Chapter 281 – Extending the trip

“Glad to hear it.” Metatron said before sending him flying out of a freshly opened exit in the cube with a wave of his tentacle, leaving only Gabe and Tlaloc behind.

“Oh, and I noticed you amassed quite a few credits last time you were here… Tell you what… If you can get to 5000, I’ll give you something you can’t find elsewhere.” the titan added right as the door closed.

Leo’s body only came to a halt after tumbling over a dozen metres. Percy winced as he pulled himself up, rubbing his aching nose. This would have hurt a lot more if his host hadn’t been at Yellow. The bastard could have just asked him to leave instead of tossing him out like garbage. Hell, he could have simply teleported him out if he wanted.

‘And I was hoping to catch up with Gabe too… I suppose I’ll have to find him and Nolan later.’

Glancing around, Percy quickly noticed he was in the same area as the challenge cubes, though the place Metatron had just kicked him out of wasn’t one of them. It was probably some kind of personal training room or something.

Entering the nearest unoccupied cube, Percy leaned back on the wall, sliding down to the floor weakly. There were several things he needed to do, but he could use a few minutes to unwind.

‘It’s been one hell of a day…’ he smiled bitterly.

His time on Felmara had been extremely fruitful, even before the “Mana Flow” class. Yet, his greatest gain in this entire trip was easily the final step of the boosting art. Granted, he’d only caught a glimpse of Tlaloc’s demonstration before everything went to shit, and he knew he wouldn’t be able to get a second look at it now that they were in the Vault.

Still, it had been enough for him to understand the underlying principles. It would take a while, but he should be able to replicate the spell with his pure affinity sooner or later. Adapting it to other mana types might be harder though.

Part of him was tempted to leave right away – to bring everything back to his main body. But he still had a few matters to take care of.

‘Now what?’ Leo suddenly asked, beating him to the punch.

The boy had tried to put on a brave front, but Percy hadn’t missed the fear leaking through their connection. And he didn’t blame him for it either. In many ways, it had been an even messier day for the kid – he came back from the dead, only to be transported to a different world mere minutes later, leaving everything behind without even a chance to say goodbye to his friends.

Alas, there wasn’t much either of them could do about it.

‘Luckily for you, the meeting went well. Metatron only cares about himself, but at least I’m useful to him, so I can strike a favourable deal every now and then.’

‘So, are we gonna be stuck here for the rest of our lives?’

‘Sorry, kid.’ Percy sighed. ‘Finding a way to bring you all out is one of my long-term goals, but I can’t promise anything. I’ll introduce you to the others later. They’ll help you settle in.’

Next, he proceeded to explain how everything in the Vault worked, giving Leo a taste of what his new life was going to be like. Naturally, the kid was revulsed upon hearing how the Vault’s gods mated with their own children, treating their own flesh and blood as livestock for their experiments. To his credit, he didn’t complain though, knowing that none of this would have happened to him if he hadn’t stood up against Rhaziel.

‘Despite its flaws, life here will probably be an improvement for Tlaloc, at least.’ Percy concluded. ‘Just don’t do anything dumb and you’ll be fine.’

He spoke that last part sternly, yet he wasn’t exactly angry with his host. The truth was, he’d wanted to help Tlaloc since the moment he saw him dragged into the auditorium in chains. The only reason he’d hesitated, was because he hadn’t wanted to ruin Leo’s life. If anything, the boy’s selflessness had made his choice easier.

Still, he’d meant it when he told him to behave. If Leo tried screaming in Metatron’s face the next time he saw a kid starve to death, Percy wouldn’t be able to protect him from the titan’s wrath.

Only after getting a nod back did he shift his attention to other matters. Returning to the Vault this early hadn’t been his intention – he hadn’t even finished digesting his gains from the previous trip. Yet, here he was – and with a Yellow host at that. Not to mention an affinity he was proficient in, and with the newfound freedom to use Circulation in the challenges.

‘Not pushing through the first few waves would be a colossal waste…’

Plus, there was that thing Metatron had mentioned. 5000 credits was a lot to splurge at once, but Percy knew whatever the titan gave him would be worth it. Of course, knowing how cunning the guy was, there had to be some ulterior motive behind the offer.

