Published at 16th of February 2024 2:24 pm

Chapter 2.30 From Across The Sapphire Straights

This chapter is updated by JustRead.pl

“Daksinsthan, or the Southern Continent, as the locals call it, is a lot harsher land than what the Imperium or all west of it know. The distance from Ygg, sparse leylines, and hostile intersection points limit the places of power humanity can safely use. We see more rifts and godfalls, too.

As a result, the magic beasts and roving dungeons continue to strengthen while the locals struggle to grow their mana systems. Daksinthanis compensate with their ingenuity and inventiveness. Most modern arcane relics come from the southern continent, and they lead in alchemical progress as well.

After all, adversity forces creativity. The Daksinthanis arcane artisinary keeps their cities and roads safe, and their mages competitive despite weaker and slower growing mana systems.”

—Sunil Das, Expert Artificer, and Ruipur’s Ambassador to The Imperium.

“Thank you for your patronage over the weekend,” Nox said, shaking Harin’s hand. “Have you had the opportunity to use any of my products yet?”

“We spent Sixthday evening and yesterday on a short delve,” Harin replied. Two of his party members hovered behind him. Their appearances, style, and accents betrayed their southern continent heritage. In fact, the rest of the party was the same. They appeared close to their culture and origins. Harin almost spoke like a local, and Nox guessed some of them had moved to the city as children while the rest were more recent migrants. “Your empowering brews and Trap Foam were beyond excellent. You’ll receive regular patronage from us, and we’ll spread the word to our friends in the war mage department.”

“That means a lot to me,” Nox said. “I’m currently working towards increasing general sales to match cosmetics. Good word from accomplished delvers like you will certainly help.”

“I’m Swati,” one of his party members said. She smiled, shaking Nox’s hand. Her touch lingered for a few seconds too long. “My sister introduced me to your products a couple of months ago. It’s done wonders for my skin. Are you perhaps using any fish oils in the mixture?”

“I’m not successful enough to reveal trade secrets yet.” Nox flashed her a cheeky grin. He tried retrieving his hand but failed. Passive magic made her physically stronger than him. “I’m glad it's working for you, though. My original recipe was designed with the local skin types in mind. I haven’t tailored it to people like us yet. I’m glad it's working for you.”

“If you need test subjects to perfect it for little ol’ me, I’m sure we can help you with test subjects.” Swati changed her hold on Nox’s hand to rub his fingers on her arm’s underside. “See how soft skin feels? I’ll admit it's a touch drier than I’d like. I use more local products when visiting Ruipur, but they don’t work as well outside of humid environments.”

“I might just take you up on that,” Nox said. “We—”

“I’m yet to sample your shop’s contraceptive,” Swati continued, still maintaining skin-to-skin contact.

“My betrothed and I have been able to indulge without much worry,” Harin said. “Why don’t you let Nox go, Swati? It looks like you’re making him uncomfortable.”

“Uncomfortable?” Swati flashed Nox doe-eyes and pouted. She released him and retreated to her party leader’s side. “I just thought Nox and I would make excellent friends. You and Annabelle Oakheart ended your relationship, didn’t you? Are you worried that talking like this would make her uncomfortable? Does it matter—”

“It’s not that,” Nox replied. “I’m just not used to such physical closeness to beautiful, high-born ladies. I’m just a humble alchemist—”

“Nonsense!” Swati smacked his arm. It stung more than Nox expected.

“We know your mother is the Trade Empire’s queen,” Harin said. “The Ratra name is famous where we’re from, too.”

“You’ve met someone of the same name?” Nox’s eyes widened, his heart skipping a beat.

“Not quite.” Harin smiled apologetically. “As far as I know, no one has seen a Ratra in years. However, relics of their creation and Ratra alchemy recipes are treasured. My family owns a Ratra arcane weapon just like yours. We’ve been trying to crack its secrets for decades but haven’t had any luck yet.”

“I haven’t had the chance to study my bow as much as I’d like.” Nox sighed. “If it weren’t for my shop, I would’ve picked Beginner Artificing this semester. I think I’ve only unlocked a fifth of its abilities.”

“If you’d like, we can get together sometime and discuss everything my family has learned about Ratra’s Blade. You can tell me about your bow. It might be mutually beneficial.”

“I’d like that very much,” Nox said. “I sensed there was something you wanted to discuss. If—”

Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

“It was just that, actually,” Swati said, looking a touch embarrassed. She finally released Nox and moved away from him. “We had a drink with Louis, and he told us about everything that happened between you, your mother, and the Gedges. You look pretty alone. We just thought you could use some friends. Perhaps join us for a meal time?” Swati grinned, shooting Nox a wink. “I wouldn’t mind a one-on-one meal either.”

“I appreciate the gesture, but I’m really not alone,” Nox replied, unsure how to react. “I don’t know what Louis told you, but yes, I was fairly isolated while living on the Golden Isles. I had no one but Lillin, my aunt, and her family. Things are different here. I have great friends.”

