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1001 Words
Monster skins were the safest and best items to create the talismans on but were also one of the most expensive options. The parchments needed to be specially treated before use, and Matt bought the beginner’s guide on that as well. As he skimmed through it, he found that it was fairly easy to make the talismans.
At least for him.
It was all about removing the monster’s mana and essence through the use of time or mana. Then, it needed to be treated with a series of normal enough chemicals, which he was able to buy in bulk.
The way enchantments were created on the talismans was different enough. Matt expected that he would need some practice, but he doubted he would have any real issues. They were normal enchantments, just with a portion of their diagram shifted out of place, or otherwise cut off, ensuring that the power was contained. Once the user wanted to activate the talisman, they just needed to send mana into a secondary component that would overlay the missing piece, thus unleashing the stored mana.
The final step, and the reason that they weren’t used more often, was to shove thousands of mana into the talismans and then wait. It was also why beast skins were used. They had, at least after treatment, the highest mana storage factor of items of their Tier. Greater even than woods and miles better than metals.
They just weren’t as durable. Which they didn’t need to be for a one-use item.
Not a lot of people could afford that, which regulated talismans to Tier 10 emergency use.
It all seemed easy enough to Matt.
While they were waiting for the new items to arrive, their team tackled the Tier 8 wave rift three more times.
They discovered that as long as the rift was full, and they cleared all twenty waves of monsters, they always got an extra skill in the hidden basement. But it was always the same [Lesser Sacrifice] that they had gotten the first time.
That was rare enough to pull Luna, Kurt, and Erwin into examining the rift. Higher Tier rewards for completing difficult challenges were common enough, but always pulling the same, otherwise rare skill was nearly unheard of.
Erwin speculated that it was because they were so far below the Tier of the rift, and Tier 7 or Tier 8 teams would get a corresponding lesser reward. That information drove Melinda and her team to redouble their efforts to delve the rift.
When they did complete all twenty waves, they were also awarded the same skill. It gave everyone a way to refill their mana in the middle of a rift, which was invaluable.
Erwin even confirmed that the skill had no known rift that it reliably dropped from in the Empire. It was seen as a rare drop from various rifts, but never as the set reward of a rift, especially not for one of such a low Tier.
At that information, Matt wanted to try creating a rift with one of the skill shards, but Erwin flatly refused, saying that they weren’t at that step yet. Matt bowed to his expertise but was itching to try after they finished the Tier 9 rift.
He expected that Luna would allow them Tier up once they cleared it, and that added mana generation would allow Matt to create rifts faster and advance them to a higher Tier. Considering it took him hours to charge rifts above his Tier, but minutes for rifts below, he didn’t argue.
Melinda’s team didn’t get any other rare Tier 8 skills or rewards from the distortion during their first twenty wave run. Eventually, they did find a natural treasure that looked like a drop of salt water that had crystallized into a perfect sphere. When they brought it out, Erwin became quite excited.
“Ooh! I’ve been looking for one of those! I managed to get the basics of course, but that’s…sea, yeah…? Yeah! Neat—” He turned to Luna, “—how much am I allowed to pay them?”
Her answer seemed halfhearted at best. “Keep it reasonable.”
“That’s not helpful! Ugh. Tier…fourteen?”
The dark-haired woman spun from where she was lounging in the air as she said, “No! Eleven at the most.”
“Sheesh, this is why I asked! Anyway, a Tier 11 mana stone for the Sea Seed?”
“But what is it?” Kyle seemed more interested in what the item did than the price.
“Oh, well if we’re keeping things simple, seeds— in the crystal sense mind you, not the plant— work by slipping inside of your spirit. They create a transmutation in someone of your Tier’s mana pool, aspecting the entire pool to whatever affinity that the seed is attuned to. It can also be used in a potion to affect someone of a Tier higher or so. In this case, the affinity in question is Ocean, which is a lovely little aspect that’s about as complex as yours, Liz. Lots of fun things to do with it. So, Tier 11?” He pulled out a mana crystal, looked at it, stowed it again, then pulled out a new one before offering it to them.
Matt wasn’t entirely sure what Erwin was planning on doing with the Seed and was surprised when the man just swallowed it whole as soon as he was handed it.
“Hm. Salty.” He burped quietly then patted his stomach, before acting as if he had done nothing out of the ordinary.
Melinda’s team, meanwhile, seemed slightly shocked at the amount of money they’d just been handed.
Matt was yelled at when he said that they would get used to it. Rare and useful rewards were a benefit of delving rifts that were full of mana.
After a month of preparation and training, Matt, Liz, and Aster entered the rift for the fourth time.
- Writer
