absorption?" Alya asked, sitting on the edge of my bed. "And now you want to go above and beyond what you normally do?"

"With Kali helping out with my rituals, I'm a lot less worried about accidentally missing something," I explained with a shrug. "She will help prevent anything extra from affecting me. Right, Kali?"

A reassuring pat on my shoulder was the answer, as well as an impression of happiness that told me she was eager to help. With at least a primary plan in place, I began designing the ritual for my overcoat. I had a few things I could sacrifice to enhance the ritual, not the least of which was my blood, but I had been shopping with the protection concept in mind, which meant I was pretty sure I had enough.

About halfway through the design process, I took a break to make the golems I promised to Kali. These were the least complex golems I had made so far, primarily because they didn't need much intelligence, as Kali would be in control of them nearly the entire time.

First, I used some iron oak acorns to build six wooden wolves, turning them into golem frames. In the process of doing that, I also added a containment vial of my shadow, one from the full moon, two from the forest in general, and another that was filled with Kali's essence, voluntarily given, of course.

When the frames were done, they looked genuinely alive, their wood vibrant and healthy, their eyes glowing black with swirling stars, and their shadows flickering with power. Once the frames were ready, I whipped up some basic golem cores, only three rituals deep and significantly easier than golems that were protecting the community.

When everything was done, I fused each wolf with a golem core, the frames glowing for a moment before sitting back and sniffing the air. It was shocking, watching them go from mostly inert frames to the most alive, realistic golems I had made so far, despite barely spending any time on the cores. They acted like real wolves, and when the sound of a faint whistle echoed through the forest, they took off as one, fading into the shadows of the forest.

"How do you like them, Kali?" I asked, still kneeling on the ritual platform, having watched my latest creations vanish into the shadows. "I'll make you a few humanoid ones for more utility later. How does that sound?"

She immediately pulled me up to my feet with a tight hug, ruffling my hair a bit, her extreme happiness was hard to ignore. I also caught flashes of running through the forest at incredible speeds, feeling the thrill of life coursing through her. It was gone in a flash, but I couldn't help but chuckle. I was surprised she could do that already, considering how "young" she was.

"Those aren't going to be normal golems for long, are they?" I asked, getting an innocent whistle in return, and I couldn't help but shake my head and laugh. "Just don't scare anyone with them, okay?"

I went back to working on the overcoat ritual, finishing it at about five o'clock. The ritual was sound, but as I started to double-check it, Alya spoke up again.

"The wolves are returning," She warned, while Kali seemed excited, tugging at my hand.

"Feels like Kali has something to show us," I said, standing up and heading back outside. I was just in time to see the newly formed pack return.

They already looked different. Instead of just being bare wood, they were now covered in grass "fur" growing from their bodies like a real wolf would have. It made them look less sleek, but it also somehow made them feel more alive, as the grass would move and shake as they did, giving them a lot more personality.

"Kali… it's been like an hour… how did you do that?"

I caught an image of running through a field of grass, seeds getting pulled into their bodies. I had to assume she had somehow woven them into the existing growth spell that fed the rest of the wolves' bodies. I could have done that, but with no way for me to understand what she wanted, I would have likely not gotten it nearly this good.

"Damn… it looks good, Kali, I like it. Was that-"

Before I could finish my sentence, one of the wolves stepped forward, dropping something by my feet. It was pretty large, and after bending down to pick it up, I realized it was a turtle shell, its owner long dead. I was pretty sure it was a snapping turtle of some kind, nearly a foot wide and a foot and a half long. It would have been a big bastard while he was alive.

It was also the perfect ingredient for my overcoat ritual.

"Kali, thank you. This is exactly what I was missing," I admitted, turning the large shell over in my hand, looking at the interior bones, and nodding. "I'm going to have to redesign a bit of the ritual, but it will definitely be worth it."

I could feel her happiness and pride. The wolves pawed the ground for a moment before returning to the woods, one after the other, disappearing into the shadow. Meanwhile, I headed back into the living area to finish my ritual design, completing the adjustment and the final edit in only forty minutes.

After spending a half hour copying the ritual down on the ritual platform, I finally started setting up the materials. My overcoat went to the center, while a vial of my blood went to the first material sacrifice circle. After that was a cleaned and dried coconut, the turtle shell, and a crab shell that I bought from a grocery store and cleaned out myself.

Opposite of those was a branch of iron oak for strength and a willow branch for resilience, the latter gathered by Kali and her wolves. I also had Kali use her inherent, instinctual connection to magic to conjure a simple, weak barrier. It was not something she could do easily, as she was notably tired when I was done, but I needed something to steer the ritual in the right direction. I stored the almost proto spell in a containment vial so I could use it in the ritual.

Generally speaking, using spells as ritual ingredients was a double-edged sword. It was often a great way to steer a ritual in a proper direction, but spells were inherently temporary, meaning using one in a ritual could weaken the overall effect. Still, I felt it was necessary to tie the concepts of protection to a magic shielding effect.

The last material sacrifice was a large ostrich egg. It was empty, obviously, and painted as a centerpiece of some kind, but it would work all the same as an ingredient.

I quickly got everything into place before making sure that all the lines and arcane symbols were set. When I was confident everything was perfect, I knelt down and put my hands on the outer lines of the ritual.

"Alright. Let's give this a shot."



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