Harin fidgeted, glancing back at his still-silent third-party mate. “This might be probably an embarrassing turn of conversation for the both of us, but do you really? Sure. You’ve been acquainted with them for six months or so, but do you truly know them? I’m afraid the locals don’t take kindly to us with Daksinthani blood. They don’t understand what our people have been through or what it takes to survive there.”

“Our heritage and culture doesn’t really translate,” Swati added. “Tell me honestly, did Annabelle Oakheart really get you and your drive? You should be with someone more like you.”

“Right. I’m afraid we differ slightly there.” Nox felt more uncomfortable than embarrassed. “I know it's not apparent, but I’m only half Daksinthani. My mother is a—”

“Yes, but she removed you from her palace, and your Daksinthani aunt raised you.” The third-party member’s blunt words caught Nox off guard. He didn’t know whether to feel slighted. Her words were valid, after all. “You might only be half, but you’re one of us.”

“I’m sorry for Shina,” Harin said, stepping between Nox and the woman. “She doesn’t really have a filter. But Shina’s not wrong, you know. You’re one of us.” He handed Nox a piece of folded paper. “That’s my address. We have a little soiree every second and fourth Sixthday of the month. Come by sometime.” Harin glanced at Joey. “I don’t know your friend there, but feel free to bring him along.”

“We’ll show you how Daksinthanis take care of their own.

The trio returned to their training arena, leaving Nox alone with several conflicting thoughts. A lot of the things they said, though unpleasant, had a hint of truth to it. However, Nox refused to believe what they had said about his friends. Given everything they did for him, Nox was sure they cared. It's true he felt like an outsider and uncomfortable sometimes, but he believed it had more to do with years of isolation and not racial differences. Nox’s friends understood him and cared about him.

Instead of returning to his friends, Nox marched onto the rooftop fighting ground and manifested Ratra’s Bow. The wolf-centaur didn’t give him the time to prepare and charged at him straight away. Nox chose to cast Haste over, conjuring an essence arrow. Instead, once out of the summon’s way, he surrounded himself with the new Crystallized Essence and a pair of weak Slow fields.

The three-layered pyramids constantly drained Nox’s mana but proved invaluable when the wolf-centaur's swing launched a wave of frost-lightning. The shield turned the attack into an assortment of essence glass but did little for the shockwave that followed it. Nox struggled to maintain his balance through Haste and fell painfully on his butt. He had come to class without his Artisan’s Arm. Desperate scrambling got Nox out of the following stomp and swing’s path.

To compensate for his shortcomings, Nox brought a handful of essences. The Shaping moon helped create a near-perfect arrow made of crystallized fire essence. He used Finesse Shaping to add the explosion and sticky runes to the projectile. When he released it, the essence-glass arrow didn’t just spin like a drill, but flaming rings revolved around them.

The summon dodged the attack. Fortunately, the ring accompanying the projectile caught the wolf-centaur’s shield and upper left arm. The essence glass didn’t just shave the metal and flesh clean off. It also scorched the surrounding metal and flesh, melting, twisting, and blackening everything. Much to Nox’s disappointment, his opponent didn’t recoil or retreat. Instead, it threw the hammer and caught him in the chest.

Even though the Slow fields reduced the weapon’s velocity and Crystallize Essence got rid of the magic surrounding him, the blow still hurt. All the air left Nox’s lungs, and he felt something crack. He fell on his back, coughing. When Nox tried rolling away, his chest screamed. He threw a shard of gravity essence at his opponent. Instead of destabilizing it with Galvanizing Touch, Nox used the Essence Master abilities that had come with his latest Sigil of Artisan upgrade.

The essence triggered contact with the wolf-centaur, interrupting its recovery process. Nox unleashed another fire arrow before the creature could recover. He successfully removed its head but coughed up blood a moment later.

“What in Yggdrasil’s name is wrong with you?” Alexander asked when Nox returned to his resting position. “Are you trying to get yourself killed?”

“I thought we were going to challenge it together,” Joey added.

“I’m sorry, guys.” Nox wheezed. He fished a crimson pill out of his satchel, destabilized the essence glass exterior, and popped it in his mouth. The healing brew took effect straight away, and the pain ebbed. “I went in, hoping to clear my head. Perhaps I got carried away.”

“But why? What did Harin say?” Alexander glanced at the trio. They had returned to their section of the roof but had not returned to training yet. Instead, they stood staring at the defeated wolf-centaur and talked, occasionally shooting concerned looks at Nox.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nox said. “It was mostly stupid. I don’t know if they mean well or are just strange. I—It doesn’t matter. Just give me a moment to rest, and then we can go back to training.”

Neither Joey nor Alexander appeared convinced, but much to Nox’s relief, they didn’t push the matter further. After resting for fifteen minutes, they challenged a newly summoned wolf-centaur and worked together to defeat it. Alexander distracted the beast with squirrels and kept it off balance long enough for Joey to disable it. Then, Nox ended the battle with a single empowered arrow.

A disgruntled Professor Wolfhammer then summoned an even more powerful opponent for them. It was bigger and had four arms on top of the eight legs. The specimen had a powerful arcane aura surrounding it, too. The following battles for the day were much more challenging, and they finished the day with several bruises and lacerations.

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