‘Well, there’s no harm in checking it out. I can always decline.’

After instructing Leo on how to clear his new channels and awaken his second core, he walked to the centre of the room, starting the first wave of the Yellow magiscript challenge.

‘Draw any twenty enchantments 3000 times in total, in under 30000 rits, with at least a 95% success rate. Each individual enchantment has to be drawn at least 100 times. At least ten different enchantments have to contain multiple runes.’

Percy frowned upon reading the requirements. Once again, the first wave was somewhere between the third and fourth waves of the previous level in difficulty. Twenty enchantments were the same as before, though he needed to pump them out faster.

‘And it’s specifically asking for composite enchantments this time. That’s a first. I bet that’s going to be the new standard moving forward.’

Overall, he wasn’t too surprised. He’d always known he’d have to dig deeper into the field as he progressed through the levels. In fact, it was a good thing, as it motivated him to keep improving. Though he wasn’t going to spend too much time or effort on magiscript this trip.

‘Let’s see if I can get through the first one before Leo is done with the core.’

It shouldn’t be too hard. As luck would have it, he’d coincidentally learned to draw ten composite enchantments the last time he was here. Completing this wave was only a question of getting faster at it.

***

‘Enchantments: Preservation, Concealment, Hardness, Absorption, Control, Memory, Growth, Heat, Pressure, Rotation, Self-repair, Controlled-preservation, Controlled-concealment, Controlled-hardness, Controlled-absorption, Controlled-memory, Controlled-growth, Controlled-heat, Controlled-pressure, Controlled-rotation. Difficulty: 1.6. Runes drawn: 3000. Time taken: 29766 rits. Success rate: 61%. Score adjusted due to difficulty: 97%.’

“Congratulations! Wave 1 has been cleared! Calculating rewards…”

“Awarded credits: 300. Current balance: 1829.”

‘About time.’ Percy exhaled.

It had been four days since he arrived at the Vault. Leo had already awakened the new core – a lightning affinity one – so Percy would have given up on the magiscript challenge after this attempt, one way or the other.

Checking the requirements of the next one for future reference, he grimaced upon realizing how tough it was.

‘Draw any thirty runes 6000 times in total, in under 40000 rits, with at least a 95% success rate. Each individual enchantment has to be drawn at least 100 times. At least fifteen different enchantments have to contain multiple runes.’

‘Whatever…’ he rolled his eyes. ‘Kid, are you ready to get our hands dirty?’

‘You done with runecrafting?!’ Leo asked, his voice tinged with disbelief. ‘I felt like my brain was about to melt!’

Percy clicked his tongue.

‘I know it can be boring if you’re just watching from the outside, but I would recommend that you pick up the art at some point. Not only is it the safest way to earn credits in the Vault, but magiscript is worth your time in and of itself.’

It was no secret he wasn’t a huge fan of Metatron’s personality, but there was no questioning the titan’s genius.

‘I’ll think about it.’ the boy replied non-committedly, and Percy didn’t press him any further. As useful as it was, he knew magiscript wasn’t for everyone.

The two then took a short break, eating some sizian meat as they went over their plan for the combat challenges. Other than the passive boost to their physique, the second core wouldn’t be too useful. It was a grade lower, and they’d barely opened enough channels to shoot a few bolts from their hands.

‘For now, just focus on supporting me with an odd blast here and there. I’ll do the rest.’

“Cube. Start the first wave of the ‘gauntlet’ challenge. Yellow level. User ID: WANDERER.” he said as soon as his host nodded.

“Authorization granted. Wave begins in 18 rits.”

Stretching his limbs, Percy began to take deep breaths one after the other, pumping mana into his channels.

“Wave begins in 12 rits.”

He blamed himself a little for never asking Galahad to show him the lightning pattern back when he was at the mansion. Not that they had the time to temper Leo’s channels for it, but he could have saved the boy some head-scratching if he’d known it.

‘I should try to learn all the patterns I can, given how often I change bodies. Especially now that I can get more use out of my clones.’

“Wave begins in 6 rits.”

Then, he shrugged. Either way, this was a project for the future. Right now, it was time to smash some golems.

“Wave begins. May your challenge be successful!”